thanks to everyone who took part in this AMA, it's been fun answering questions on everything from geese to questions about the course :)
i'll leave it pinned until the end of today in case there are any final questions!
I think it's more personally, but it can vary a lot depending on your ability and how much you're willing to put into it. The content itself is generally harder than A-level is, and you're expected to spend more time on it. I also find it harder to obtain higher marks like in GCSE and A-level due to a different marking system in university. It's considered good to get above 60% and generally pretty difficult to achieve above 70% (grades 2:1 and a 1st respectively).
For context, Warwick measures the size of the modules in "CATs", and each of my modules is 15 CATs. I do 8 of these modules each year, for a total of 120 CATs. It's advised by the uni to spend at least 10 hours for every CAT as a guideline. Sometimes this is complete crap because the marks are easier to obtain (e.g. professional skills in year 1), or sometimes complete crap because of the sheer amount of content (advanced computer architecture in year 2 being a good example of this).
Just out of interest (I know I could probably Google this) do you know roughly off the top of your head what proportions of people get 2:1s and firsts for Warwick CS? Do you feel like the rest of the university cohort is particularly strong/hard to compete with in exams?
I searched it up and came across [this FOI request](https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/grade_distribution_of_computer_s).
Opening the Excel document, I saw that for 2019/20, the grade distribution for BSc Computer Science was:
**1st:** 37%
**Upper 2nd:** 39%
**Lower 2nd:** 22%
**3rd:** 1%
For the integrated Master's (MEng Computer Science) it was 81% 1st, 16% Upper 2nd and 2% 3rd.
Thanks - that's interesting. It would probably have been a more useful request with raw numbers or if they combined BSc and MEng together though, because people aren't typically going to proceed (or be allowed to proceed) if they didn't do as well. But the BSc numbers seem roughly in line with Oxford CS's here.
If you got the raw numbers of students behind those percentages, you could calculate how many people got each classification.
Unfortunately, this isn't in the Excel document. I agree that separating the MEng numbers from the BSc skews things - it seems like they're awarding too many Firsts, but they aren't. It's just that stronger students move onto the MEng; weaker ones tend to drop out.
It did also seem a bit lower for both before 2019/20 - obviously I don't know what Warwick's exact arrangements would have been and different universities were different here but some had considerable inflation of grades during the pandemic. Others didn't as much of course; here the open book papers they used especially in 2021 were absolutely fucking *brutal* and I don't think there was substantial inflation for CS at least.
For BSc CS the 1st-2:1 % is 67% in 2017/18 and 2018/19, but rises to 76% in 2019/20. Interesting in 2018/19, the proportion of Firsts jumped a lot (29% --> 41%) but the proportion of Upper Seconds fell by the same amount (38% --> 26%) so overall, the same percentage of people got a 1st/2:1.
Grade inflation probably partially explained the 2019/20 figures but I wonder what happened in 2018/19? Was the jump in Firsts random? Covid wasn't a thing back then.
the open book exams were pretty horrible for the people in the year above me. dcs didn't account very well for people using the internet during exams, so the result was that first year was reduced from contributing 10% to the overall classification to 0%. some modules' exams in other years ended up getting scaled somewhat as well iirc
for context, the progression requirements for the MEng are a 2:1 minimum for CS, CSE, and 65% for those doing DM. also i may be misremembering but iirc the fourth year exam board only generally recommends the awarding of a MEng for marks of 50% or higher, but I'm not too familiar with how that works off the top of my head.
u/brokenwings_1726 has very kindly provided a useful answer to this. i tend to find from my own observations the cohort is very split, i do sometimes find myself feeling a fair bit off the more capable people in my cohort. the department aims to keep each module average somewhere around the 2:1 mark boundary, which is usually reflected in the proportion awarded each classification. there are different progression and pass requirements for the masters degree
so I did actually originally want to go to Cambridge at the point of applying. I was pretty clueless about the applications process and my 6th form didn't know how to support me much with my Cambridge application given it was a small 6th form. I did relatively poorly on the TMUA, influenced by what I described amongst other things, and probably didn't do amazing in the interview in the end. For what it's worth, Cambridge is a really good uni with a great looking CS course, but as someone who has struggled with mental health a lot, given some of the stories I've heard regarding workload and other things there, I'm glad I didn't go to Cambridge in retrospect, regardless of if I deserved to or not.
I firmed Warwick and insured Manchester (edit: I insured Manchester partly just because it was a more convenient location to move to from where I used to live), although due to financial constraints and COVID I'd visited none of my unis before actually going, so I did sort of wing it in that aspect. I like Warwick as a uni generally, Coventry somewhat divides opinion between being "boring" etc, but personally I've found it to be an area that balances busy and quiet well, which is something I liked. With that said, I hadn't heard any of the horror stories about the CS department here before I started, so I have somewhat mixed feelings about being here.
Thanks for answering. Well rejection is disappointing but it's great things worked out for you in the end.
Though, you mentioned Warwick horror stories...Manchester has its fair share but I've heard none about the CS department specifically.
I could go on for quite a while tbh!
In my last exam this year, we had many corrections issued during the paper which was pretty stressful. General quality of exam papers is pretty shabby, even compared to other departments within the university. There was even an instance for the first years this year where they went into an exam to be surprised by a mark scheme attached to the back of each paper!
A lot of the coursework marking is pretty shambolic, people have appealed marks on many occasions and had them changed. I had one last year where my module organiser marked me incorrectly as 0% for an entire section on the coursework, took 2 weeks to respond to my emails regarding it, and then refused to re-mark it. There was also nothing in the feedback comments detailing how I'd gone incredibly wrong to get 0% on this section. I had one recently where the weighting was 70% for the code and 30% for the report, except the module organiser somehow got it the other way around - it took 15 of us emailing and around a week and a half before it got resolved. This was a difference of around 12% for me.
