Studying Computing at Uni?

[Lara53]

DS1 is in Yr11 - predicted all 8s and 9s at GCSE.

He’d like to know what studying computing at uni. Does anyone study something else alongside - maths, chemistry etc?

What would people recommend for work experience?

Are there any good /free online courses he could do to build up experience?

Which uni? What is the course like? What is the uni like?

Thanks

That’s a lot of question questions, does your DS have a preference for a location in the U.K. There are quite a few universities that offer Computing Science, the biggest decision is computing science vs software engineering. One more theoretical vs. practical though both will teach programming.

There are some joint degrees but you’d need to look at the prospectuses of each university to find out what’s available.

A levels in maths and physics would be good, computing A level as well but not strictly necessary as it’s not always available.

There are quite a few good online programming courses - suggest that your DS looks at some of the python ones.

Strathclyde and Glasgow offer great degrees in computing. Including integrated masters degrees.

Work experience as an intern over summer holidays while at university is a good inroad to finding a good graduate job.

Also look at degree apprenticeships in software engineering.

Thanks. Yes I realise there were lots of questions 😀

We were brainstorming really.

We live in Surrey and his initial thoughts are he doesn’t want to be more than 3ish hours away. Not at all keen on London.

He dislikes Physics - current choices for A Levels - Chemistry, Maths and Computing. He’s also very keen on biology, but can only take 3.

Thanks for your thoughts

Uni of Surrey and Southampton have v.good reputation.
Let him check udemy for free courses.
Coventry has v.good somp sci department as well

Does he already have special interest in any aspects of it? Aoftware, hardware or networks perhaps?

Further Maths is useful, depends where he wants to apply, and how much he loves maths!

My ds (y13) sat down with a few league tables and the REF, crossed off campus unis and London, and applied to the 5 that seemed to be reasonably well-ranked and appealing to him (Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester). Is doing Maths, FM and Computing and has 5 offers.

All the universities have online prospectuses - some give a decent amount of info about their course content and structure. There are maths and computing degree courses.

I would say just start having a look around at the websites - maybe order a paper prospectuses from a couple of places he's heard of, or enjoyed visiting, and just begin to get a feel for things. Try not to get too fixed ideas yet

There's a GCSE 2019 thread in Secondary if you want to say hello there

Check out the subject league tables on Complete University Guide.
Within 3 hours of Surrey (and not London) top Unis for Computer Science would be:

Cambridge
Oxford
Warwick
Southampton
Bristol
Bath

He'd be looking at offers of A*AA/AAA for most of those unless he's at a school eligible for contextual offers.

Even if he doesn't want to go to a London uni he could try out some free taster courses there:
london.ac.uk/taster-course-search/taser_course_subject/73

Southampton do a good computing summer course: www.taster.ecs.soton.ac.uk/electronic-and-computer-science-taster-course It's not free, but there are bursaries.

If he's interested in Cyber Security then The National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ) offer free summer schools: www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/cyberfirst-courses

Have a look at the CyberFirst courses advertised online. DS2 did one at Lancaster last year and loved the content. It was completely free and he lived in the student residences with all food provided.
He will be applying next year and so far his choices are Cambridge, Durham, York, Bath and Manchester.

My DS is doing a degree that is Maths and Computer Science, he is in his 2nd year and seems to like it. DD is Y11 and wants to do Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) so they are both at very different ends of computing degrees, it depends on your your DS's interests and wants.

Thanks all. Lots to think about. Surrey uni definitely too close to home - 20 mins by car so he’d be bringing his dirty washing home all the time. Southampton definitely of interest - DH and I met there in 1994 😵

Hi I'm a Southampton Computer Science graduate (2017)
My experience:
Really good course - i went in with 0 CS experience and could get all the help and support I needed. It was really tough though. I was weak at the theoretical mathematics (think Turing Machines, Non-polynomial etc) but of all the courses I applied for (all RG needing A*AA) it was the most balanced between practical computing, work place skills and theoretical study. Most people land really good internships which helps with not needing a job in term time. There's choice between bachelors and master like a lot but I have first hand experience of switching between the two courses and it's super easy. Most people got to do really interesting 3rd year projects too, some unis seem to clip wings on this.
There's a scheme called HeadStart run by the engineering development trust. I did a week long CS experience through them that meant I knew that was what I wanted to study. I then did a year in industry before uni to get work place experience through edt as well. I'd recommend looking into those as it can be more motivating to know the career you're interested when you're struggling with bits of the course.

As to leavers destinations: most of my course mates are doing PhDs or I'm very good graduate jobs. A lot are on £35k+ including myself.

Southampton comp sci, I think, is quite strongly linked with its (equally excellent) electronics department. Which is how come I went to their open day a couple of years ago as DD was applying for the latter. The one thing I remember was that they definitely didn't require comp sci A levels - the guy giving the talk joked that it was fine if they had done it, they'd spend the first term knocking their bad programming habits out of them or words to that effect! I'm sure they have a huge variety of options but possibly they're more at the hardware, chip design, robotics end of the spectrum which might not exactly suit someone who doesn't like physics (I got the impression their preferred A levels in addition to mandatory maths) would be FM, physics and CS ... but I would think your DS's choices would be fine).

Just a side-thought to throw in - if your DS is also keen on sciences but likes writing code (computers as a means to an end rather an end in themselves IYSWIM) he might just want to bear in mind that there's an increasing amount of in silico science nowadays... I've got chemistry degrees, and have spent over 30 years developing molecular modelling/computational chemistry/biology software.

Worth looking at degree apprenticeships too, if you/he doesn't fancy the debt.
Cap Gemini have a very good one linked to Aston Uni:
www.capgemini.com/gb-en/careers/jobs/digital-technology-degree-apprenticeship-2019/

Sorry to digress a little OP but:
Is there a difference between Computer science and Computing science?

Headstart link: www.etrust.org.uk/headstart/courses
There's one at York this summer (which is only just 3+ hours away from Surrey by train) and has an excellent reputation for Computer Science and graduate recruitment from their courses.