Computer/I.T. Courses @ Uni

OP

http://www.uel.ac.uk/programmes/scot/undergraduate/summary/computing-netw.htm

laser

What is the actual course content?

Reply 21

http://www.uel.ac.uk/programmes/scot/undergraduate/summary/computing-netw.htm

Chris4

Look at the "Your Future Career" section on that page, and then look at average salaries for those jobs. You're very likely to end up working in a sysadmin team or on a helpdesk with a degree like that, imo.

Reply 22

OP

laser

Look at the "Your Future Career" section on that page, and then look at average salaries for those jobs. You're very likely to end up working in a sysadmin team or on a helpdesk with a degree like that, imo.

What kind of course do you think I should do? I'm open to all computer-related courses really.

Reply 23

Depends on what you want to do. I'd suggest that Computer Science is the most flexible and leaves the most options open.

Reply 24

OP

Ok thanks for your input :smile:

Reply 25

OP

Xtrm2Matt

I was actually torn between a Web course and Computing Science when I was picking my course. In the end, I went for Computing Science because I get a lot more flexibility (in terms of picking the modules I want to do, which included Web Development / Web Design, which I obviously picked) and it's a lot less specific.

Thank you Xtrm2Matt :smile:

+1

Reply 26

OP

Hmm. Today I went to the Guidance Centre at our college to get help with my personal statement. She said my writing didn't sound enthusiastic. She then asked me why I wanted to do Computer Science and.. I couldn't answer :confused:

. So she said I need to rethink what I want to do.

So now I'm at the beginning again :frown:

wondering what course I should do. I'm going to college in half term (next week) to have a "one-to-one discussion" with her about what I should do.

I done a test on UCAS called Stamford Test.. Out of all the options I only ticked computing as a future career, so the result for my future career said 'we cannot determine .. blah blah blah'.

I don't know if I'll like Computer Science because I've never studied it before, if you know what I mean :confused:

. Reading the different modules for the course doesn't help, I don't know what most of them mean!

I wasn't a big fan of Science at school, I just scraped a C in GCSE, God knows how. Although computers obviously interest me, how they work and everything related to them really, I don't know if I'd enjoy Computer Science.

Any help greatly appreciated. :o:

Reply 27

Computer Science is more Maths than how computers work. Are you interested in Maths? Tbh, it doesn't sound like CS is for you. What's your favourite subject at A-level, perhaps you should look into doing that as a degree?

Reply 28

OP

@laser: I want to study computers for definite. I guess maths is interesting, but I don't want it maths based, I want it computer based. I'm doing a BTEC National Diploma in IT at the moment, not A levels.

I just don't know what to study at Uni :confused:

Reply 29

dannylfc18

Try Information Systems,

or im applying for Information Technology with Management @ Loughborough, Computing & IT @ Surrey, and Computer Information Systems @ Liverpool

I'm kind of like you, got an A in A-Level IT, but i don't like the technical side too much, the programming, maths sort of side, i was better at the business aspect and the sort of database work.

Reply 30

OCC++

Ditto to the above.
Alternatively maybe you can consider computer systems engineering (it seemed that some universities offered it)? or even software engineering?

A search on ucas will reveal more options than anyone can possibly advise you on.

Reply 31

Here's my 2 cents:

Computer science is maths, the low level stuff on how computers work and programming - mainly in Java and C++. On your IT course, do you do any Visual Basic? I know some of my mates at college do VB. If you don't like Visual Basic, you don't like programming and you WILL NOT like computer science. Computer science is the money in this industry.

Anything web orientated isn't as nicely paid and because designing pretty websites is more fun to some people than dredging through the code of programming a major application, harder to get a job.

If you like maths and programming: Computer Science for sure.

If not, look elsewhere.

Reply 32

Note, if you know anything about programming, and you don't like VB (understandable, as it's a horrible language), you'll probably still be okay for CS.

Reply 33

VB isn't exactly the language of the pros but it is still a language and it still has the principles of programming. Just because it's not everybody's favourite language doesn't mean that it's useless. If you can't get your head around basic applications in VB your chances of grasping major, team orientated applications in Java are slim.

/IMO

Reply 34

OP

dannylfc18

Try Information Systems,

or im applying for Information Technology with Management @ Loughborough, Computing & IT @ Surrey, and Computer Information Systems @ Liverpool

I'm kind of like you, got an A in A-Level IT, but i don't like the technical side too much, the programming, maths sort of side, i was better at the business aspect and the sort of database work.