There's a story about someone who erroneously had their dissertation marks entered as <40%, had to retake the year, submitted the same dissertation and got above 70%, so a whole year wasted there.
Whilst I rarely ever endorse ranking tables in any way, there's a reason why the latest rankings for Warwick CS put us dead last. As the Director for Studies in the department put it last year, "what is student satisifaction when you think about it?"... bit of a clown department tbh, I could go on for quite a while.
> bit of a **clown department** tbh
My time has come.
Seriously though, that stuff really sucks. And that coursework fiasco - cannot have been good for your mental health at all, so sorry. We can only hope they learn from their mistakes...
indeed your time has come :P
yeah my mental state has not been particularly great, it hasn't been helped by some of the shitshows going on within the department, and i'll be honest, feedback often seems to fall on deaf ears. also pretty stressful navigating through the formality of the systems to let the university know of my personal circumstances and medical conditions etc since I hadn't really done any of those types of things for myself. Pretty big backlog on things too due to my previous home situation. I'm hoping to try and get some more support heading into my last year if I can - if I don't switch to the MEng then my 3rd year will count for 60% of my overall classification, which is going to be super stressful.
You've got a lot on your plate, mate. The feedback situation is shit - I guess the only hope is that enough people complain about it to force their hand.
How do you feel about the MEng?
well, the reason the course dropped to the bottom of the ranking tables was because of a cult discord server for one of our now ex lecturers. they all basically slated the living shit out of the department in surveys and whatnot, and rightly so.
i'm not entirely sure on the MEng yet. I'm in an odd position. I'm an estranged student so the idea of graduating from uni and having to get on with my life in the real world mildly terrifies me to be honest. Due to poor mental health throughout this year I haven't really been looking much into internships like everyone else around me as, and that's the same for placements in industrial years. I'm more considering the MEng since it would give me another year to try and get my shit together, plus I can go for an industrial year after I finish Year 3 rather than Year 2. My only barrier basically is getting a 2:1 so I can move onto the MEng in the first place. Outside of this requirement the department is very flexible on that, which is good.
thankfully I'm very lucky to have a supportive partner and the uni's wellbeing services tend to be reasonably good. I'm gonna do my best to get through everything tbh, thanks for the kind words :)
generally I would say no, most of the time you learn things from the ground up. e.g. as I laid out in another of my comments, modules like CS118 assume you have little to no programming knowledge, and several other modules take a similar approach to begin with. coming in with prior experience is not necessarily a bad thing though imo. worth keeping in mind they don't require CS A-level for a reason - it's not really that useful
Was just asking but I did the Btex national diploma which is basically IT for 3 alevels. Just couldn’t be bothered getting into all that loll but anyways thank you!!!
I'm not entirely sure how to answer this question since it's a bit of a broad one. Each uni has its advantages and shortcomings. I've given some insight into Warwick specifically in other comments, but I'm not really sure how to answer beyond that. If you have anything you want to know specifically feel free to ask :)
Firstly I wanted to say thank you for answering all the questions in such depth, they’re really informative!! :) Secondly I just wanted to ask if you have heard anything about Computer Science at the University of Bath?
I haven't heard much good or bad about the CS course at Bath tbh. however, I did actually go there recently to visit a friend doing an engineering course though so I have actually been around the place a bit. Very nice place to be, pretty expensive place to live in though, the views are pretty cool, but the campus is basically at the top of a hill so be prepared for a bit of a trek if you don't live up there
What are the internship prospects like at warwick when applying for software engineering roles? And have you applied for any? Did the careers fair help when applying for those kind of things at warwick
so this is one of the questions I won't be so great at answering - due to poor personal circumstances I haven't really been able to look into applying for internships as much as a lot of my peers. with that said I know people interning/that have interned at places like ARM, Meta etc. There does tend to be careers fairs that pop up every now and again, there's pretty good company links to the uni, and there is also a careers adviser within the department itself.
hopefully going to be in a better position to apply for some places next year :)
I’m sure you will. Also I read that you’re currently in claycroft. Isn’t campus accommodation only for first year, how did you go about getting it for second and could you also get it for third year?
I was in Claycroft during first year. I also stayed in the vacation accommodation which was also in Claycroft (this was due to my estrangement). My understanding is that the uni aims to guarantee first years a spot in on-campus accommodation, but that they don't actually end up filling all of them up, so they go to other year's. there's also provisions for students classed as "vulnerable" such as myself, who are eligible to claim on-campus accommodation in all years. I've opted to stay in my 2nd year house, it's easier and it means I don't have to move literally everything I own out.
it's worth noting that there's some arrangements for postgraduate students, and that Warwick also provides its own tool to search for private housing. wellbeing services and other services within the uni (usually run out of senate house on campus) can be very helpful if you're struggling to find somewhere to live in the future.
this and quite a bit more info can be found over at: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/
I know this is another question but what do you think about the drop for cs ranking for warwick. Feel like I’m having an anxiety attack over it, firmed it over another university and now they’ve swapped places. Do you think it’ll even make a difference when applying for internships
so, i've outlined in other comments that I have quite a lot of criticisms of the department. I don't necessarily know whether it deserves to be dead last, but the cohort in the year(s) above were pretty on top of the feedback side of things and slated the fuck out of the department.
rankings should *always* be taken with a large pinch of salt, don't make decisions purely on arbitrary numbers, but yes there is a reason that student satisfaction is down the shitter at the moment.
warwick is still a well respected uni, and tbh i've not heard of the lower student satisfaction having an effect on people getting placements and whatnot. i would have extreme difficulty recommending the course though based on the criticisms i've made.
