The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

HELP! University of Manchester VS Bristol for CS

So Iʼm currently in a dilemma whilst choosing unis to apply for. (so far: cambridge, UCL, Nottingham, Southampton).

My goal is to become employable & be linked to big industries in tech.

Manchester pros:
1. offers a year in industry, whilst Bristol doesn't. This will give me a huge advantage in the future.
2. I really like the freedom with the course.

Cons:
1. Far away from home — may be homesick
2. Paranoid from the high crime rates. Unsafe
3. Bus and travel would be a nuisance
4. Lots of pubs and partying which I am fine with, but it's not something I'm very excited about

Bristol pros:
1. Love the course
2. Uni looks aesthetic and nice
3. Closer to my home
4. Safer

Cons:
1. No year out in industry

If someone from Bristol could comment about their career services and whether Bristol allows you to take a year out in industry if you want? What is the percentage of those who are able to get summer internships? How are the career prospects?

Thanks :smile:
Original post by it’syuena
So Iʼm currently in a dilemma whilst choosing unis to apply for. (so far: cambridge, UCL, Nottingham, Southampton).

My goal is to become employable & be linked to big industries in tech.

Manchester pros:
1. offers a year in industry, whilst Bristol doesn't. This will give me a huge advantage in the future.
2. I really like the freedom with the course.

Cons:
1. Far away from home — may be homesick
2. Paranoid from the high crime rates. Unsafe
3. Bus and travel would be a nuisance
4. Lots of pubs and partying which I am fine with, but it's not something I'm very excited about

Bristol pros:
1. Love the course
2. Uni looks aesthetic and nice
3. Closer to my home
4. Safer

Cons:
1. No year out in industry

If someone from Bristol could comment about their career services and whether Bristol allows you to take a year out in industry if you want? What is the percentage of those who are able to get summer internships? How are the career prospects?

Thanks :smile:

I'm not a computer scientist but some of my friends are. As far as I am aware, job prospects for computer science graduates are very good anyway, but the more experience you have in the field, the better! On the other hand, personally I would prefer Bristol as a location to attend university, particularly with the homelessness and drugs problem Manchester is facing at the moment, and personally I think Bristol is a much more pleasant, easy-going place. I am sure you could make up for the lack of a year in industry with work experience/internships, just start making contacts now! Cold email managing directors, CTO's, etc., go straight to the top, lay out your quals and experience and do some research on the company and express why you are particularly interested in work experience or volunteering there, and try and get some throughout the term not just in the Summer. Try start-ups in particular as the MD is more likely to deal with applications directly and directly oversee programmers and more likely to be a programmer/computer scientist himself so sympathetic to your plight. If you could get one or two days a week through the year working in a software/tech startup, and full-time over the Summer, you would have more than enough experience to make yourself attractive to employers by the time you graduate, and potentially anyway a job to walk into at the startup if it's beginning to expand. I would do some certified online courses in programming too to increase your chances of getting an internship. Both Manchester and Bristol are really good, well respected unis, and the year in industry would be really good, but on the other hand Bristol is (at the moment anyway) definitely the better place to attend university.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you