MSc in Machine Learning

Hello everyone, this is my first post here!

Hopefully I will be doing an MSc in Machine Learning in Britain this year. However I have yet to decide on the exact programme and I hope to receive some feedback from any of you with more experience than I. Here are my (potential) choices:

1)University of Bristol: MSc in Advanced Computing - (Machine Learning, Data Mining and High Performance Computing)
(Received a conditional offer with an easy to meet condition)

2)UCL: MSc Machine Learning
(Received an informal notification from the department that I will probably get an offer, I don't know the conditions yet)

3)University of Edinburgh: MSc in Artificial Intelligence (intending to pursue a Machine Learning route)
(I still haven't heard from them...)

To be honest I am more inclined towards UCL or Edinburgh. The UCL's course sounds exactly what I want: lots of maths, coding in matlab/ c++, mainly statistical approaches but more 'exotic' ones as well... Yet Edinburgh's AI programme is highly reputable and the city seems very beautiful and far less expensive..

Any input regarding the universities, their CS department the programmes themselves or the cities will be welcome!

Oh, and if you read all the way up to this point, sorry for the lengthy post!

Reply 1

playwright

I think UCL has a better brand name worldwide from these universities?
Have you checked Imperial programs? From what I've heard Imperial is the most recognized uni for computing in Europe.

Reply 2

Nikos_

OP

Thanks for the reply! Yes, you are right, Imperial is consindered top notch in CS related stuff. I applied there too, but they rejected me!

Still it would have probably been either UCL or Edinburgh though, for the reasons I mentioned above.

Reply 3

playwright

Niko if I were you I would choose UCL.
Also, UCL is in London and therefore you will have more chances to get a job after the program. Not to mention that UCL is far higher in rankings that Edinburg.

Reply 4

LysFromParis

10

Original post by Nikos_

Hello everyone, this is my first post here!

Hopefully I will be doing an MSc in Machine Learning in Britain this year. However I have yet to decide on the exact programme and I hope to receive some feedback from any of you with more experience than I. Here are my (potential) choices:

1)University of Bristol: MSc in Advanced Computing - (Machine Learning, Data Mining and High Performance Computing)
(Received a conditional offer with an easy to meet condition)

2)UCL: MSc Machine Learning
(Received an informal notification from the department that I will probably get an offer, I don't know the conditions yet)

3)University of Edinburgh: MSc in Artificial Intelligence (intending to pursue a Machine Learning route)
(I still haven't heard from them...)

To be honest I am more inclined towards UCL or Edinburgh. The UCL's course sounds exactly what I want: lots of maths, coding in matlab/ c++, mainly statistical approaches but more 'exotic' ones as well... Yet Edinburgh's AI programme is highly reputable and the city seems very beautiful and far less expensive..

Any input regarding the universities, their CS department the programmes themselves or the cities will be welcome!

Oh, and if you read all the way up to this point, sorry for the lengthy post!

Artificial Inteligence at Edinburgh is very well regarded and among the best in the world, while UCL as not a lot of prestige regarding CS. You should ask your current teacher, but in this case Edinburgh > UCL. Edinburgh brand name abroad is at the same level or even stronger than UCL (after all it's the best Scottish uni).

Edit : I'm also a CS student applying in UK, it's the choice I would have made myself if I was in your situation.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 5

venst

Niko if you get a chance i think you should definitely go for Edinburgh. It's highly regarded in AI, along with Imperial, even from top us universities like cmu.

Lot of greeks there also and an amazing city.

Reply 6

shiny

12

It depends on what you want to do afterwards. Do you want to do a PhD?

Reply 7

Nikos_

OP

First of all, thank you all for your replies!

@venst
Interesting link you got there!

@shiny
Well, right know I plan on doing a PhD later, provided I still retain the 'lust for learning' I currently have. But who knows what I will want after a year... it will all depend on how well I cope with my MSc and if this lust is saturated or increased. What would you propose as the best choice if I do indeed pursue a PhD later?

I know Edinburgh and even Bristol have a better 'brand name' in computer science than UCL. Especially Edinburgh is- as most of you say- well renowned in the field of AI.

However, as I said, I liked the UCL's curriculum...It seems to combine mathematics and theory with hands on practice. It focuses on bayesian aproaches but covers a bit concepts like evolutionary algorithms as well. And you write in matlab and C++ with which I am most familiar.

In Bristol's course the main coding is done in C...Alright, I respect C as a language but I cannot imagine writing such high level programs in C. C does not forgive :tongue:

.

I couldn't find detailed descriptions of Edinburgh's courses in the route 'Learning from Data' of its AI programme to compare them to the others. If anyone has any information about them (level of theoretical approach, programming language used, possible background required, breadth of approaches in ML covered etc) it would be great!

I stress that I am interested in Machine Learning in particular , not AI in general (though the border is somewhat vague...).
(**** logic, who needs it? I want to learn by making mistakes! :cool:

)

Reply 8

venst

Original post by Nikos_

I couldn't find detailed descriptions of Edinburgh's courses in the route 'Learning from Data' of its AI programme to compare them to the others. If anyone has any information about them (level of theoretical approach, programming language used, possible background required, breadth of approaches in ML covered etc) it would be great!