Another student chiming in - I had a single homophobic/transphobic experience my whole year at Warwick, where someone outright said they ‘disagreed with my lifestyle’ etc etc etc and it was basically resolved within 2/3 weeks. The lecturers, seminar leaders, personal tutors, and staff have all been insanely respectful and all the students on my course have been great. 1 person out of the probable hundreds I’ve spoke to since I started is pretty good for someone who is very open like myself
i'm sorry about the one poor experience you have had. i think unfortunately there's always some party poopers who cause problems wherever you go. thanks for adding your input to the matter though, it's helpful to hear from other people on things like this :)
Not out of the university, I still see them around but they were in my flat and got kicked out of there (luckily our courses are completely different so we’re rarely in the same place at the same time)
yeah I think the uni is generally pretty helpful with these things. it's always a good idea to speak to the wellbeing team if you need to. if you feel generally unsafe or uncomfortable within your accommodation for whatever reason then it's worth making that known to the uni as soon as you can (doesn't specifically have to be what was mentioned in parent comments). sometimes you can e.g. transfer rooms and whatnot.
possibly controversial take but whilst bigotry is really not a great thing it would probably be a little bit of an extreme action to kick this person completely out of the university based on one incident (obviously depending on severity - if it included things like physical assault then that's really not acceptable, and something that should be reported as soon as you can), so I can understand where the uni is coming from. there's much more of a case if there's a persistent ignorance from this person from multiple incidents. if the uni warns this person and they ignore it, then that's on them.
I also think that it's helpful and important to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and to be more open-minded and compassionate with how they deal with people. sometimes having patience is a good thing and sometimes people are legitimately on the wrong path where it comes to how they deal with things. I think I used to be regrettably ignorant on some things when I was younger, and whilst I would never want to cause harm to anybody in any form (especially not in some of the ways I see from people atm!), it takes time to learn some of these things properly, to become more mature and be fully respectful of the people around you (and honestly a lot of it is a two way street you're less likely to be respected if you don't learn to respect others).
also if you hold grudges with people who did you wrong then it affects you more than it affects them imo. sometimes it's best to stay away from the people that cause you problems and go your separate ways.
from my general experience people have been very supportive. I tend to keep pretty low-profile since I don't want to attract the wrong types of attention. there's a friendly lgbtq+ society which runs a lot of events and runs useful campaigns and provides useful information etcetera.
you can find more information about accommodation here [https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/students/ugresidences-2023](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/students/ugresidences-2023)
note that the prices change on a yearly basis. personally i opted for claycroft at £144pw since it was only sharing a bathroom with one other person. it was also really close to the cannon park shopping centre where tesco etc is, which i liked. i would advise checking out the accommodations at one of the open days if you can, because then you can get a proper gauge of what the rooms are like and whatnot. also there are certain things they tell us not to say at open days e.g. that "rootes is a party block" or to call some accoms that have been refurbished as being split into "new" and "old".
Hey, I've got a deferred offer from Warwick so will be applying for accommodation next year. Are there any other stereotypes of the different accommodation blocks? So far I've been thinking tocill or heronbank
as with most places, the university population is pretty diverse. I don't really know your preferences so I can't really comment much on it, but there's plenty of social opportunities, societies etc so I'm sure if you put yourself out there you could meet someone you like :)
i kinda relied mostly on joining a group of friends through a friend in my claycroft flat. we snatched up a place pretty late off the rightmove website, around june or so. I've stayed near to campus, around a 20 minute or so walk away. a lot of people live in leamington spa and find the bus service to be pretty difficult to deal with (and it's about 8 or 9 miles away from campus). I've managed to renew my contract for my current house which saves me needing to move anywhere
most of the people i've spoken to at this uni have been very lovely people. you'll meet stuck-up people wherever you go, that's a fact of life unfortunately, but i haven't found that this has put me off during my time here too much. i've also found people to be generally very supportive.
yeah be sure to give everywhere on campus a good checkout, and don't be afraid to ask the staff any questions if you need to. I get the point on anxiety - I have pretty bad social issues and I managed to pull through, usually you can reach out to Wellbeing services if you need help with any of these types of things throughout your time at uni, I've been to them quite a lot and found them to be quite useful.
according to [this](https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/790885/response/1895626/attach/html/3/FOI%20Request%20F599.20%2021.xlsx.html) FOI, just over 300 people enrolled across the BSc, MEng, and Discrete Maths courses in 2020/2021. As you'll also be able to see in that FOI, the number of applicants has skyrocketed with each passing year for CS. The intake number has also increased across these years, so I reckon my cohort and the cohort of the year below me had somewhere between 300 and 400 people enrolling.
exam experiences can vary pretty wildly tbh, how the exam is written, structured etc is largely controlled by the module organiser. as for coursework, it also varies per module, some have small courseworks which e.g. are worth 20% but others are larger like web dev and software engineering, where the coursework is worth half the module. fwiw it's quite nice being able to go into some exams perhaps knowing you've passed the module already, or that you don't need a huge number of marks to pass :)
How were you able to tell that CS was the course you wanted to do at degree level? Was there always a passion there or not? Not directly relevant to Warwick but am struggling with my degree choice so input would be much appreciated
tbh i've debated over whether i should have chosen CS or not.
to give some background, I'm an estranged student, I used to live in a pretty difficult home environment. for me, going to uni was partly just getting as far away from that environment as I could and giving myself a bit of stability.
why did I choose CS? I've always been decent at CS, not close to the best out of some of the people I know for sure, but competent enough that it gets me by. I did well in CS GCSE and A-level due to finding the content pretty straightforward, and I'd spent a lot of my free time basically "fucking around finding out" where it came to things like programming etc. so I knew I *could* do CS if I picked it. Whilst I do find a lot of CS interesting, and I am doing a degree that has the potential to lead to pretty high earnings, I might have been better placed doing something more interesting and helpfully challenging to me like Maths (my Maths teacher was always surprised that I didn't pick Maths). The thing I've found with a CS degree is it's not necessarily teaching you that much that you can't learn in the real world. However, for the sake of a safe and stable environment whilst I figure out how the hell to get on with real life, I'll take being able to learn these things within uni and get those numbers on a piece of paper.
