Computer Science

[HigherNature]

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if you could steer me in the right direction for research.

DS in Y12 wants to do computer science. He is not doing further maths for A level though.. He's doing Music, Maths and Chemistry (and CS of course). High Achiever.

What universities should I be looking into? I know he's doing his own research and talking to his teachers about it, but he's so stressed he doesn't want to discuss it with me. I am not from the UK so would appreciate some direction.

I believe that without further maths, Oxbridge and Imperial are no longer options. I am just wondering which would be the best universities to do Computer Science that perhaps might have musical opportunities too (classical)?

Thank you all.

They also want to see you handle the workload of 4 A levels, especially Oxbridge

This bit isn't true - no university expects four A levels.

@redsquirrelfan no they don't ask for 4 but for FM it is usually a 4th A level as taking 3 A levels including maths and further maths isn't diverse/broad enough and some universities do not want you to have that for certain courses, I think medicine may be one of them.

Cambridge themselves say "Applicants taking four subjects won't normally be at an advantage compared with those taking three, although competitive applicants for STEM courses often have Further Mathematics as a fourth subject." This thread was asking about Computer Science which falls in that category.

According to Cambridge the number of offers made for all applicants who have FM is 59.9% for Computer Science (2019) so that could cover international students who may take it, obviously the other 40% don't have FM however, the number of offers made for A level applicants who have FM is a whopping 98.8%.

@DahliaMacNamara true but if you are taking 4 A levels then at least Cambridge tend to offer on all 4 A levels. They usually specify if they want A*s in certain subjects. His other uni offers are just 3 A levels and entry grades in.

All I am going off is all the information I collated over the last 2 years from MN and trawling through FOI stuff on applicants to Cambridge. Ds is from a Northern state school and no-one could answer his questions. It isn't like they have Oxbridge alumni coming in talking to the about applying.

Yes, I've seen that on the Oxbridge thread. As a state school parent myself, I still find the Cambridge process very opaque, and A A A A* is a very intimidating offer. Oxford seems much easier to fathom to me.

My son is due to start uni to study computer science this year. He’s predicted A*, A A - not studying Further maths. He’s doing Maths, Chemistry and computer science. After extensive course research and deciding he wanted a more ‘hands on’ course which isn’t too maths heavy he narrowed down to Leeds, Southampton, Loughborough, Lancaster Oxford Brookes.

Now we are at the next stage and he has to decide between Leeds and Southampton to firm - brief visit to Southampton before lockdown, but not visited Leeds. His insurance will be Loughborough.

Can’t help with the music.

My son had Loughborough as his insurance last year too. Southampton was one of his 5 and he really liked it. Best facilities of all the universities he visited for Computer Science, interesting talks etc. He has a friend at Southampton doing computer science who seems quite happy. They have compared notes and the Southampton is much less maths intensive than where he is at Warwick. DS visited Leeds but it didn't make it onto his list. He felt the facilities, talks etc were uninspiring.

My DD did Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics for A-level, and is now in her first year at Swansea.

As for music, my DD is a grade 8 singer. She has not been able to join a choir this year (and hates zoom choirs).

For her university choices, she looked hard at looking for choral opportunities. She like Bath’s CS course, but unfortunately the cathedral (abbey?) was for male voices only.

Personally, I thought Edinburgh ticked all the boxes, but the city was not big enough for her and her sister.

My son is doing computer science at Southampton. He didn't do further maths and his predicted grades were 3 A's, but he ended up with A* maths, BB and this was enough to be accepted onto the course. He went to a comprehensive and so maybe the grade boundaries were slightly reduced for his offer but I don't really know. Most of the other students on his course (99% boys)went to private schools.
He was also offered a place at Bath Uni but other Universities such as Imperial college, Durham, and St Andrews needed better grades and I would assume further maths would be pretty standard.
All of the grade boundaries seem to be going up year on year in Computer Science and it has become more competitive to get a place.

