Applying for Cyber Sec

1.

The teaching has changed quite a bit across the 3 years I've been here. It's been a hard graft and whilst some of my lecturers are so knowledgable and deeply in tune with cyber, others are newer or less suited to teaching than others. Management and some courseworks can be a bit of a mess at times, but nothing has ever gone unfixably badly - just reduced student morale greatly, including mine. I tend to put in a lot of effort to score high at courseworks, and some of this effort has been too much - unreasonably high for a uni course. I would hope these courseworks are changed for subsequent years though, as the staff are trying to tweak them. I agree with the mixed reviews, but I would take them to be just that - mixed. Some of the staff are absolutely incredible and clearly know so much about the field and also care so much about your wellbeing and how you're doing with material. One of our staff members has offered me so many out-of-class opportunities to hone interview and practical skills and partake in national opportunities, whilst another member of staff has helped me work on applications and given me reading lists and ideas to keep furthering my growth. The staff do care about you, and despite shortcomings in lecturing, courseworks and sometimes very disorganised management, I have to be appreciative of what the course HAS given me. Although, good things come to those who ask - if I hadn't talked to staff about struggles, ideas and requests I had, these opportunities would likely not have come my way.

2.

The course is technically-oriented in general. There are plenty of modules on ideas including risk management etc. which take a more soft skills focus, but most modules are practical with practical courseworks.

3.

Two of my friends live an hour away, and have done just fine on the course. They come in for lectures, then head home to do work or stay on campus, have their fun and go back later. They are coping fine with this routine and one of these friends is the most hardworking, clever person I know

4.

Coursework is sometimes very poorly managed in terms of deadlines in relation to when we are taught relevant content, and way too much work for module weightings. Group projects can also be incredibly stressful with classmates who don't put in equal effort. Some lectures can also be a bit dull in some modules, but this might be me preferring technical content.

5.

None of my exams have been closed book - all have allowed you to look at books and reading list material or anything that helps you whilst the exam is ongoing. They are designed to apply the knowledge of what you read, e.g. our maths exams allow you to read how to do a certain question but the question expects you to apply that knowledge in a relatively new format. Our Cyber Systems Architecture exam was the same - although this may have changed since I did it. All exams are designed to be possible and work on your skills, not just blindly follow material.

6.

We have no real relation to CS - but we are linked through student societies. You can meet a lot of CS students in Cyber Society, and a lot of Cyber students through Computer Science Society. We cannot get entry to the CS department and they can't enter the Cyber Security building, however - there is no departmental link and we have no shared teaching. This is probably a good thing as I've heard the security modules on the CS course are not always fun...

7.

Whilst studying, pretty much no one in our year has gone for a cert. I got internships in my first and second year by virtue of academic work and putting in the hours to get my technical skills up. The people who are successful at getting internships (which tends to be a pretty big majority, most people have had a summer placement by third year) tend to be those who are good at applying ideas and have worked on their interview skills, and there are a few careers counselling opportunities available to people who are struggling (although most people in my year have simply done internships on their own steam without any motivation from elsewhere, and got in). Some have got FAANG internships, high-profile security company placements, consulting internships and defence internships - I think the only place we haven't covered is finance, which few people tend to go for and don't tend to get into due to not being a strictly CS degree.

8.

I think it really depends on what kind of person you are. Warwick and Aston have had a few events where we've done collaborative work, and I've met quite a few Aston students who are absolutely lovely people. I think you'll be in good hands either way - I'm totally unsure about Aston's teaching and lecturing though, and I have no clue on their course content. Commuting an hour to Warwick is great, and I have two friends who have done it before and been fine and also had a lot of fun with friends in the evenings etc. However, you have to decide if you think an independent course is worth it - I have enjoyed my time on Cyber because I've put a LOT of work into it and grinded out a lot of coursework and academics to stay on top of my work, which is usually based around plenty of self-research. Some people in my class are a lot less pleased with the course because they either dislike learning independently (if you are like this, Warwick is not for you), or are generally burnt out with the amount of work we do. At the end of the day, the brand image and Warwick name are great pluses, but the course itself does have its problems, like any uni course does. I would recommend figuring out if you're willing to put in time to a uni course for a good grade and a good year - if you are, Warwick's independent and practical style might work for you.