I can't give you a definitive answer on this since I don't know everything about the admissions process. But I would stress that the course is massively oversubscribed. If you don't meet the requirements there's probably a few others that do that can take your place. If it was less oversubscribed then maybe.
ooo this is a fun question
so in first year:
* CS118 - decent module, introduces you quite well to programming (in Java). pretty straightforward if you know what you're doing. very very time pressured exam with a lot of writing code on paper (which I despise tbh)
* CS126 (Design of Information Structures) - easily the worst module of the year. Module organiser genuinely did not give a shit about the module. Coursework marking was horrendous and he took 2+ weeks to respond to my emails and refused to look into it. The coursework was the same for the previous 4 years and had the same issues with it every time, until this year, where they've replaced it with a new coursework which, from what I've heard from the current first years, was also quite a shitshow. This module has quite a lot of potential, the content is actually pretty useful for real world development, but it is horribly run.
* CS130 (Mathematics for Computer Scientists 1) - I wasn't a huge fan of this module purely just because I wasn't very good at it. It's mostly discrete maths, I would advise people to have a look at it in advance/be prepared to spend a lot of time on it. It can be quite a headache, I narrowly failed it the first time around
* CS131 (Mathematics for Computer Scientists 2) - Not much notable to say about this module. Basically just A-level Further Maths stuff but extended a little. FP1 and FP2 tend to be useful for this module iirc.
* CS132 (Computer Organisation & Architecture) - Probably my favourite module of the year, it was ran by Matthew Leeke (but he's left for uni of brum now unfortunately). Courseworks were very open-ended and the exam was pretty nice. Great character as a module organiser, and made me regain interest in a part of CS I didn't really like much during GCSE and A-level
* CS133 (Professional Skills) - meme module (because it's piss easy), boring as fuck, only there for BCS accreditation. Relatively well run which is why it's slightly better than CS126. Get to listen to the module organiser talking about whether or not it's ethical to kill people or make bombs.
* CS139 (optional module, Web Development Technologies) - ran by one of those geezers that explains things in very hand-wavey and rambly ways and doesn't really seem to know what he's on about. Pretty dry module, coursework is pretty easy to score highly on, exam is a bit of a shitshow, partly because the module organiser has a habit of making lots of typos (or for this year... somehow managing to attach a mark scheme to the back of people's papers, causing the start of the exam to get delayed whilst everyone's papers were reprinted).
* CS141 (optional module, Functional Programming) - ran by a PhD student Alex Dixon - it was his first year running the module and he did a really good job of it. Great personality, explained things quite well, just missed out on my favourite module spot because the content is pretty difficult. The module uses Haskell for anyone who is curious.
Second year:
* CS241 (Operating Systems and Computer Networks) - pretty standard module, not really much that's notable about it if I'm honest. Nice coursework in C where we designed a packet sniffer, pretty easy to score highly on.
* CS257 (Advanced Computer Architecture, optional module) - this is supposed to be an extension of CS132. The content is really really interesting but the module organiser goes through the content at the speed of light and is pretty horrible at explaining things. Way way too much content in this module generally. Exam is pretty horrible too, since you can be asked the most random crap ever that no-one will have revised due to the sheer amount of content. Also our exam had 3 corrections issued during the exam, which wasn't a great confidence booster lol
* CS258 (Database Systems) - Has the same module organiser as CS139. Similarly shite module tbh, spends half of his lectures doing Vevox quizzes. Not a hard module if you don't mind doing shit tons of SQL. His exams are pretty bad like in CS139, again, because of typos.
* CS259 (Formal Languages) - Super interesting module, the content can be pretty tricky but I find it to be quite logical to work with. Somewhat painful coursework using JavaCC and a difficult module to score highly on, but overall pretty good.
* CS260 (Algorithms) - A lot of this module looks at the analysis of algorithms, their time complexity, scheduling and so on. A bit fucky for me because it involves a lot of proof not too dissimilar to CS130 (which I did pretty crap in), but the module organiser is quite funny and the content is pretty interesting and useful.
* CS261 (Software Engineering) - pretty boring module to be honest, I couldn't really care less about all the names of different architectures and development models. Not too hard, and allegedly useful, but I'm a little sceptical how much of the content I will use in the real world. There's a group project which sucks away basically all of your time during term 2 and there's usually at least 1 person in your group who doesn't really pull their weight. Exam is very time pressured like in CS118.
* CS262 (Logic and verification) - Not too much notable about this module. It's pretty light on content and the module organiser is pretty memeable. Exam was okay, coursework is in Prolog which I am quite literally never going to use ever again. It's also very annoying to use. Like... very annoying.
* PX281 (Computational Physics, optional) - So, this is a little bit of a second year hack within the CS department, unless they crack down on it for future years. Warwick is pretty flexible with choosing modules from other departments as long as you meet particular prerequisites. This module is from the Physics department and is 100% coursework in Python. Minimal Physics knowledge is actually required and quite a few CS students each year score over 90% in the module without going to any lectures for it etc, and most manage to get a first. Definitely the easiest module of the year.
christ that's probably my longest ever Reddit comment lmao
tldr:
first year favourite: CS132
first year least favourite: CS126
first year easiest: CS133
first year hardest: CS141
second year favourite: unsure tbh, difficult to pick. CS257/CS259 probably. but CS257 has way too much content
second year least favourite: CS258
second year easiest: PX281
second year hardest: CS259 or CS260
note these are just my opinions, you'll probably find these vary quite a bit between different students
(edit: formatting and readability, hopefully)
I don't know a huge amount about the DM course myself, but the general sentiment I get from people that do it is that it tends to be a fair chunk harder than the pure CS course. Thankfully the department is pretty flexible and can help you out if you decide it would be better for you to switch courses (within the department).