Those of you with children who got onto the computer science course, what was it that helped most with getting their uni offer? Was it GCSEs, predicted grades or personal statement? Did your child do lots of coding competitions and work experience which helped secure a place? Thanks

I think GCSEs, personal statement and predictions made the difference. DS had done a lot of reading and extra stuff. He had an interview for Cambridge where he was asked nothing about Computer Science, it was all maths. He didn't get an offer for Durham. When he asked for feedback they said his GCSEs were too low. He had seven 9's, two 8's, a 7 and a 5.

@Yebanksandbraes

Those of you with children who got onto the computer science course, what was it that helped most with getting their uni offer? Was it GCSEs, predicted grades or personal statement? Did your child do lots of coding competitions and work experience which helped secure a place? Thanks

I’m not sure how you’d know what it was that made the difference really. DS had good GCSEs and predicted grades, no coding or work experience and what we thought was a pretty good personal statement and got offers from all the places he applied for.

I’m not sure how you’d know what it was that made the difference really.

That would be my tjought - unsuccessful applicants (especially for Oxbridge, mainly because those universities specifically mention the option of asking for feedback?) are more likely to ask, Why didn't you want me?; successful ones, no need for feedback, really, because they achieved their aim?

Following this because my ds in yr11 is planning to do Maths, CS and physics A levels and then a CS degree.
I dont know what A levels he is on track for, probably A and Bs.

I take the point that you probably don't know what it was that ultimately get them the place. However, I guess I was wondering if there were any patterns or any hints or tips on getting offered a place. Any information is gratefully received, thank you.

@Yebanksandbraes

I take the point that you probably don't know what it was that ultimately get them the place. However, I guess I was wondering if there were any patterns or any hints or tips on getting offered a place. Any information is gratefully received, thank you.

@Yebanksandbraes I think it was my child’s past engagement in the subject through a coding club, GCSE, and A level. This made their statement more heartfelt and thus had a good interview (especially as GCSEs overall not stellar, though maths in the high range). Now they’re at uni, they’re very glad to have taken FM, saying those who haven’t, at a maths heavy course, are finding the first year harder as they’re busy catching up.

Thank you, it seems like a very competitive course to get onto. Lots of applicants seem to have started up their own tech companies or created lots of apps and they all seem to have 4xA* at A-level (if you look on the student room) :(
I know not all will be like that, I guess I'm after some reassurance that it is possible.

If it’s any help, they weren’t drowning in experience, nor had done brilliant stuff along the lines of apps, but had the necessary familiarity with coding as an activity to be able to convincing show the course was for them and then to have a good starting point for a quite tough first year. So I guess I’m saying that as much as your child can, it seems helpful for their own sake (as well as for the statement) to get involved with an extra curricula coding activity.

Don't worry too much about the budding entrepreneurs or claims on TSR. Get your DC to do their research on the kind of thing that's asked for on the courses that interest them.

Durham and York.
Neither demand further Maths, both have excellent musical opportunities.
Don't rule out Oxbridge.

@3Muses

My son had Loughborough as his insurance last year too. Southampton was one of his 5 and he really liked it. Best facilities of all the universities he visited for Computer Science, interesting talks etc. He has a friend at Southampton doing computer science who seems quite happy. They have compared notes and the Southampton is much less maths intensive than where he is at Warwick. DS visited Leeds but it didn't make it onto his list. He felt the facilities, talks etc were uninspiring.

Thank you. I have heard that Southampton has the better facilities. DS doesn’t want too much maths either!

@Yebanksandbraes

Those of you with children who got onto the computer science course, what was it that helped most with getting their uni offer? Was it GCSEs, predicted grades or personal statement? Did your child do lots of coding competitions and work experience which helped secure a place? Thanks

They definitely want to know why you are interested in studying the subject, what interests you about the subject. My DS has done two Computing Olympiad type events, a weeks work experience at a gaming company and a couple of virtual work experience weeks due to the pandemic. Courses that offer a year in industry are very highly regarded by employers. This is the route my DS will take at either Southampton or Leeds, so will end up a 4 year course with the possibility to do a Masters in 5th year.

Also extra reading around the subject, coding etc. My son struck up a friendship with a guy studying for a PhD in Robotics at our local uni in Surrey - they had lots of interesting conversations and hope to meet once lockdown us eased. He has offered a lot of advice and a tour of his lab etc when we are able. We found him by asking on a local community Facebook group.