Southampton vs Bath for CS

I'm at Bath doing compsci right now, I picked it over UCL & Warwick last year (despite receiving offers from all). The placement year feature seems amazing and the fact that the degree is very practical, rather than being very theoretical like cambridge's compsci course.

Don't do what this guy did, the more theoretical your CS degree is, the better. CS is meant to be a branch of mathematics and therefore it is better to build your core in CS rather than jump straight into the practicalities.


Southampton is amazing for CS, jus sayin.

Google 'ECS'

When I meant "very practical" I did not mean that there was no theory. If you want to do mathematics then go do mathematics at university, there'll be computing related modules that will satisfy those needs.
Two of my modules this year were mathematics modules, and the programming modules I did were very heavy on the mathematics side. It's balanced enough. If you want to go into academia then perhaps a degree heavily based on theory is more useful, whereas a degree that balances practicality and theory is more employable.

Nope, employers prefer theoretical degrees over practical degrees when it comes to CS. I am doing a yini and that's what I have noticed from people(employers) all around me. It's a different story when it's engineering though. .

It depends though. Some employers will ask questions on computational complexity, you'll need to know your theoretical stuff well. Another employer may give you some multithreaded code and tell you to refactor it on the spot, or ask you about specific Java libraries and specific syntax. I don't think there is an obvious preference out there - you need to always adapt to an employers interviewing process. It is true that the theoretical stuff is generally harder to pick up and I think people should study it if given the opportunity, but even then some employers will be oblivious.

Southampton is way better than Bath for CS imo, even if you look at it in your way.

Bath's graduate employment for CS is 15% higher than Southampton's (Bath has 100%) and their placement year scheme can't really be matched by any of the top 10 unis for CS either, which is why they have the reputation they do.

Employers don't prefer theoretical degrees, it's not like they go and look up all your modules when you apply for a job to check your hoare logic is as good as your C++. They realise that accreditation means the content was regulated (so it's not even like the course content can be that different between the two) and they choose the person who is best equipped for the job.

I disagree. While Bath is a good university, Southampton is better for CS and EE, specially for high tech companies like Qualcom, Broadcom, Apple etc. I can confirm this because every employer I have met on my placement year highly regards Southampton and Imperial as their top choices.

A theoretical degree builds up on your fundamentals which makes it easier for you to catch on to different programming languages. Practicality should be left for later on, not university.

Bath's employability rate may be higher but that doesn't mean they make it to all cool jobs.

Employers in Engineering look for innovators rather than familiarity of libraries/languages.

Bath's course is theoretical, your argument is flawed because you didn't understand what the earlier guy said about Bath. The course is geared towards success in industry but it is still very much a theoretical course. Anecdotal evidence of a few employers holding Southampton's degree up with Imperial's isn't gonna cut it, I'm afraid. Let the statistics speak for themselves.

Practicality is still a crucial skill. Try and get hired by explaining that you don't actually know the syntax of a single programming language but you could write quicksort ten different ways in pseudocode. You will be laughed at.

Of course it's important to have a theoretical grounding but someone who knows C# is still going to have an easier time learning Java on the job than someone with impeccable knowledge of programming concepts but no actual experience, and employers care about that kind of stuff.

IBM organises a formal for all ECS students at Southampton, and Southampton only, because of the quality of the course. 30% of all CCL graduate employees have to be hired from Southampton (that's higher than Cambridge). I haven't looked into Bath much, maybe Southampton is better on the hardware side and low-level programming, where-as Bath may be better for high-level programming.

You can't let the statistics speak for themselves because Southampton has a bigger department (meaning more students) than Bath, employers tend not to hire multiple graduates from the same university in one go.

And don't be ridiculous, no university is that theoretical. CS graduates from Cambridge are at the top of the spectrum for a reason. Take Eben Upton, for example (I work with him). Most of the witty senior software engineers here at Broadcom are from Cambridge, Imperial and Southampton. I haven't met anyone from Bath yet, which suggests they may be better at databases and web-design. Bath doesn't come out with the best compilers, or video codec software engineers, generally speaking.

Don't you think you're being a little biased because you go to Bath? Bath is a great university, I'd prefer it over Southampton generally, because it is a better university as a whole.

But yes, overall, Bath CS graduates seem to be getting higher employability scores (by 6% not 15)
http://www.theguardian.com/education/table/2013/jun/04/university-guide-computer-sciences-it

I am doing Electronic Engineering though, so different story.

Southampton has a bigger department (meaning more students) than Bath, employers tend not to hire multiple graduates from the same university in one go.

You act like Imperial is the high standard for a theoretical course, but it really isn't what you think. Their degree is a BEng for a reason; they teach you how to build compilers. It is far more practical engineering than theoretical science. Cambridge and Imperial are at the top (and deservedly so) because their reputation for teaching is very well-known amongst employers so their degrees are well respected. If the theoretical aspect of degrees were so important then degrees in Computational Mathematics would be a lot more sought after than they actually are.

Don't get me wrong, I'm most certainly biased, but you've only been using anecdotal evidence about a few companies and employers to backup your own claims. Whatever source the Guardian tables were using is either outdated or is using stats from a group including other courses, because CS at Bath has 100% graduate employment (95% grad jobs, 5% further study.) [x]