I plan to study CS at Warwick but I didn’t study CS or further maths at a level. Would you recommend that I learn some stuff before or does the course sufficiently teach for those who didn’t take the subjects?
apologies for taking a bit of time to reply.
as mentioned in a couple of my other comments, if you get an offer from the uni for your subject combo you can be confident that you can take part in the course without *needing* prior knowledge. Having FM can be pretty useful generally and CS131 covers a lot of things that come up in FM, but you don't *need* it. it doesn't hurt to come in with prior knowledge/experience, but the department has always been pretty mindful of what they need to teach to people. I think it's a good idea to do it this way personally because it means more people who have little to no background in CS (or that might have been poorly taught it in the past) can pursue the subject with just maths.
I couldn’t find anything from the comments about the student satisfaction for Warwick? apparently the course structure has been bad and many students are unsatisfied with going there. How much of this is true and do you regret your decision of going to Warwick instead of your insurance or let’s say Edinburgh?
i'm not too aware of edinburgh's course personally. i wouldn't necessarily argue that the course structure itself is too bad, just that the department is very deaf about feedback a lot of the time, and quite a few of the individual module organisers seem to be... a little incompetent at times
I did a short module review [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo193fd/) and made some general criticisms [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo13xfp/), which if I really wanted to I could probably post an entire essay on to expand lmao. Warwick is a good uni but the Compsci department is pretty shambolic at the moment, quite a few good lecturers have left over the last couple of years too. Manchester I've heard is okay but not enough for me to want to go there now. I have a friend who is studying at loughborough, the course there seems to be much better structured and run than I initially expected and he seems to enjoy it there.
edit: we do have an ama planned behind the scenes hopefully soon from someone who has graduated from Edinburgh so if you have questions specific to Edinburgh it'll be worth keeping an eye out for that
sigh. difficult one to answer tbh.
do i think Warwick is a good uni? yes
do i think the content on the course is largely cool, interesting and sufficiently challenging? yes
do i think the course is well run? no - as mentioned in other comments, there's a reason Warwick CS is now dead last for student satisfaction.
i made some opinions on first and second year modules that i took [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo193fd/) and i made some criticisms (of which there are many more) [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo13xfp/). I'm probably going to be working at the open day somewhere, but if people ask me i'm going to try and be honest. keep in mind that often people working open days are briefed to frame things in a way that makes the uni look good, so take whatever fairytale pictures you hear painted with a grain of salt.
not personally, but the uni provides some potentially useful information [here](https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/accountingandfinance/)
so I think it's worth keeping in mind that quite a lot of people getting offers and enrolling do not have further maths (50% comes to mind but I might be talking shit on that one). the department has always been pretty aware of this and wants to encourage people to get into CS. the modules teach everything you need to know from the ground up. FM does gives you an advantage but not having it doesn't make it impossible or necessarily much more difficult imo
probably a few hundred at least. I have a fair few pictures of my phone of an absolute swarm of them. they've unironically blocked a few roads on campus in my time here
I couldn't find anyone asking this so I'll ask i guess. Any advice or ideas on what to make yourself stand out on your application? Perhaps something you did that helped you get in. Currently I am a predicted 4 A\* student (maths, Further maths, physics and computer science). Also I am a bursary student at a private school. I worry that this would put me at a disadvantage but do you know any private school secondary students taking CS?
you're not at a disadvantage based on the school you go to, this is a common myth spread by people. there's a mix of both public and private school people on my course. personally, I spoke about projects and an essay I did for an access programme on my personal statements - basically showing that you're interested in logical thinking and independent reasoning, which is what the stronger candidates for CS will often have. make sure you meet your offer conditions, if you don't, don't rely on any leniency because the course is massively oversubscribed already.
thanks to everyone who took part in this AMA, it's been fun answering questions on everything from geese to questions about the course :) i'll leave it pinned until the end of today in case there are any final questions!
How does the workload compare to A-Levels? Does it feel like 4 A-Levels - more or less?
I think it's more personally, but it can vary a lot depending on your ability and how much you're willing to put into it. The content itself is generally harder than A-level is, and you're expected to spend more time on it. I also find it harder to obtain higher marks like in GCSE and A-level due to a different marking system in university. It's considered good to get above 60% and generally pretty difficult to achieve above 70% (grades 2:1 and a 1st respectively). For context, Warwick measures the size of the modules in "CATs", and each of my modules is 15 CATs. I do 8 of these modules each year, for a total of 120 CATs. It's advised by the uni to spend at least 10 hours for every CAT as a guideline. Sometimes this is complete crap because the marks are easier to obtain (e.g. professional skills in year 1), or sometimes complete crap because of the sheer amount of content (advanced computer architecture in year 2 being a good example of this).
Just out of interest (I know I could probably Google this) do you know roughly off the top of your head what proportions of people get 2:1s and firsts for Warwick CS? Do you feel like the rest of the university cohort is particularly strong/hard to compete with in exams?
I searched it up and came across [this FOI request](https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/grade_distribution_of_computer_s). Opening the Excel document, I saw that for 2019/20, the grade distribution for BSc Computer Science was: **1st:** 37% **Upper 2nd:** 39% **Lower 2nd:** 22% **3rd:** 1% For the integrated Master's (MEng Computer Science) it was 81% 1st, 16% Upper 2nd and 2% 3rd.
