Predicted A* maths / further maths / compsci

[bamboowarrior]

Where would you recommend they apply for conputer science????🙏🙏🙏

Where did you get that list of top ranking CS unis from @JocelynBurnell ?

@lastdayatschool complete university guide is a good start, you literally google top UK unis for and insert course.

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/computer-science

The personal statement will just be losing its free form format and instead will probably feature questions which focus the questions such as "Motivation for Course – Why do you want to study these courses? ‣ Preparedness for Course – How has your learning so far helped you to be ready to succeed on these courses? ‣ Preparation through other experiences" - which will be the supercurriculars, what have you read/seen/listened to, where did that lead to, what did you learn from it?

UCAS info on it here https://www.ucas.com/file/672901/download?token=VccObZXZ

CUG rankings year-on-year appear to be quite volatile though @DurhamNo - which I'm making a huge assumption is due to one of their criteria being student satisfaction.

e.g. quite a lot of movement in CS between 2023 and 2024 as shown in this image

One of DD's friends visited Durham for history in 2017 and said pretty much the same. He also said that he found the staff rather patronising and snobby, unlike Oxford who were very welcoming.

This was exactly the list I was about to recommend!

Warwick as number 1 with those grades and imperial and Durham close behind.

Guildford, bath, Southampton as back up if an issue and doesn't get the grades.

The thing about uni rankings/listing is that for lots of different reasons people don't want to pick the top ones for lots of reasons. Both my children didn't want London or any Scottish universities. Durham is often discounted along with other universities because of forced room sharing, someone has to share they all can't refuse or because it is small. Warwick is a stand alone campus and usually means a bus ride back to it for year 2 and beyond. Some university cities are just ridiculously priced accommodation wise.

This all calls for a spreadsheet of unis, entry grades, distance from home, accommodation costs and mine even did train travel duration and costed it up. There is also information online about what grades applicants were accepted onto courses with meaning that the majority of successful applicants have grades higher than the entry grades. Worth looking into for a realistic look at chances.

Ds applied for compsci last year with 4 x A stars predicted in Maths, further maths, physics and chemistry, also an A star in his EPQ (quite interesting compsci artefact) and lots of supracurriculars. He applied to Cambridge, Imperial, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Birmingham. He was pooled but not picked at Cambridge, offers from Edinburgh, St Andrews and Birmingham and rejection from St Andrews. It's extremely competitive out there.

I’d suggest looking at the top 20 or so ranked UK courses over the various websites and drilling down into the course structures to find ones with the most appealing modules.

Then think about where to study - city or campus Uni, big city or smaller city / town, travel time etc. Also if applying to Scottish uni as a non Scot you may well be paying for 4 years rather than 3 for a bachelors (think Glasgow may be an exception).

DS predicted A star A star A and eligible for contextual offers got rejected from Edinburgh and Bristol - Bristol suggested applying for alternative courses.

TBF I wasn’t unhappy about the Edinburgh rejection - eldest went there (different course) and I can see why student satisfaction there is often low.

As CS is so brutal and your DS is limited to five British choices, he needs a spectrum of options. One should be a clear insurance choice. I agree with @JocelynBurnell that Lancaster is worth investigating. I would have put Birmingham in this category also, but it sounds like I may be wrong.

Cambridge and Imperial are both outstanding, but they take very different approaches to CS. Cambridge is a world leader in Theoretical Computer Science and this informs the whole of the undergraduate pedagogy. Imperial prides itself on being up to date with the latest applications and again this informs the undergraduate curriculum. Each viewpoint has its advantages and both produce eminently employable graduates; but roughly speaking the Cambridge approach is classical and focussed on first principles, and the Imperial approach is modern and sexy. Any given student is likely to appreciate one much more than the other. Thus I would encourage DS to figure out which suits him best and give the other a miss.

Then maybe apply to one more top School and two very good ones, in addition to the Insurance.

What sort of supra curriculars can you suggest/ recommend??

Thought I'd hop in too....

My son has tried over the past couple of years:

Cyberfirst (cybersecurity) run by NCSC
Coding competitions such as CodoDojo, code club, etc
Harvard CS50 course (free of charge)
BEBRAS competitions
Neural Network courses on Brilliant.

My son is unable to study computer science at school so maybe he has over compensated. One or two could be enough.

Good luck!

@Aurea these sound brilluant. Doing CS A level is a fine choice, but no one not doing it should be disadvantaged. The top CS Schools regard Maths and FM as the key subjects.

@poetryandwine

Thank you!

He had offers from Edinburgh (unconditional) and Durham (AA) this year so his hard work has paid off. He chose the integrated masters at Edinburgh as its fee free being Scottish.

@bamboowarrior ds did some of the above too and also won a national competition (team) and was invited to Bletchley for a day. He built quite a few websites and could program in half a dozen languages. I’ve no idea what else! But he was pretty engaged.

Aurea, the MInf in Edinburgh is a really great programme (and, especially so, when you don't pay have to pay fees!)

The range of course options in the final years is truly incredible:
http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/23-24/dpt/utinfmt.htm

Few (if any) universities in the world would match this.

Such a useful thread. I have a DS who is only in year 10 but is very definitely aiming towards CS. Following with interest!

Sorry, I'm afraid the order is a bit wrong. Imperial's course is a lot more competitive, both in terms of the actual admissions process (online admissions test, interview and often a STEP offer involved with potential for a 4 A Level offer if the student takes 4- common for A star A A A offers) and the actual offer rate (~10%, I think vs 30%+ at the others).

Industry wise and rep wise, Oxbridge and Imperial are in the top tier, then the likes of UCL and Edin. Warwick and Bristol are also v good. Imperial's DocSoc has an unusually high amount of top quant trading firms and tech firms as sponsors and the course places very well to places like Microsoft, Google, Palantir...etc. I know money isn't everything but they do also have the highest grad salary vs the others.

I would suggest that a LinkedIn glance of graduate destinations for those universities can help suss some things out. Going to Edinburgh/Warwick certainly won't mean that someone will be filtered out of FAANG recruitment processes and will def be given a look, but the brand name and stellar industry connections through the society can help.