Computer Science Prospects? Watch

Is there any point in doing this subject at a mediocre university?

Thanks

Yes, the field and career prospects have experienced massive expansion over the last few years as it shows no sign of slowing any time soon.


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Define mediocre? I've just graduated with a computer science related degree but I did a specialism and I've had quite a few job offers already but as I'm going on to do postgraduate study and follow my passion I turned them down.

Computer Science is well worth doing. Computer Science will, at a mid to lower end institution, actually give you more vocational skills to apply in the real world. At higher end institutions its more likely to be theoretical so it depends on what you want really. I have done great from my course already because I built a portfolio and used that to show as evidence which has done me well. Also, you can work on projects in your own time to boost your employability and showcase what you can do on GitHub.

Computer Science has the highest graduate unemployment rate and about two-thirds study it at post-92 unis (aka ex-polys etc.) whilst only about 13% study it at Russell Group.

However, that doesn't mean that studying it at a mediocre university condemns you to unemployment for the rest of your life...as far as I know, the industries related to CS don't really care who your alma mater is. As long as you're dedicated and prove you're talented...having an excellent portfolio, doing well in coding interviews and such.

At the end of the day...a grad from an ex-poly with experience and talent will beat any RG grad who can't code themselves out of a paper bag.

I've done a couple of placements at a software house and they continuously tell me that all they see university as is an accreditation...after that, how well you do is all down to how dedicated you are and how talented you are.
They did an interesting blog post on the subject: http://instil.co/2014/08/05/why-do-it-degree/

I have messed up my AS levels CCEE in computing, maths, chemistry and further maths. With the wisedom of hindsight I was struggling with further maths and bored by chemistry and should have dropped Further Maths when I realised but didn't.

I am a really good programmer and my computer teacher will be gutted I got a C but will understand. The first paper was a glossary of terms and the second really easy questions but they may not have understood the way I wrote on paper (I am used to just coding). I genuinely thought I had an A in this. I am reasonably confident that now I have dropped Further maths I could still get an A in computing (with resits and learning exam technique, an A or B in Maths with resiting C1 and C2) and maybe a C or D in Chemistry with actually taking AS and A2 in parallel this year. My worry is will the universities care - I want to study Computer Science or Software Engineering and only chose my subjects to meet their requirements? My GCSE results were fine. Will universities just judge me on my AS results or would they be able to tell from my personal statement and programming examples that I really can program well and have passion and ability in that one subject despite my C. The only result I am truly gutted about and didn't deserve was computing. Next year is half project and the other half a syllabus I already know.

I would really appreciate some advice. Does anyone go to a university that has a challenging computer science or software engineering course that would overlook AS grades and potentially still interview and respond to programming ability?