I stress that I am interested in Machine Learning in particular , not AI in general (though the border is somewhat vague...).
(**** logic, who needs it? I want to learn by making mistakes! :cool:

)

You can find detailed descriptions from here, in a lot of them there are even introductory videos.

And watch it about logic there may be prospective logicians around :tongue:

Reply 9

shiny

12

Edinburgh would be a great place to continue on as a PhD student as they have a very large and strong School of Informatics which will provide a very nice diverse learning and research environment all under one roof. However, at the moment, UCL's machine learning community is a bit stronger imo. Edinburgh doesn't quite have as many star names now as it once did in the past, whilst UCL has been rapidly adding to its faculty in this community. This doesn't really impact on the MSc really (tbh, you'll get a great and similar education at either place) but if you want to do a PhD with a leading name in the machine learning field, there are probably more people to talk to at UCL at the moment.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 10

Nikos_

OP

Original post by venst

You can find detailed descriptions from here, in a lot of them there are even introductory videos.

Thanks again! You seem to know a lot about Edinburgh, are you by any chance a studying there?

The courses seem interesting. They cover a wide area of techniques, both their theory and their implementation. Moreover, the coding is mainly done in matlab or java; perfect for a lazy and sloppy guy like me!

And as shiny says 'in Edinburgh 'they have a very large and strong School of Informatics which will provide a very nice diverse learning and research environment all under one roof' There is great potential for interdisciplinary fields to flourish (e.g Bioinformatics) and the Computer Science department offers many courses in diverse areas of CS and IT.

Provided I get an offer from Edinburgh I might in fact favour it over the others.

The bottomline is this, from my point of view:
Both UCL and Edinburgh are capable of world class research and they offer a good education in this specialized field. I don't care which 'ranks 1st or 101st' or which 'has the best reputation'. If you want to learn they both can teach you. If you are willing to delve into the field they can both offer you very good opportunities. Doing something mediocre or great from this point on lies only on your own shoulders. No world class university is going to make you a scientist by itself, and conversely, if you want to learn and are willing to put some time and effort in it, at least on this level, none of them is going to hold you back.
So, now, which of them has the prettiest ladies? :colondollar:

Reply 11

Nikos_

OP

Original post by venst

You can find detailed descriptions from here, in a lot of them there are even introductory videos.

Thanks again! You seem to know a lot about Edinburgh, are you by any chance a studying there?

The courses seem interesting. They cover a wide area of techniques, both their theory and their implementation. Moreover, the coding is mainly done in matlab or java; perfect for a lazy and sloppy guy like me!

And as shiny says 'in Edinburgh 'they have a very large and strong School of Informatics which will provide a very nice diverse learning and research environment all under one roof' There is great potential for interdisciplinary fields to flourish (e.g Bioinformatics) and the Computer Science department offers many courses in diverse areas of CS and IT.

Provided I get an offer from Edinburgh I might in fact favour it over the others.

The bottomline is this, from my point of view:
Both UCL and Edinburgh are capable of world class research and they offer a good education in this specialized field. I don't care which 'ranks 1st or 101st' or which 'has the best reputation'. If you want to learn they both can teach you. If you are willing to delve into the field they can both offer you very good opportunities. Doing something mediocre or great from this point on lies only on your own shoulders. No world class university is going to make you a scientist by itself, and conversely, if you want to learn and are willing to put some time and effort in it, at least on this level, none of them is going to hold you back.
So, now, which of them has the prettiest ladies? :colondollar:

Reply 12

venst

Original post by Nikos_

Thanks again! You seem to know a lot about Edinburgh, are you by any chance a studying there?

Probably I will be studying AI there next year so I've done some research. Unless there is an offer from Imperial as well which will give me a pleasant headache, considering that I will continue for a PhD and Edinburgh's research reputation in AI is excellent.

Seems there is no wrong choice for you, either one makes it for a fulfilling year in a top university. Big city life or the significantly smaller but vibrant city of Edinburgh?

Well it all comes down to this :tongue:

Original post by Nikos_

So, now, which of them has the prettiest ladies? :colondollar:

Reply 13

Thinker03

7

For AI definitely go to Edinburgh if you get an offer.

UCL has a good reputation in industry, and might not be ranked very well for CS but you'll get excellent PhD or job opportunities in the future. If AI is what you want, Edinburgh is a safe bet while UCL is not.

P.S. I've also applied to the same courses in UCL and Edinburgh. No decisions yet.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 14

Nikos_

OP

An hour ago I received a conditional offer from Edinburgh with the same condition as Bristol (minimum 7/10 on my undergraduate degree). Although I am now leaning more towards Edinburgh I haven't entirely written off UCL yet. Whichever I choose perhaps we will meet as fellow students with some of you. Best of luck to all of you as well!

Reply 15

rohitbose

hey, dug up this old thread,
btw, i applied to UCL,Edinburgh,Bristol,St andrews,Imperial and Cambridge.
Imperial has rejected me therefore cambridge will most probably aswell.

Can anyone give me an insight on how High Performance Computing from Edinburgh is like ?
Job prospects, course structure, rep.
Thanks

MSc in Machine Learning

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