Doing a Computer Science with Maths Degree

Hi there,
I’m looking at taking a CS with Maths degree at uni but I haven’t taken CS A level or GCSE. Is that a concern?

I also haven’t got the most experience in programming, I know a little bit of Python and luau but that’s really about it. I’ve had work experience in y10 and am doing an EPQ related to CS. I’m very strong at Maths though, always been very good at it and got a gold award in the UKMT, knowing that I’m strong at maths, would CS/Maths be a good degree for me?

Alternative is civil engineering which I wanted to do but figured I might not enjoy working in it and would only really like the course content.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Labradoodle1

You would definitely be fine. Not having CS a level doesn't disadvantage you for a CS degree (I say this as a Maths and CS student who didn't take a level CS)

Reply 2

donsterman13

Original post by Labradoodle1

You would definitely be fine. Not having CS a level doesn't disadvantage you for a CS degree (I say this as a Maths and CS student who didn't take a level CS)

Thank you! What A levels did you take just out of interest and what did you do in regards to putting a PS together without having done CS A level/GCSE? Whereabouts do you see yourself ending up in the future career wise?

Reply 3

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by donsterman13

Hi there,
I’m looking at taking a CS with Maths degree at uni but I haven’t taken CS A level or GCSE. Is that a concern?
I also haven’t got the most experience in programming, I know a little bit of Python and luau but that’s really about it. I’ve had work experience in y10 and am doing an EPQ related to CS. I’m very strong at Maths though, always been very good at it and got a gold award in the UKMT, knowing that I’m strong at maths, would CS/Maths be a good degree for me?
Alternative is civil engineering which I wanted to do but figured I might not enjoy working in it and would only really like the course content.
Thanks :smile:

Hello!

Universities usually do not require nor look for a Computer Science A-Level for their computing courses, so you are a great candidate for a CS/Maths degree with your background in Maths and extra/super-curricular experience in Computer Science.

Most universities, however, do require a Maths A-Level and some top universities express a preference for Further Mathematics over CS. With that in mind, as long as you have a bit of prior exposure to programming/computing, you are unlikely to struggle with the Computer Science contents of a CS/Maths degree because you haven't done an A-level in it. All of the necessary CS content is likely to be taught within the degree.

A personal example:
I took Maths, Further Maths, Biology, and Physics for A-Levels and have done some Python and C# programming for fun in my own time. I am now a happy 2nd year doing a Computer Science degree and I have not felt at any point disadvantaged by my lack of a CS background.

I encourage you to be confident in yourself and pursue the degree you wish to study.

Best of luck,
Polina,
Lancaster University Computing Student Ambassador.

Reply 4

Labradoodle1

Original post by donsterman13

No problem! I took maths, fm and physics. On my personal statement, I talked about maths and cs 50-50 I'd say, not only separately but also highlighting the links between the two subjects. I talked about UKMT, videos I'd watched, books I'd read, programming I'd done (though to be fair I hadn't done a huge amount of programming, similar to you haha) and a whole bunch of other stuff. As for the future, I'm not quite sure! But I am leaning towards a tech role, data science perhaps?

Reply 5

hotpud

Its might not seem helpful, but what do you want to do as a career. Do you want to program computers or do you want to build bridges? No issue doing CS without CS A level but they are two very different subjects.

Reply 6

donsterman13

Original post by hotpud

I think I’d get bored building bridges especially as working as a CE isn’t quite as hands on as I thought it would be in terms of actually constructing it.

I’d probably prefer working with computers, although I’m not quite as interesting in software dev and would rather work in more ML/Data Sci or even pivot more towards finance.

Reply 7

rowr0033

Original post by donsterman13

Hi there,
I’m looking at taking a CS with Maths degree at uni but I haven’t taken CS A level or GCSE. Is that a concern?
I also haven’t got the most experience in programming, I know a little bit of Python and luau but that’s really about it. I’ve had work experience in y10 and am doing an EPQ related to CS. I’m very strong at Maths though, always been very good at it and got a gold award in the UKMT, knowing that I’m strong at maths, would CS/Maths be a good degree for me?
Alternative is civil engineering which I wanted to do but figured I might not enjoy working in it and would only really like the course content.
Thanks :smile:

You can always hit up EdX or Coursera for an Introduction to Comp Sci, during your summer vacation before you enter uni. I recommend following MIT's 2-course Introduction to Programming at EdX (Python) , or Princeton's 2-course Introduction to Programming (Java). You have to pay a nominal fee of about 50 bucks for MIT's course, but you do get a nifty certificate out of it. Princeton's course is cool, because Princeton offers a follow-up series of courses on Data Structures and Algorithms (impt part of Comp Sci) that uses Java, on Coursera.