Computer Science

[W0tnow]

My son is just doing GCSEs. He is interested in CS, Bath will be his first choice. He’ll be doing 4 A levels (CS, Math, Further Math, and a language, though he may drop the language at AS level depending on how he is going).

Is anyone willing to share what uni their child has been accepted into for CS, and at what predicated grades?

I know this is a stressful time for many! I hope you’re all doing ok! X

Can he drop at AS? Most A levels are two years with no AS option unless completely separate.

Hi
Happy to help.
My ds is year 13 and currently applying for CS.
His Gcses were 3 x9 3 x8 and 4x7. Alevels Maths CS and Physics. He is at a comp but is non contextual , you should find out if your ds will be contextual.
His predictions were 3 x A star but to be honest I think the school were being a bit too aspirational he might get A star in cs but maths I think an A is more likely and physics A or B.
So he tried to be realistic in his applications.
Has offers from Birmingham and Southampton of A star AA. Nottingham for AAA and Loughborough for AAB. Still waiting for Bath.
His friend at school is a genuine 4 A star candidate and had offers from Bath Manchester and Birmingham and rejections from Imperial and Bristol.

My DC is on a gap year but will be studying CS at Exeter. He was offered three A's and got three A stars (maths, cs and economics) and an A in further maths.

Ds is at Durham in his second year for computer science. A levels wise he did computer science (did GCSE too) maths, further maths and physics. Absolutely loves maths, plays with maths and numbers.

Predicted 4 A stars achieved 4 A stars. Durham entry (lowest they would take some in on) is A star AA. He also had offers from Manchester, Leeds and Warwick. Durham was his first choice as small and very green, he loves nature.

He started out being interested in white hat hacking, started in year 10 and so had a lot to put on his personal statement.

It's lovely when they know what they'd like to study! Ds achieved 9 x 9s in his GCSEs and an A in the Further Maths qualification taken at the same time. He's predicted 4 x A stars and is studying A level Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. He has offers for Imperial (1 A star, 3 As, Step 2), Edinburgh (3 x A stars) and Birmingham (3 x As, with A in EPQ). Waiting on St Andrews.

Thanks everybody. As for contextual/ non contextual, I have no idea what that means? I’m new to the UK system. We actually moved from Asia to Spain. He’s at a British School here. I get the impression personal statements are regarded quite highly? He does online computer language courses ( python C ++, etc) not much beyond that though. I imagine he’ll get at least 8’s for CS, math and physics at GCSE, possibly one 9 (maybe 2?) in there somewhere? As for the rest, 7s I guess. He’s smart, but does bugger all study. No way will he do an EPQ! I think unless he suddenly develops a passion for study!

I suspect Bath is aspirational? I’m not sure he will be achieving A* for all subjects. But I like the sound of plenty of other universities. C S seems to be very popular.

Probably worth taking a look at the individual University Applicant 2023 threads on The Student Room (TSR) website forums.

A lot of those contain Offers spreadsheets - these will give you an idea of the grade offers being made for Computer Science this year.

It's a very competitive subject from the threads I've been following.

I didn't realise he would be an international student. The contextual/non contextual wouldn't be relevant in that case. I dont know whether international students would be more or less likely to get offers than UK students with the same predictions, possibly more likely but I don't know for sure.

Oh sorry no, he is local. He has a British passport and has been in the EU since December 2020 so is eligible for local fees.

Thanks. That’s helpful, I will.

EU students pay international fees at UK university, the passport doesn't change that.

He may need to defer a year, depending on how long you have been in the UK, so check that.

Brexit etc

also, there is no AS level in UK schools, so be aware of that

Hi OP. Bath CS was in clearing last year. I know this because a friend's DC was accepted on results day, having not previously applied.

For Brits living overseas (like me) if you were already out here Dec 2020, you have a grace period. It ends in 2028.

Ds is in his first year at Nottingham. His offer was A*, A, B which he got ( economics, cs, maths)
Predicted grades were lower but he was adamant. Second choice was Lancaster which offered BBB.

@Nimbostratus100 Pupils in Northern Ireland do A/S levels still - not that it seems to be of any benefit to them with university admissions departments

He’s definitely a home student, as he meets the criteria @Dolphinnoises

I’ve just looked up contextual offers and that definitely wouldn’t apply to him.

@wizzler thats interesting. I’m still getting to grips with applying to university before you receive your actual grades. Do you mean that your son applied to Nottingham with predicted grades at lower than the requirement? How does that work, even if you exceed your predicteds, given you get your offer before you get your final grades?

Thanks. Err. What is clearing? (We really are flying a little blind here!)

I would email the admissions departments of the unis you are interested in and check how they would view his status as some universities will differ on how they view applicants applying from abroad.

My son has also applied for computer science this year. He's Scottish so his qualifications are different from A levels (advanced highers).

In UCAS points, he has the A level equivalent points of 5 A stars (4 this year and one taken a year early in maths). He has offers for the integrated masters from Edinburgh (unconditional) and Durham (AA). He is still waiting to hear back from St Andrews and Glasgow and was rejected from Cambridge post interview.

@W0tnow Ds was predicted BBC. You can apply to whichever uni you choose, but makes sense to take predicted grades into account. Ds was sure he would do better than predicted and luckily was proved right.

Once results come out, some universities find that they have places left unexpectedly, because students have opted to go elsewhere and/or didn't get the grades needed for their offers. "Clearing" is a completely chaotic and fast-paced process where students (normally those without a place) can try to snap up those remaining places.

If you're new to the whole system, I'd recommend spending a couple of hours poking around on ucas.com, which has a great "applying to university" page with lots of info!

Just a side note, Wales still do AS levels, so it's not true there are no AS levels in UK schools.

Just for info, and there are loads of these for all different unis and courses you can search, this is the predicted grades/achieved grades for Bath Computer Science (G400 UCAS code, that code is universal for all unis offering BSc Computer Science)

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/773436/response/1847114/attach/5/206%20Information%20for%20Disclosure.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

You can still do AS in Further Maths too.

Interesting that Bath CS was in clearing last year, as DS still waiting to hear from them.

Offers so far are A star AA / A star A star B from Southampton and AAB from Cardiff. Rejected from Bristol (although would have qualified for a contextual offer) but offered the chance to apply for two other courses instead. Predicted A star A star A.

Mine did maths, further maths and computing at A level and got A*AB respectively. Computer science at Leeds, now doing well for himself and very happy in his line of work. It's a great option OP which seemingly leads to a huge array of career options some of which earn really well! I wish him the best x

math, biology, computing = A-levels
3 offers were ABB; one of those was conditional on A being in CS. Another offer was unconditional.

DS wrote his personal statement from scratch in about 90 minutes a week before it was due. He had invented/inflated GCSE results (2020), like everyone else in his cohort.