The Student Room Group

computer science at bath/soton/nottingham

i've just declined my offers for accounting and finance and decided to do computer science instead, and i'd have to apply again through ucas extra. :rolleyes:

now im torn between the three unis. i've done lots of research and thinking, but still cant decide where to go. :frown:

bath has the best employment record for the course, and is also ranked highest overall as a uni. however, it scored lowest in both teaching and research for the subject.

in contrast, soton scored highest in teaching and research, and its ecs department is also known as one of the best in the country. however, the uni generally doesnt seem to be so good (compare with the other two). and i heard from someone studying there that their teaching is fairly shitty. dont kno how true it is since i dont really kno the guy said it who is a friend of friend. its true tho the teaching assessment carried out by qaa is quite out-of-date.

nottingham has a good general rep, also got 5 in the research assessment for the subject, but the uni seems to be better known for its management and humanity courses, and i havent heard any comments for its cs (neither good nor bad), not sure how it is... (supposedly not so respected)

socially, i've been to nottingham and bath, but dont kno about soton. bath is small and nice, but there doesnt seem to be much going on in the town. nottingham really impressed me when i went there to visit a friend. decent pubs, bars, nice shopping centre and gorgeous campus. i heard the crime rate there is quite high tho.

i really need some help here. any view is very much appreciated.
Reply 1
dfx

nottingham has a good general rep, also got 5 in the research assessment for the subject, but the uni seems to be better known for its management and humanity courses, and i havent heard any comments for its cs (neither good nor bad), not sure how it is... (supposedly not so respected)



I can only speak for Nottingham because I'm going there for Computer Science and Maths. It is a great uni and the department seemed really nice when I visited. The facilities are FAR better than 99% of the unis that I have visited (although Reading and Edinburgh did have some impressive kit). While its not the most well know department in the country for Comp Sci, the course seems very good (Im now coming around to the idea that a maths intesive course is the way to go) and I would expect that with all the investment in the facilities and the new campus etc... Nottingham should be able to carve out a name for itself. I don't think that nottingham offer a degree course which is not respected so you should have a problems in that department. At the end of the day it is important that you go somewhere that you will acheive your best, for me that is Nottingham but you should try and make your own mind up!!! :smile:

PS - I wouldn't read too much into the crime rate thing. I know students at Notts and there are plenty of people on this board who will testify to Nottingham being fine in general...
Reply 2
thanks leekey.

so is nottingham ur firm choice then? whats ur offer?

if there is not much difference between them, i would go for the lowest offer then. i e-mailed all of them. no reply from nottingham and soton yet. bath said they would most likely ask for aab. :rolleyes:
Reply 3
dfx
thanks leekey.

so is nottingham ur firm choice then? whats ur offer?

if there is not much difference between them, i would go for the lowest offer then. i e-mailed all of them. no reply from nottingham and soton yet. bath said they would most likely ask for aab. :rolleyes:


Yep, Notts in my firm and Manchester will be my insurance. I was thinking about Edinbrugh or Warwick who said that they would give me an offer if I applied through Extra but I aren't sure I'd be happy there (dispite great reputation for comp sci), so Im off to Nottingham!!! :biggrin:

My offer for Notts is AAB but they have guaranteed me that BBB would be good enough to get in with on results day. I wouldn't read too much into the grade offers, you shoud look at the averages that people get in with!!! :smile:

I forgot to say earlier, you should remember that the new RAE assesements will be conducted in 2006 so you should not to read too much into the current ones. I figured that a uni with a strong reputation overall would stand a good chance of maintaining a strong (i.e. top 15) position in the long term.
Reply 4
any comments on bath and soton?

also, how would u rank the three unis in terms of rep for cs and what would you say about the relevance of their courses. (e.g. from what i know, the one at edingburgh is very theoretical and the one at warwick is heavily into maths)
Reply 5
dfx
any comments on bath and soton?

also, how would u rank the three unis in terms of rep for cs and what would you say about the relevance of their courses. (e.g. from what i know, the one at edingburgh is very theoretical and the one at warwick is heavily into maths)


Bath - Course is tailored to meet industry needs so it is frequently changing. There seems to be a very strong maths component though.

Southampton - Very practical course with one of the most extensive programming elements that I have seen on any course. Other than that it seems quite theoretical and didn't really appeal to me

Nottingham - Very well balanced but the largest components are maths and programming, there isnt a lot of the social stuff and history associated with computing (this is one reason why it appealed to me).

All three are very strong uni's for pretty much any subject so I would base any decision you have to make on the course and the uni in general as opposed to CS rankings which seem to fluctuate quite a lot from year to year.
Reply 6
Pencil Queen

They managed to get me through a C programming module with a 2i mark (I'm terrible with all languages) so they must be pretty good.

As for the rest of the Uni we're planning to get into the top 10 in the country by 2010...we're already the 7th best university in the UK for research and although the QAA teaching subject reviews have been stopped (due to their generall shoddiness) we were audited as an institution in December to check our internal quality assurance methods and passed with absolutely flying colours.


Sounds like a sales pitch to me...sign me up!!! :biggrin:

Congrats on your glasto ticket by the way!!! :smile: