Computer Science 2026

[SherlockJones]

DS is in y12 and we have been to a few open days recently as he is hoping to study computer science stating Sept 26. He is doing Maths, CS and Economics A-levels and we have looked at Reading, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Royal Holloway so far.

We also plan to visit York and Cardiff when the open days start again in Sept/Oct. He would like a campus uni.

I think he is predicted an A in CS and Bs in Maths and Economics.

Does anyone have any experience of rhe unis henis looking at or any advice in general?

Hi
My DD got an offer for Computerscience AI in Royalholloway .It would be really helpful for us to decide if any of you can share some reviiews or experience about this university,teaching quality and other extracurriculars.

Anyone heard about offer days from Manchester uni or Liverpool? We've had them through for Newcastle and Sheffield, but he visited those recently so doesn't feel the need to go back. He tells me that's it, but it wouldn't surprise me if he realizes he did have an email... After the day has been and gone.

Nope, waiting for Mancs OHD update here, that'd be useful this side of Easter but looking unlikely.

I heard on another forum that Mancs Uni weren’t going to do offer holder days this year (think that was for CS). Not sure how accurate that is though.

How odd. Wonder why? Annoying if so as weighing up Mancs against Warwick and would be very helpful for perspective.

@pinkdelight no idea, may be worth emailing the uni to find out.

yeah I did that earlier. great minds!

We've still not heard from Warwick, though DS2 is contextual and without TMUA, so possibly waiting for the Jan TMUA results to be out before an offer or otherwise. However, if it's not to be, it's not to be, we'll see. Obviously he can't respond to current offers until he has an answer from all 5 unis.

Reply from Manchester - they're only holding one OHD and that will only be for those with a widening participation/contextual flag. They'll do a webinar in March and there are campus tours but that's all. Glad DS went to the open day at least but shame not to be able to compare it with other places via an OHD. Plus them saying it's because of 'limited capacity' isn't great when a concern about the uni is size/number of students and it adds to the sense they might take too many. Think it's still his frontrunner though, let's see how other OHDs go...

How are we all doing re offers? Good I hope. Son has received standard offers for four out of five unis. On the table are Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield and Southampton. He only really wants to go to Bristol. I almost forced his hand to apply to Birmingham. And Southampton was added at the last moment when we should have added Surrey instead as a clear safety. He didn’t want to apply to Manchester, Bath, Warwick, Durham etc. So hours of my research proved to be pointless in the end! We have offer days booked but he only wants to attend his favourite but I will drag him round in the hope that he considers each of them in the round before deciding on the firm/insurance.

Hopefully he’ll get Bristol and all will be well. But the others are good too and some must be lower offers so one will make a solid insurance. Did he not want to go for Surrey in the end? We’re still waiting on KCL, but it’s not high on his list so will likely firm Mancs and insure Warwick, but will see how mocks and OHD goes. Well done on all the research, forcing his hand and dragging him around so it’s not all or nothing. He’ll thank you for it one day!

Imperial
Is good

@pinkdelight he did like the idea of Surrey (hadn’t visited) but then I thought that it would probably be available through clearing and so if all else failed, he could get it that way. Whether that was sensible or not, I don’t know! In the end, it was just so stressful as he wasn’t really engaged in the process and wasn’t even going to use up all his choices!

Hopefully, KCL will come back with an offer soon but great to have a plan for the likely firm/insurance. Like you, we will wait to see how the mocks go etc.

That makes sense re. clearing. Even though DS has an offer from Lancs, I'm still thinking that'll probably be in clearing so less need to use it for insurance. Gotta to have options in mind for when results day looms! Good that you made him use up all the choices, nothing's lost by using them, and could prove very useful.

DS has Durham, York, Southampton and Nottingham Trent. All very generous offers. Still waiting on Warwick. Hopefully now the TMUA results are out, he should hear soon.

He's only intending to visit his intended firm and insurance choices for offer holder days, though he visited all except York before applying anyway.

We still have Manchester as the firm choice. But it's aspirational - he's borderline for all 3 a-levels, and if he gets the lower grade on any one of them, I don't think Manchester will accept him.
Torn between Sheffield and Liverpool for 2nd choice. Liverpool is closer (but not too close), and he's almost certain to get the grades. Sheffield want slightly higher grades, and is a pain to get to, but maybe has the better reputation? How do you judge that? All else is pretty equal - both good student friendly cities.

Manchester offer grades are so high, it will make for a tense results day. Sheffield and Liverpool are both great cities/unis. Agree Sheffield has better rep for CS but I hear it said that outside of the top few 'target' unis, it makes less difference and opportunities are more about the projects and work experience built up than a uni name, so if he's happier insuring Liverpool, then go for that.

But if there's a good chance he'd get the grades for Sheffield and likes the look of the course, insure that. Wonder if Liverpool cs went into clearing last year? Maybe look into that as it if it's in clearing, it could be an unofficial back-up. Also helpful to know if Sheffield traditionally have any flexibility on results day. They seems to have more flexibility generally than Manchester, with their different offers depending on subjects/EPQs taken. Good luck deciding - so stressful!

Thanks Pinkdelight, that's in line with my thoughts. How would I find out if Liverpool went into clearing last year? (Although accomodation is apparently an issue there, so he may pick Liverpool rather than risk it).

thetab.com/2025/08/14/all-the-russell-group-unis-where-students-can-still-claim-places-through-clearing-in-2025 says "Liverpool is offering 211 courses in lots of fields – particularly in biological sciences, computer science, and law. You can sign up for degrees in egyptology and game design." Not definitive and no guarantees ofc, but useful to factor in. Do you mean accommodation is a factor in Sheffield?

It could be that OHD will have a larger cohort Vs those that actually make the grade and will be accepted. It's known as a well resourced Uni.

Oh am sure OHD has larger cohort than acceptances almost by definition, but it doesn't stop other unis managing to hold them. It's not that big a deal for DS, just a bit odd that unis with the same size intakes and smaller facilities like Warwick are having OHDs and Manchester can't (or won't) run one.

Thanks pink delight, that's very helpful. Accomodation is an issue with Liverpool - everyone with an offer can apply now - we did it 2 weeks after it opened and they had already closed applications for his first choice accomodation. So he thinks anyone coming through clearing will be left very little choice. They will be likely to offer greenbank which he definitely does not want - it's quite far out and his reason for closing Liverpool is it's practically part of the city. Sheffield - insurance applies after results (along with those coming through clearing. But from what we can tell, accomodation is less of an issue there).

Did anyone’s DC look at UEA? Saw a course on artificial intelligence there but these courses are so new that it’s hard to see if they’re any good. Or a bit faddish.

The unis we visited that had AI degrees said you can start with cs and switch if you want to specialise, which seemed more sensible to me than specialising from the off, but fine to do that if they know that AI is definitely their main thing.

Thanks @pinkdelight My DS particularly likes philosophy and the ethical side so this may be a good fit.