Computer Science degree?

[LimitIsUp]

Anyone done this degree or have an adult dc who has?

Is it interesting and engaging? Or dullsville. What about careers in this field - rewarding?

Asking for ds who is considering which degree at the moment

I would imagine how interesting and engaging a course is depends enormously on your DS's interest in the subject, and the quality of the teaching at the uni. I am perusing with my DS at the moment and we have seen some places offer only one course but others have several variants, ie more specialist earlier on. So if he already has an interest in a particular area he could specialise earlier in that appeals

Comp Sci has become a very popular degree choice - entry to get into one of the top Uni’s for this course are EXTREMELY competitive.

Whilst looking with my son we found a lot of difference in each specific universities approach to the subject. Some are theory heavy some more practical. There are often off shoots into other courses like AI, cyber security, robotics, gaming to name but a few. Some places specialise in one or more.

It would be worth jotting down what areas interest your son and looking at the courses that suit.

Pure comp Sci at one of the top ten Uni’s will require AAA minimum (unless a contextual offer) . They are heavy on maths (at least that’s what we have found) so if he finds maths dull, it’s probably the wrong choice of subject!

He has the academics so that's fine - the difficulty is there was no opportunity to study IT or computer science at his school so it's really hard to gauge his interest in the field having has no experience of studying it at GCSE or GCE

I did bio, chem, maths (P&A) and ended up doing a software engineering degree with only a compsci GCSE to my name. It was about the time the internet went live and I thought “yep, having some of that”!

That won’t be a problem if he has good A level results (most require maths- the lack of CS won’t be an issue) but it might be worth him having a look at some YouTube vids of sample Comp Sci lectures to see if it’s for him.

Some places (Oxford for example) have quite a lot you can dig into.

Good luck.

Sample computer science lectures is a good shout

I have a child who finished a computer science degree in Southampton.
He found the first two years a bit difficult dull to be honest and struggled a bit, many other students had been coding longer than him but he caught up. The third year he could choose from 8 modules and he could pick what he wanted to do more.
Most of his lecturers particularly during the dissertaition were pretty poor to be honest as he wasn't doing something that they were interested in- (they all have their own research going on) but some others on his coarse were luckier and had more help.
He got on a grad scheme, he got a job in the city working in banking so it acheived the result he wanted and enjoyed Uni life.
I think comuting from any Uni I think it makes you pretty employable.

I'd love to know what @mzarour said to warrant breaking talk guidelines on a pretty tame thread

They were subtly touting for business by inviting people to PM them.

My son is halfway through a computer science degree and he loves it. There was an option as others have mentioned to specialise in certain areas. He did comp science at GCSE as it was offered by his college but it's definitely not mandatory but Maths is. They have to love Maths as well because so much of it is rooted in Maths. Wishing your DC luck in whatever they decide to do.

Ah, thanks for the explanation

He does like maths but didn't select it for A level (he is very competent in maths though). He did Chem, biology & psychology. We have found the lack of maths A level has limited his options but Cardiff, Reading, Leicester and some other top quartile universities specify good grades (which he has) but don't demand maths A level. Cardiff were reassuring when I asked them about this and said they teach the maths as it is needed rather than assume prior experience