Comp Science @ Lincoln vs Brunel vs Nottingham T vs QMUL

I want to study computer science at university. These are my 4 unis , that I have had offers from but don’t know which order I should have them in . With Nottingham Trent , their course is actually specialised as Cyber Security.

So far I have gathered , QMUL are highly respected due to being a RG uni , and that Brunel have fantastic links with the year in industry. The Lincoln facilities are very new and look highly professional. Trent I do not know too much about .

I am looking for criteria such as course content (+ how students felt about it ) , uni life at the uni , and if you have graduated; with what grades / are you employed now , how much you are earning etc.

If you have done Computer Science at any of these unis , all the help will be appreciated. Thanks

Got to be QMUL every time

Although if you want to specialise in Cyber why not apply to Royal Holloway or Warwick as they have similar entry requirements and are GCHQ accredited for their BSc degrees, Edinburgh Napier also has this for for their BEng degree but these are the only 3, worth considering.

I didn’t really like Holloway that much and gave it up for QMUL , my 5th choice is LSBU purely to play it safe in case I flop . At the time I wasn’t too sure how it worked / that clearing was a thing lol. I don’t do A level maths , therefore probably wouldn’t get into Warwick.
Did you go to one of those ?

Yeah I went to Royal Holloway for my undergrad degree in Comp Sci and honestly it's incredibly good if you want to pursue a career in Cyber as they have the ISG (Information Security Group, a research group for security and academic centre of excellence in Cyber Security research) based on campus and they influence the teaching on the Computer Science courses, which is probably why they are the only uni to have GCHQ accreditation for all their BSc, MSci and MSc Info Sec focused Computer Science courses.

Warwick do a BSc Cyber Security degree which doesn't require A level Maths, just AAB with STEM subjects preferred, see here - https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses-2019/cybersecurity

If you go with one of your current choices though, I'd certainly say QMUL, the others aren't that great to be blunt and QMUL is pretty good, although I wouldn't say better than either of RHUL or Warwick.

Yeah I remember when I attended a cyber security fair and RHUL were there talking about their GCHQ . I never knew Warwick did a cyber security one , annoyed I missed that when researching :/!
Cyber seems to be very employable , would you say more than DB networking (admin , architecture?) simply because my dad bangs on about employability being key . I personally don’t have a preference yet but if I was to specialise I’d be between Cyber & Networks

This is the thing, I actually wouldn't recommend specialising until after your first degree, either through a masters or grad scheme/other professional employment.

However, the good thing about the 2 courses I mentioned (RHUL and Warwick) is that although they appear to be specialised in cyber they are actually quite broad programmes with a good amount of core Computer science content which is one of the requirements that GCHQ have in place for evaluating courses for certification, which possibly explains why only 3 bachelors degrees are certified. But there are many so called 'specialised' cyber degrees which are pretty awful, a general degree is good and I wouldn't recommend at all specialising in Networks, you can learn this through working after learning core computer science through a degree, would be the best way of achieving this and would allow you to change if you wanted. If you have any inkling that you'd want to go into cyber though, I'd highly recommend either Royal Holloway or Warwick as these would give you all of the following: 1. One of the best cyber related degrees available, 2. Still giving you a core computer science education and 3. GCHQ certification on graduation which will highly boost your employability in the sector upon finishing university. Similarly, Edinburgh Napier's BEng in Cyber Security & Forensics has very recently obtained the accreditation.

You’ve been really helpful, thank you . I am the first to attend university in the UK in my family and so the whole process has been different and definitely don’t want to make the wrong choices ! I will definitely have a look into Warwick and hope there is still time to substitute the cyber security course over the LSBU option.
Thanks a lot !

No problem at all, good luck!

What put you off the RHUL course btw?

I don’t really know , just didn’t feel get excited at the open day , or wasn’t engaged enough, I know my dad wasn’t too convinced with their placement links , especially when we spoke to a student who didn’t find one but tbh thats no all down to the uni. Perhaps it was just my off day when we visited

I don’t really know , just didn’t feel get excited at the open day , or wasn’t engaged enough, I know my dad wasn’t too convinced with their placement links , especially when we spoke to a student who didn’t find one but tbh thats no all down to the uni. Perhaps it was just my off day when we visited

The placement links are good, I did 2 internships whilst I was there (as well as part time IT work), the department also set up their own software dev company which they employ students on a flexible basis to give them experience, the department also has an industrial advisory board which has input into the course and provides industry links and they host quite a big careers fair each year specifically for Cyber and Computer Science careers which is exclusive for students of the Computer Science and Information Security departments. I'd say you have that info wrong in all honesty.

The Capgemini apprenticeship is good, I have multiple friends who work there, but the travel is really off putting and this is also what put me off applying to their graduate scheme. You could look at JP Morgan, CGI, IBM, Goldman Sachs or Vodafone who all do good Digital and Technology degree apprenticeships. The good thing about the JP Morgan, BT and (I think) IBM ones are they do the degree through Exeter which is an excellent uni and their Digital Tech Solutions Degree is taught with modules from the Computer Science department, but Computer Science has harder requirements including Maths A level whereas Digital Tech Solutions doesn't need it so its a good way in to a very good uni and is worth considering

Hope this helps

I understand what you mean in regards to the apprenticeship, I am just curious that a BSc in digital and technology solutions (despite the experience) would not stand against a BSc in computer science. However I will still look into the others , thanks man !