Indian Student applying to Computer science course (CS) in UK University

Hi!
I am an Indian student studying in CBSE board (it's an Indian board).
I want to apply to a course in CS, preferably CS+AI.
I have done a few projects related to it:
1. Lead my hackathon team to the National Finals.
2. Created a Student's performance prediction using python, SQL and ML.
3. Created a chatbot - an AI-based study planning tool that generates personalised schedules.
4. Attended University of Brighton's Summer School in Computing (online).
Apart from this: I am the president of my school's debate club, where I mentor my juniors and the School Captain. I have some other co-curricular activities too, which have provided me transferable skills.
My predicted grades are:
Physics- 93
Chemistry- 96
Mathematics- 96
Computer Science- 98
English Core- 98
Is this enough for getting an acceptance into good unis? Not aiming for Oxbridge...
I have not sent my application yet. Just wanted to know the odds.
Also, will I get a good scholarship cuz the fees for international students is too high😭!!

What unis are you planning to apply to and what admission tests (eg. TMUA) have you done?

Are there any specific universities that you’re interested in besides simply “good” ones. E.g specific names such as Imperial, Manchester, Lancaster, Surrey etc
Scholarships are quite rare in the UK for both Home and International students. I wouldn’t bank on (no pun intended) on getting a scholarship. I’d check to see if your home country of any reputable 3rd party organisations offer scholarships for international students. Or if you can’t afford the international tuition fee costs, that’ll have to be factored in when applying to universities and it’s probably worth saving up first.
Extracurriculars won’t matter much if at all when applying to universities. You need to focus on super curriculars only (as in only that will be relevant to the course). So the computing related curriculars that you have listed here are relevant, the other stuff (debate club, school captain etc) are not.

Yeah, I plan to apply to following universities:
1.
University of Bristol
2.
University of Manchester
3.
University of Birmingham
4.
University of Edinburgh
5.
University of Glasgow
Oh. Alright. Thanks for your inputs.I also wanted to know if me being an Indian student will affect my chances of acceptance.Any other insight would be highly appreciated 😊Thank you🙏

When you say affect your chances of acceptance, do you mean positively or negatively? I can’t see why you’d be affected negatively on the basis of being Indian, this isn’t Canada.
In terms of international fees, something to bear in mind is that Edinburgh and Bristol have high costs of living. Have you also checked the international fees of each university and done the Maths to see whether you can afford said fees or not (this bit on fees is technically applicable to the other universities too to be fair)?
When it comes to scholarships and bursaries, the universities should have a page on this but then again I wouldn’t bank on it. Are you looking to apply to university this application cycle and are you looking to apply for an undergraduate degree or postgraduate one (I’ll assume undergraduate in your case but it’s just to confirm in terms of scholarship pages)?
Bristol: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/international/fees-finance/ (international)
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search?words=Scholarships+#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Scholarships%20&gsc.page=1 (General?)
Manchester: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/scholarships-and-bursaries/ (general)
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/international/finance-and-scholarships/funding/ (international)
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/international/country-specific-information/india/scholarships/ (India)
Birmingham: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/scholarships-and-funding/postgraduate-scholarships/scholarships-for-2024-entry (general)
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/international/fees/scholarships (international)
Edinburgh: https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/undergraduate (international)
https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/search-scholarships (general)
Glasgow: https://www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships/ (general)
General: just Google the university name and type scholarships/bursaries eg University of Manchester Scholarships. And there should be results, there were lots for Edinburgh for example.

Scholarships for international students aren’t common. Why? There’s less and less funding in the UK days compared to places like Germany or Switzerland. Try to learn a mainland European language like German and look up their universities as well. Switzerland, France and Germany have excellent universities and have real funding for locals as well as internationals.

I just wanted to know since my curriculum is Indian based, will it negatively affect my acceptance chances. However, thanks for clarifying that it will not.
Yeah, it's almost the same for all unis (33000 pounds annually) plus whatever the living expenses.
I checked these websites and as you said undergraduate scholarship is very rare and also, it's very confusing. The eligibility criteria are different.
Yes, this application cycle, for entry in 2026 (September) for an undergraduate degree.
Thank you, sir/ma'am. Your inputs are truly helpful🙏😊.

No worries. Yes, if the tuition cost in similar and your concerned about the cost of the degree, I’d also strongly factor in the cost of living in each area. Somewhere like Bristol on average is going to be a much more expensive place to live in compared to Birmingham for example.
You need to do the maths to see if you can afford university without a scholarship because you don’t want to get yourself into massive debt or overdraft all because of the fact that you couldn’t afford the cost of attending university in the first place and you didn’t do the maths beforehand.

Hi.
Yes, I totally understand that. But in India there are not many opportunities. The sad truth is that the education system is focused more on theory and how much a student can by-heart. So, even students who are not interested in CS, can get a place in premier Indian institutes just by memorising things. And, as for me, I am more interested in CS and maths than other subjects. Sooo yes, I really want to go to the UK. I feel that I will be exposed to a much better environment there.
From your talks, I believe you are from the UK itself. Could you tell me about the overall uni experience and if it was all worth it. If not here, then on any other social.
Thanks again🙏😊

I just wanted to know since my curriculum is Indian based, will it negatively affect my acceptance chances. However, thanks for clarifying that it will not.
Yeah, it's almost the same for all unis (33000 pounds annually) plus whatever the living expenses.
I checked these websites and as you said undergraduate scholarship is very rare and also, it's very confusing. The eligibility criteria are different.
Yes, this application cycle, for entry in 2026 (September) for an undergraduate degree.
Thank you, sir/ma'am. Your inputs are truly helpful🙏😊.

To be honest on the education being too theory and memory focused, I feel the same way about the education system in England (the education system isn’t the same across the 4 nations in the UK with Scotland especially being quite different). I found things (at GCSE level) to simply be a memory game.
I don’t know what things are like in India in comparison to the UK but I’ll assume that the UK on average has better opportunities.
Yeah it would be important in that case to ensure that you can manage the cost of living and all of that.
I pretty much don’t have social media but I can’t communicate offsite in this context regardless.
The university experience is probably what you make of it (not a helpful response I’m aware) and it probably depends on what you’re after. I’ve personally found my university experience to be good so far (at least until recently) and definitely believe it to be worth it. I 100% find it (for me personally) worth it to go to university in the UK and might want to do a masters or potentially in the future get back into maths and do a maths degree/study maths again. I like my university, the student support, the location etc (I won’t mention what university I go to though).
@mesub (who I think studies CS) might be able to give more CS specific insight because I don’t study that subject (or a similar subject).

Alright. Thank You very much but at this stage I don't think it's possible for me to learn another language🥲😭. (I already know 5 and I literally do not have any time or energy)....

Yeah, that depends on you. To maximise the opportunities available to us, we have to learn at least learn German if not one or two more languages.
I’m also from India, and know a few Indian languages. I learnt German straight after the A levels (I went to an international school) spent 10 months learning German. Then went to Germany for the BA and now applied and got in to Cambridge for the masters. If I get funding I’ll go to Cambridge because apparently the name still has a lot of value and Tbf in my specialisation (South Asian history), Cambridge is quite good as well but if I don’t get funding, I’m very happy where I am in Germany and won’t lose much opportunities or anything compared to India.
We just have to put in more effort to make the most of what we have been given I reckon, a bit unlucky yes but knowing so many languages, it’s easier for us to learn more than someone who only knows one language.
That’s just my two cents, hope it helps.

Hello!
Thank you for replying. I will take all you tips into consideration before applying.
How is university of Nottingham? I was thinking of considering this instead of Glasgow.
Thanks for letting me know about your university experience😊🙏. I hope to actually get accepted into one and come to the UK.

I’m already in the UK studying a degree, it’s just in a different subject that’s completely unrelated to CS (and I’m not an international student).
I can’t much for Nottingham, the only thing I can say is that it’s closed down courses en masse in rapid succession. I personally (myself) wouldn’t risk going to Nottingham (or recommend one to go there right now). But that’s just me and I’d recommend looking at the course structure and comparing Nottingham to Glasgow.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/currentstudents/news/shaping-a-future-university-of-nottingham
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6zqe1l7g5o#:~:text=Other%20courses%20being%20suspended%20include,of%20the%20university's%20nursing%20courses.
That being said, I doubt that CS would be affected anyway but I’m not sure and I don’t want to discourage you from applying to Notts.

Hi!
I am an Indian student studying in CBSE board (it's an Indian board).
I want to apply to a course in CS, preferably CS+AI.
I have done a few projects related to it:
1. Lead my hackathon team to the National Finals.
2. Created a Student's performance prediction using python, SQL and ML.
3. Created a chatbot - an AI-based study planning tool that generates personalised schedules.
4. Attended University of Brighton's Summer School in Computing (online).
Apart from this: I am the president of my school's debate club, where I mentor my juniors and the School Captain. I have some other co-curricular activities too, which have provided me transferable skills.
My predicted grades are:
Physics- 93
Chemistry- 96
Mathematics- 96
Computer Science- 98
English Core- 98
Is this enough for getting an acceptance into good unis? Not aiming for Oxbridge...
I have not sent my application yet. Just wanted to know the odds.
Also, will I get a good scholarship cuz the fees for international students is too high😭!!