Computer Science - any experience?

[Rainyskies]

DD wants to do computer science at University. We’ve done lots of visits (because she was not sure what sort of course/Uni she wanted) and have narrowed it down, but she still hasn’t decide on her final list which is holding her back from submitting her UCAS.

Preferences

• A city Uni (or a campus close to a lively city) - prefers urban to countryside - not Scotland as too far

• Computer Science courses with software engineering emphasis (rather than a maths/data focus) and a games design module is a bonus

Predicted BBB at the moment
(teachers say she is working at A in lesson but exam technique lets her down, although they will be focusing on exam practice next term which should help. However I don’t want to push her into going for A* Unis if that is unrealistic and will be stressful for all of us).

I hope the fact she is studying Maths and Computer Science will help. Could that possibly get her a lower offer?

All the posts on this board seem to be about students predicted A*s and off to RG / Oxbridge etc! So what are good options for B grade students?

Is it worth applying for any Unis who want As, or is there no point?

Any experience of your daughters doing Computer Science degrees? I keep reading about how the tech industry is male-dominated and wonder how DD will find it once she is outside the safe environment of school.

The current favourites:

York Uni
Uni of Liverpool

more realistic:

Uni of Sussex
Manchester Metropolitan

possibly Leicester but we missed the open day
possibly Aston Birmingham but she liked Manchester and Liverpool better

Thank you for any advice!

Hi all,
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I agree it does seem with CS you have to look very closely at the course content - I had no idea when we started this journey just how much variety there would be in the courses.

Reading - good location and a good Uni but DD thought CS course content looks more data/maths heavy so she had discounted it.

Lancaster - we did consider but it’s very far north of where we live so would add a lot to travelling costs and it’s a campus Uni - I heard that you really need a car to get about?

Sheffield - is A star AA, so had discounted, but Sheffield Hallam could be an option instead, we’ll look at that thanks. Good to hear positive feedback and they have one more open day coming up!

Aberystwyth - beautiful part of the country, but think DD wants to be somewhere more urban.
Cardiff or Swansea are options we hadn’t considered though.

Although she likes the idea of a computer games module, she says she wants to do a general computer science degree to keep her options a bit broader.

She has a lot more research to do but I feel we are narrowing it down. Also, since I have shown her that she has a good choice of Unis without needing A star grades, she seems a lot happier.

This is great source of information 🙂 why didn’t I post here months ago? 🤦‍♀️

I think other places that my DC looked at included Essex, UEA and Kent.

Oxford Brookes - we had discounted it as it’s on the Wheatley campus which is a way out of Oxford. But I see their Computing Dept is due to move to new facilities on the Headington campus in Sept 2024 which is much closer to Oxford. But they did caveat that it might not be ready by September… the Women in Tech group looks good though.

Hi! I studied CS at Sheffield Hallam (a few years ago like!) but it was great! I did a sandwich course (don’t know if they’re still a thing nowadays!?). Lovely university, right opposite the train station. Was mainly guys on the course but I still had a fantastic time, and found the majority of the guys who were on the course with me an absolute lovely bunch. I graduated with a 2nd class honours and although don’t work in IT (as such), was told it’s a good degree to have as can open doors into lots of different industries.

My son hs done his UCAS for computer Science (althought with AI or cybersecurity focus). He is doing a BTEC in computing and A level Maths. Predicted grades of Dstar D and B for Maths.

So, in UCAS points the Dstar D is equivalent to A star A

He applied to Sussex, East Anglia, Oxford Brooks and Sheffield,

Rejected from Sheffield
Offer of DDB from Sussex and same offer from East Anglia
Offer of 112 UCAS points from Oxford Brookes.

We are yet to add another, but will try and find one with something between the two offers. Maybe Cardiff or Swansea.

I hope that helps a little. It can be hard with CS as the grades needed for the top universities are so high. We applied to Sheffield as I didn't want to think we hadn't tried, but not surprised by the rejection and DS is fine with it.

Also, I don't know if the BTEC is less attractive to some universities than A levels.

This is a great attitide, @ComSci I hope you have found something helpful on this thread