I think I'm the opposite :p:

. From what I've experienced at college, database and business work I find very boring and doesn't interest me at all, haha.

OCC++

Ditto to the above.
Alternatively maybe you can consider computer systems engineering (it seemed that some universities offered it)? or even software engineering?

A search on ucas will reveal more options than anyone can possibly advise you on.

Neither of them look very interesting to me. Thanks anyway :wink:

300mg

Computer science is maths, the low level stuff on how computers work and programming - mainly in Java and C++. On your IT course, do you do any Visual Basic? I know some of my mates at college do VB. If you don't like Visual Basic, you don't like programming and you WILL NOT like computer science.

Yeah I do study Visual Basic at college and I do like it. :smile:

300mg

Computer science is the money in this industry.

If that's correct, then of course I would like to do CS. I want a well payed job in the future, like everyone. I don't want to pick a course that is going to get me a crap job. Obviously I need to be interested, and by what you've said, I am. I would be willing to learn programming and have it as a job.

300mg

Anything web orientated isn't as nicely paid and because designing pretty websites is more fun to some people than dredging through the code of programming a major application, harder to get a job.

Yeah that's understandable, I'd rather go for the nicely paid job which involves programming, even though I enjoy making websites.

300mg

If you like maths and programming: Computer Science for sure.

Sounds good to me :biggrin:

.

I did like maths in school and I was quite good at it :smile:

.

Thank you for your post 300g, most helpful so far :biggrin:

. Very much appreciated.

-------------------------------------------------------

Question to all: What do you think of this particular course?
It's at University of Hertfordshire (which I was told is a very much improving Uni).
Link: http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/Computer-Scienceug.cfm

Reply 35

Hey Chris,

Glad I was of help. Any idea of what university you're going to apply to? A lot of them ask for a maths A level but there are also a lot that do not.

Check the times league table here. Type in Computer Science into the subject box and you'll be able to check the graduate employment rates. Every university from 1-15ish will ask for maths I imagine but the ones below that may not. As you can see, CS has constantly high employment rates even for universities as low as 50.

Reply 36

Hey again,

Sorry I didn't see the link at the bottom of your post.

About the course. Hertfordshire is quite far down on the league tables, but that isn't everything. For computer science they still have a good graduate employment rate of 63%, which may not be the highest you'll find but it is still a fair percentage.

There isn't very much on the course on the site. It doesn't mention any team work which is really quite valuable considering that as a software engineer (which is what you're looking into going into really) you will never do a project alone. It's always good if a university teaches multiple languages, email them and ask what language they cover in the course. Every university will teach you Java, the more the better. I know Glasgow (very good for computer science, 5th I think) teach Java, C++ and Python.

Try looking for the alumni page on the CS department. It's were past students say what they did after their degree. It's always a good sign if there's a nice alumni page full of people saying that they slotted nicely into the IT industry.

Reply 37

OP

Hey,

Thanks for the league table.

A few others I'm interested in are:
- West of England [Bristol] (57th in the league)
- University of Brighton (64th in the league)

Do you think they're ok?

I can't aim too high, like Cambridge and Oxford, as I won't get good enough grades for high up universities like that. Also many higher require an A-level in maths, or a high GCSE grade. I only have a C grade, which is fine for some, but not the higher up ones.

I definitely want to do a sandwich course (the 3rd year at a company getting paid). I'm sure others would recommend this too, my college certainly does and it sounds good to me.

I emailed Hertfordshire Uni about the different languages that are studied. It probably goes to their reception, so I don't know if they will be able to find out, and the reply will probably takes ages, as it has done for other universities. Neither of the above courses say what languages they study either.

I'm not sure where to look for a section where students say where they work after doing the course. They usually mention it in the prospectus.

Thanks,

Chris

Reply 38

Hey,

Yeah both those courses look fine. You should check out the graduate employment rates on the leagues then start checking out what city looks better.

The industrial placements are always good. Firstly you get paid and secondly it's a years experience right off the bat. Very useful when applying for positions after you graduate.

If the email arrives at the reception they will probably forward it to the CS department I imagine, so a reply will come in a few days hopefully.

I'll check back on this thread later, I have a tonne of work for tomorrow and I haven't really bothered with it up to now.

*Runs away in blind panic*

Reply 39

OP