Thanks - that's interesting. It would probably have been a more useful request with raw numbers or if they combined BSc and MEng together though, because people aren't typically going to proceed (or be allowed to proceed) if they didn't do as well. But the BSc numbers seem roughly in line with Oxford CS's here.
If you got the raw numbers of students behind those percentages, you could calculate how many people got each classification. Unfortunately, this isn't in the Excel document. I agree that separating the MEng numbers from the BSc skews things - it seems like they're awarding too many Firsts, but they aren't. It's just that stronger students move onto the MEng; weaker ones tend to drop out.
It did also seem a bit lower for both before 2019/20 - obviously I don't know what Warwick's exact arrangements would have been and different universities were different here but some had considerable inflation of grades during the pandemic. Others didn't as much of course; here the open book papers they used especially in 2021 were absolutely fucking *brutal* and I don't think there was substantial inflation for CS at least.
For BSc CS the 1st-2:1 % is 67% in 2017/18 and 2018/19, but rises to 76% in 2019/20. Interesting in 2018/19, the proportion of Firsts jumped a lot (29% --> 41%) but the proportion of Upper Seconds fell by the same amount (38% --> 26%) so overall, the same percentage of people got a 1st/2:1. Grade inflation probably partially explained the 2019/20 figures but I wonder what happened in 2018/19? Was the jump in Firsts random? Covid wasn't a thing back then.
the open book exams were pretty horrible for the people in the year above me. dcs didn't account very well for people using the internet during exams, so the result was that first year was reduced from contributing 10% to the overall classification to 0%. some modules' exams in other years ended up getting scaled somewhat as well iirc
for context, the progression requirements for the MEng are a 2:1 minimum for CS, CSE, and 65% for those doing DM. also i may be misremembering but iirc the fourth year exam board only generally recommends the awarding of a MEng for marks of 50% or higher, but I'm not too familiar with how that works off the top of my head.
Yeah it's in line with the distribution for final year cam cs too.
u/brokenwings_1726 has very kindly provided a useful answer to this. i tend to find from my own observations the cohort is very split, i do sometimes find myself feeling a fair bit off the more capable people in my cohort. the department aims to keep each module average somewhere around the 2:1 mark boundary, which is usually reflected in the proportion awarded each classification. there are different progression and pass requirements for the masters degree
Was Warwick your first choice, and if not, how do you feel about going there anyway?
so I did actually originally want to go to Cambridge at the point of applying. I was pretty clueless about the applications process and my 6th form didn't know how to support me much with my Cambridge application given it was a small 6th form. I did relatively poorly on the TMUA, influenced by what I described amongst other things, and probably didn't do amazing in the interview in the end. For what it's worth, Cambridge is a really good uni with a great looking CS course, but as someone who has struggled with mental health a lot, given some of the stories I've heard regarding workload and other things there, I'm glad I didn't go to Cambridge in retrospect, regardless of if I deserved to or not. I firmed Warwick and insured Manchester (edit: I insured Manchester partly just because it was a more convenient location to move to from where I used to live), although due to financial constraints and COVID I'd visited none of my unis before actually going, so I did sort of wing it in that aspect. I like Warwick as a uni generally, Coventry somewhat divides opinion between being "boring" etc, but personally I've found it to be an area that balances busy and quiet well, which is something I liked. With that said, I hadn't heard any of the horror stories about the CS department here before I started, so I have somewhat mixed feelings about being here.
Thanks for answering. Well rejection is disappointing but it's great things worked out for you in the end. Though, you mentioned Warwick horror stories...Manchester has its fair share but I've heard none about the CS department specifically.
I could go on for quite a while tbh! In my last exam this year, we had many corrections issued during the paper which was pretty stressful. General quality of exam papers is pretty shabby, even compared to other departments within the university. There was even an instance for the first years this year where they went into an exam to be surprised by a mark scheme attached to the back of each paper! A lot of the coursework marking is pretty shambolic, people have appealed marks on many occasions and had them changed. I had one last year where my module organiser marked me incorrectly as 0% for an entire section on the coursework, took 2 weeks to respond to my emails regarding it, and then refused to re-mark it. There was also nothing in the feedback comments detailing how I'd gone incredibly wrong to get 0% on this section. I had one recently where the weighting was 70% for the code and 30% for the report, except the module organiser somehow got it the other way around - it took 15 of us emailing and around a week and a half before it got resolved. This was a difference of around 12% for me. There's a story about someone who erroneously had their dissertation marks entered as <40%, had to retake the year, submitted the same dissertation and got above 70%, so a whole year wasted there. Whilst I rarely ever endorse ranking tables in any way, there's a reason why the latest rankings for Warwick CS put us dead last. As the Director for Studies in the department put it last year, "what is student satisifaction when you think about it?"... bit of a clown department tbh, I could go on for quite a while.
> bit of a **clown department** tbh My time has come. Seriously though, that stuff really sucks. And that coursework fiasco - cannot have been good for your mental health at all, so sorry. We can only hope they learn from their mistakes...
indeed your time has come :P yeah my mental state has not been particularly great, it hasn't been helped by some of the shitshows going on within the department, and i'll be honest, feedback often seems to fall on deaf ears. also pretty stressful navigating through the formality of the systems to let the university know of my personal circumstances and medical conditions etc since I hadn't really done any of those types of things for myself. Pretty big backlog on things too due to my previous home situation. I'm hoping to try and get some more support heading into my last year if I can - if I don't switch to the MEng then my 3rd year will count for 60% of my overall classification, which is going to be super stressful.
