The Student Room Group

University of Bristol or UCL for Computer Science

Hi guys,

I'm an international and need your advice. I'm a first year doing CS at Bristol and is considering a transfer to UCL for second year, mainly because I don't have a lot of friends here. Although, if I'm convinced that Bristol suits me better, then I'll stay. My parents don't mind me transferring and leave the decision entirely up to me. I have 3A* during my A-level doing FM, M and Phys and have exchanged a series of emails with UCL and they said will be considering me.

Please tell me your opinion on each uni, pros and cons of each uni and the department in term of its reputation in the UK, global reputation,department facilities, supports provided, content of the course, local/international employer's view on each university and department.

I want to choose the one that will be viewed by Oxbridge as more superior than the other (planning on doing my master there, it's better to plan ahead). But most likely won't be working in the UK after finishing my master degree, so my decision also based on which one is more superior in the eye of international employer such as Google.

(The city, night life, living cost, tuition fee etc. doesn't need to be taken into account as I know both very well and doesn't matter which one really. Although I'm slightly inclined towards London as there are more concerts there. But I'm very happy with the amount of concerts I attended in Bristol right now.)
(edited 9 years ago)
bump
On paper UCL is ever so slightly better than Bristol is for Computer Science, but it's down to you. Do you think you'll make friends in a London university? Bear in mind, it's likely to be pretty much identical to Bristol in that respect due to the similarity in the kinds of people both universities hire.

In practice, you'll struggle to find much difference between Bristol and UCL for employment, both nationally and internationally. Moving universities can be expensive and stressful, and you'll have to settle in all over again at UCL if you got into it, so it would be a good idea to think carefully about this.

I don't wanna be the 500th person to suggest this, but join societies and try to fit in, rather than just looking for people who are exactly like you, as you probably won't find many of those.
Reply 3
Original post by nirvanamirror
Hi guys,

I'm an international and need your advice. I'm a first year doing CS at Bristol and is considering a transfer to UCL for second year, mainly because I don't have a lot of friends here. Although, if I'm convinced that Bristol suits me better, then I'll stay. My parents don't mind me transferring and leave the decision entirely up to me. I have 3A* during my A-level doing FM, M and Phys and have exchanged a series of emails with UCL and they said will be considering me.

Please tell me your opinion on each uni, pros and cons of each uni and the department in term of its reputation in the UK, global reputation,department facilities, supports provided, content of the course, local/international employer's view on each university and department.

I want to choose the one that will be viewed by Oxbridge as more superior than the other (planning on doing my master there, it's better to plan ahead). But most likely won't be working in the UK after finishing my master degree, so my decision also based on which one is more superior in the eye of international employer such as Google.

(The city, night life, living cost, tuition fee etc. doesn't need to be taken into account as I know both very well and doesn't matter which one really. Although I'm slightly inclined towards London as there are more concerts there. But I'm very happy with the amount of concerts I attended in Bristol right now.)


I'm not sure why moving away to a new uni will help you make more friends? Even if UCL is marginally superior, moving from Bristol is not going to look great on your CV - not awful, just not great. Oxbridge probably won't to admit people who drop out.

I think I would find it much harder to make friends in London - it's so big it's very easy to just get forgotten about.

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending