CS: Bath vs Birmingham vs Bristol

I have applied to Birmingham, Bath and Bristol for Computer Science and have these offers:
Birmingham: A*AA
Bath: AAA
Bristol: AAB
I am fairly confident that I will be able to achieve these grades

However, I am having trouble deciding which of Birmingham and Bath to take as firm (Bristol is likely going to be my insurance).

So, I'm asking if anybody has advice or experiences to share; opinions about which is better; which has the better living costs, city experiences, crime rates; or suggestions of where to go; etc

Thanks in advance

Ps.
I live closer to Bristol and Bath than Birmingham

I have applied to Birmingham, Bath and Bristol for Computer Science and have these offers:
Birmingham: A*AA
Bath: AAA
Bristol: AAB
I am fairly confident that I will be able to achieve these grades

However, I am having trouble deciding which of Birmingham and Bath to take as firm (Bristol is likely going to be my insurance).

So, I'm asking if anybody has advice or experiences to share; opinions about which is better; which has the better living costs, city experiences, crime rates; or suggestions of where to go; etc

Thanks in advance

Ps.
I live closer to Bristol and Bath than Birmingham

EDIT: I would like to do a year in industry, which are available on Birmingham and Bath, but not on the Bristol course

I have applied to Birmingham, Bath and Bristol for Computer Science and have these offers:
Birmingham: A*AA
Bath: AAA
Bristol: AAB
I am fairly confident that I will be able to achieve these grades

However, I am having trouble deciding which of Birmingham and Bath to take as firm (Bristol is likely going to be my insurance).

So, I'm asking if anybody has advice or experiences to share; opinions about which is better; which has the better living costs, city experiences, crime rates; or suggestions of where to go; etc

Thanks in advance

Ps.
I live closer to Bristol and Bath than Birmingham

EDIT: I would like to do a year in industry, which are available on Birmingham and Bath, but not on the Bristol course

Hi there!

Congratulations on the offer! My name's Chris, a second year Computer Science with placement student at Bath.

I have set up a thread specifically to help with common questions here:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4416804

Hopefully I can do some justice as to why I chose Bath, as I also considered Bristol and Birmingham myself a couple of years ago.

The main thing that sold Bath to me over anywhere else I was considering was the placement scheme. I've managed to secure a 12 month placement starting in June at an investment bank in London which I'm really looking forward to. I know of friends going to Japan and the USA too, so you're not limited to the UK. There are hundreds of companies that Bath has close links with. One of the banks this year is taking on a record 13 students which is incredible. Applying for these schemes has shown me that Bath students actually are in demand, and the claims heard on open days are not just empty promises!

Bath is a campus university, which I personally loved in comparison to Bristol as a university environment. I liked the idea of everything being in one place - lecture halls, first year accommodation, the library, shops, the SU and so on. This made settling in so much easier when I first joined.

I'm not going to lie, Bath is not the cheapest place to stay as a student, however actual living costs are not much higher than I hear my friends at other university spending. If you are sensible with your student loan you should be fine. I personally have had a part time job to fund my social life throughout uni, and I get help from my family for affording food costs. the university does have scholarships and bursaries available too. There is a lot of help available for choosing affordable city accommodation after your first year - student services can be really helpful with this. And campus accommodation for first year varies in price, depending on the type of accommodation you want (ensuite, etc.)

In terms of crime, I think the following very recent article speaks for itself:
http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/bath-is-the-country-s-safest-university-city/story-30206321-detail/story.html
Bath is an incredibly safe city, which I love. I've never once gone on nights out and felt threatened or intimidated by the possibility of crime. Of course these things do happen, but as the article states, Bath is up there with the likes of York in terms of being safer than other university cities.

I'm a big music fan so I love going out to gigs and club nights. Of course, Bath can;t be claimed as the wildest university city, but it does offer a good range of clubs (Bridge, Club XL, Moles, Komedia, Zero Zero, Khoosoosi and so on). Bath is also littered with pubs on virtually every street so a bar crawl is always a possibility. I've been to lots of gigs at Moles and Komedia, and the 15 min train to Bristol as well as bus services means that I can easily go to their venues on a night out, which makes a nice change.