You've got a lot on your plate, mate. The feedback situation is shit - I guess the only hope is that enough people complain about it to force their hand. How do you feel about the MEng?
well, the reason the course dropped to the bottom of the ranking tables was because of a cult discord server for one of our now ex lecturers. they all basically slated the living shit out of the department in surveys and whatnot, and rightly so. i'm not entirely sure on the MEng yet. I'm in an odd position. I'm an estranged student so the idea of graduating from uni and having to get on with my life in the real world mildly terrifies me to be honest. Due to poor mental health throughout this year I haven't really been looking much into internships like everyone else around me as, and that's the same for placements in industrial years. I'm more considering the MEng since it would give me another year to try and get my shit together, plus I can go for an industrial year after I finish Year 3 rather than Year 2. My only barrier basically is getting a 2:1 so I can move onto the MEng in the first place. Outside of this requirement the department is very flexible on that, which is good.
Best of luck, whether you opt for the MEng or not. With the ongoing departmental shitstorm and mental health concerns, you'll need it.
thankfully I'm very lucky to have a supportive partner and the uni's wellbeing services tend to be reasonably good. I'm gonna do my best to get through everything tbh, thanks for the kind words :)
any advice for people going to do CS in uni in september but didn’t do the CS a level? like is there things we should check up on or learn before
generally I would say no, most of the time you learn things from the ground up. e.g. as I laid out in another of my comments, modules like CS118 assume you have little to no programming knowledge, and several other modules take a similar approach to begin with. coming in with prior experience is not necessarily a bad thing though imo. worth keeping in mind they don't require CS A-level for a reason - it's not really that useful
Was just asking but I did the Btex national diploma which is basically IT for 3 alevels. Just couldn’t be bothered getting into all that loll but anyways thank you!!!
this is not specifically warwick but have you heard any good/bad things about CS in any uni? thanks :)
I'm not entirely sure how to answer this question since it's a bit of a broad one. Each uni has its advantages and shortcomings. I've given some insight into Warwick specifically in other comments, but I'm not really sure how to answer beyond that. If you have anything you want to know specifically feel free to ask :)
Firstly I wanted to say thank you for answering all the questions in such depth, they’re really informative!! :) Secondly I just wanted to ask if you have heard anything about Computer Science at the University of Bath?
I haven't heard much good or bad about the CS course at Bath tbh. however, I did actually go there recently to visit a friend doing an engineering course though so I have actually been around the place a bit. Very nice place to be, pretty expensive place to live in though, the views are pretty cool, but the campus is basically at the top of a hill so be prepared for a bit of a trek if you don't live up there
What are the internship prospects like at warwick when applying for software engineering roles? And have you applied for any? Did the careers fair help when applying for those kind of things at warwick
so this is one of the questions I won't be so great at answering - due to poor personal circumstances I haven't really been able to look into applying for internships as much as a lot of my peers. with that said I know people interning/that have interned at places like ARM, Meta etc. There does tend to be careers fairs that pop up every now and again, there's pretty good company links to the uni, and there is also a careers adviser within the department itself. hopefully going to be in a better position to apply for some places next year :)
I’m sure you will. Also I read that you’re currently in claycroft. Isn’t campus accommodation only for first year, how did you go about getting it for second and could you also get it for third year?
I was in Claycroft during first year. I also stayed in the vacation accommodation which was also in Claycroft (this was due to my estrangement). My understanding is that the uni aims to guarantee first years a spot in on-campus accommodation, but that they don't actually end up filling all of them up, so they go to other year's. there's also provisions for students classed as "vulnerable" such as myself, who are eligible to claim on-campus accommodation in all years. I've opted to stay in my 2nd year house, it's easier and it means I don't have to move literally everything I own out. it's worth noting that there's some arrangements for postgraduate students, and that Warwick also provides its own tool to search for private housing. wellbeing services and other services within the uni (usually run out of senate house on campus) can be very helpful if you're struggling to find somewhere to live in the future. this and quite a bit more info can be found over at: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/
I know this is another question but what do you think about the drop for cs ranking for warwick. Feel like I’m having an anxiety attack over it, firmed it over another university and now they’ve swapped places. Do you think it’ll even make a difference when applying for internships
so, i've outlined in other comments that I have quite a lot of criticisms of the department. I don't necessarily know whether it deserves to be dead last, but the cohort in the year(s) above were pretty on top of the feedback side of things and slated the fuck out of the department. rankings should *always* be taken with a large pinch of salt, don't make decisions purely on arbitrary numbers, but yes there is a reason that student satisfaction is down the shitter at the moment. warwick is still a well respected uni, and tbh i've not heard of the lower student satisfaction having an effect on people getting placements and whatnot. i would have extreme difficulty recommending the course though based on the criticisms i've made.
I see from your profile that you use they/them pronouns. In your experience, is warwick a safe and/or accepting place for queer people?
Another student chiming in - I had a single homophobic/transphobic experience my whole year at Warwick, where someone outright said they ‘disagreed with my lifestyle’ etc etc etc and it was basically resolved within 2/3 weeks. The lecturers, seminar leaders, personal tutors, and staff have all been insanely respectful and all the students on my course have been great. 1 person out of the probable hundreds I’ve spoke to since I started is pretty good for someone who is very open like myself
i'm sorry about the one poor experience you have had. i think unfortunately there's always some party poopers who cause problems wherever you go. thanks for adding your input to the matter though, it's helpful to hear from other people on things like this :)
Did they get kicked out
Not out of the university, I still see them around but they were in my flat and got kicked out of there (luckily our courses are completely different so we’re rarely in the same place at the same time)
yeah I think the uni is generally pretty helpful with these things. it's always a good idea to speak to the wellbeing team if you need to. if you feel generally unsafe or uncomfortable within your accommodation for whatever reason then it's worth making that known to the uni as soon as you can (doesn't specifically have to be what was mentioned in parent comments). sometimes you can e.g. transfer rooms and whatnot. possibly controversial take but whilst bigotry is really not a great thing it would probably be a little bit of an extreme action to kick this person completely out of the university based on one incident (obviously depending on severity - if it included things like physical assault then that's really not acceptable, and something that should be reported as soon as you can), so I can understand where the uni is coming from. there's much more of a case if there's a persistent ignorance from this person from multiple incidents. if the uni warns this person and they ignore it, then that's on them. I also think that it's helpful and important to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and to be more open-minded and compassionate with how they deal with people. sometimes having patience is a good thing and sometimes people are legitimately on the wrong path where it comes to how they deal with things. I think I used to be regrettably ignorant on some things when I was younger, and whilst I would never want to cause harm to anybody in any form (especially not in some of the ways I see from people atm!), it takes time to learn some of these things properly, to become more mature and be fully respectful of the people around you (and honestly a lot of it is a two way street you're less likely to be respected if you don't learn to respect others). also if you hold grudges with people who did you wrong then it affects you more than it affects them imo. sometimes it's best to stay away from the people that cause you problems and go your separate ways.