I hope this goes some way to answering your questions. Any more queries then let me know!

Chris

What are the main theory/research focuses at Bath?
How do the majority of students feel about these? What option modules to most students take in the 2nd/3rd/4th years?
Also, what are living costs, student life, social life, like in Bath (from students POV)?

1. Per the website:

Human Computer Interaction
Mathematical Foundations
Intelligent Systems
Visual Computing

3.
http://www.bath.ac.uk/catalogues/2017-2018/cm/USCM-AFM01.html

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Thanks, but I would like more of the opinions based from experiences of students there

What are the main theory/research focuses at Bath?
How do the majority of students feel about these? What option modules to most students take in the 2nd/3rd/4th years?
Also, what are living costs, student life, social life, like in Bath (from students POV)?

Hi there!

Congratulations on the offer! My name's Chris, a second year Computer Science with placement student at Bath.

I have set up a thread specifically to help with common questions here:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4416804

Hopefully I can do some justice as to why I chose Bath, as I also considered Bristol and Birmingham myself a couple of years ago.

The main thing that sold Bath to me over anywhere else I was considering was the placement scheme. I've managed to secure a 12 month placement starting in June at an investment bank in London which I'm really looking forward to. I know of friends going to Japan and the USA too, so you're not limited to the UK. There are hundreds of companies that Bath has close links with. One of the banks this year is taking on a record 13 students which is incredible. Applying for these schemes has shown me that Bath students actually are in demand, and the claims heard on open days are not just empty promises!

Bath is a campus university, which I personally loved in comparison to Bristol as a university environment. I liked the idea of everything being in one place - lecture halls, first year accommodation, the library, shops, the SU and so on. This made settling in so much easier when I first joined.

I'm not going to lie, Bath is not the cheapest place to stay as a student, however actual living costs are not much higher than I hear my friends at other university spending. If you are sensible with your student loan you should be fine. I personally have had a part time job to fund my social life throughout uni, and I get help from my family for affording food costs. the university does have scholarships and bursaries available too. There is a lot of help available for choosing affordable city accommodation after your first year - student services can be really helpful with this. And campus accommodation for first year varies in price, depending on the type of accommodation you want (ensuite, etc.)

In terms of crime, I think the following very recent article speaks for itself:
http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/bath-is-the-country-s-safest-university-city/story-30206321-detail/story.html
Bath is an incredibly safe city, which I love. I've never once gone on nights out and felt threatened or intimidated by the possibility of crime. Of course these things do happen, but as the article states, Bath is up there with the likes of York in terms of being safer than other university cities.

I'm a big music fan so I love going out to gigs and club nights. Of course, Bath can;t be claimed as the wildest university city, but it does offer a good range of clubs (Bridge, Club XL, Moles, Komedia, Zero Zero, Khoosoosi and so on). Bath is also littered with pubs on virtually every street so a bar crawl is always a possibility. I've been to lots of gigs at Moles and Komedia, and the 15 min train to Bristol as well as bus services means that I can easily go to their venues on a night out, which makes a nice change.

I hope this goes some way to answering your questions. Any more queries then let me know!

Chris

Dear Chris,

I am going to study CS and have offers from Bath and Bristol.
I have been trying to make a decision between Bath and Bristol (or taking a gap year).

I then came across your forum, which felt to be the most useful resource for me.
Since you have graduated now, I would like to hear your thoughts looking backwards.
Would you still choose Bath over other options?

By the way, I am quite experienced in programming. Besides everything else, I managed to complete two relatively big software products (one with Java and one with Python).

Regarding my A-Level grades, my prediction grades are 4A* 1A (Maths, CS, EPQ, Physics, Further Maths). I am expecting to get similar grades from real exams.

Your thoughts are appreciated.
Thank you.
Nese