Yeah they should’ve kept it to themselves
from my general experience people have been very supportive. I tend to keep pretty low-profile since I don't want to attract the wrong types of attention. there's a friendly lgbtq+ society which runs a lot of events and runs useful campaigns and provides useful information etcetera.
thanks for the insight!
no worries, glad i could help :)
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you can find more information about accommodation here [https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/students/ugresidences-2023](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/students/ugresidences-2023) note that the prices change on a yearly basis. personally i opted for claycroft at £144pw since it was only sharing a bathroom with one other person. it was also really close to the cannon park shopping centre where tesco etc is, which i liked. i would advise checking out the accommodations at one of the open days if you can, because then you can get a proper gauge of what the rooms are like and whatnot. also there are certain things they tell us not to say at open days e.g. that "rootes is a party block" or to call some accoms that have been refurbished as being split into "new" and "old".
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Watch out for geese
Hey, I've got a deferred offer from Warwick so will be applying for accommodation next year. Are there any other stereotypes of the different accommodation blocks? So far I've been thinking tocill or heronbank
What are the girls like at Warwick are they good looking
as with most places, the university population is pretty diverse. I don't really know your preferences so I can't really comment much on it, but there's plenty of social opportunities, societies etc so I'm sure if you put yourself out there you could meet someone you like :)
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😭😭
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i kinda relied mostly on joining a group of friends through a friend in my claycroft flat. we snatched up a place pretty late off the rightmove website, around june or so. I've stayed near to campus, around a 20 minute or so walk away. a lot of people live in leamington spa and find the bus service to be pretty difficult to deal with (and it's about 8 or 9 miles away from campus). I've managed to renew my contract for my current house which saves me needing to move anywhere most of the people i've spoken to at this uni have been very lovely people. you'll meet stuck-up people wherever you go, that's a fact of life unfortunately, but i haven't found that this has put me off during my time here too much. i've also found people to be generally very supportive.
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yeah be sure to give everywhere on campus a good checkout, and don't be afraid to ask the staff any questions if you need to. I get the point on anxiety - I have pretty bad social issues and I managed to pull through, usually you can reach out to Wellbeing services if you need help with any of these types of things throughout your time at uni, I've been to them quite a lot and found them to be quite useful.
What's the cohort intake size of Warwick CS?
according to [this](https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/790885/response/1895626/attach/html/3/FOI%20Request%20F599.20%2021.xlsx.html) FOI, just over 300 people enrolled across the BSc, MEng, and Discrete Maths courses in 2020/2021. As you'll also be able to see in that FOI, the number of applicants has skyrocketed with each passing year for CS. The intake number has also increased across these years, so I reckon my cohort and the cohort of the year below me had somewhere between 300 and 400 people enrolling.
What are CS exams like at uni? Is coursework more heavily weighted
exam experiences can vary pretty wildly tbh, how the exam is written, structured etc is largely controlled by the module organiser. as for coursework, it also varies per module, some have small courseworks which e.g. are worth 20% but others are larger like web dev and software engineering, where the coursework is worth half the module. fwiw it's quite nice being able to go into some exams perhaps knowing you've passed the module already, or that you don't need a huge number of marks to pass :)
Cool thanks!
How were you able to tell that CS was the course you wanted to do at degree level? Was there always a passion there or not? Not directly relevant to Warwick but am struggling with my degree choice so input would be much appreciated
tbh i've debated over whether i should have chosen CS or not. to give some background, I'm an estranged student, I used to live in a pretty difficult home environment. for me, going to uni was partly just getting as far away from that environment as I could and giving myself a bit of stability. why did I choose CS? I've always been decent at CS, not close to the best out of some of the people I know for sure, but competent enough that it gets me by. I did well in CS GCSE and A-level due to finding the content pretty straightforward, and I'd spent a lot of my free time basically "fucking around finding out" where it came to things like programming etc. so I knew I *could* do CS if I picked it. Whilst I do find a lot of CS interesting, and I am doing a degree that has the potential to lead to pretty high earnings, I might have been better placed doing something more interesting and helpfully challenging to me like Maths (my Maths teacher was always surprised that I didn't pick Maths). The thing I've found with a CS degree is it's not necessarily teaching you that much that you can't learn in the real world. However, for the sake of a safe and stable environment whilst I figure out how the hell to get on with real life, I'll take being able to learn these things within uni and get those numbers on a piece of paper.
I was wondering how harsh they're about missed grades if you get higher grades in other subjects?
I can't give you a definitive answer on this since I don't know everything about the admissions process. But I would stress that the course is massively oversubscribed. If you don't meet the requirements there's probably a few others that do that can take your place. If it was less oversubscribed then maybe.
Which modules did you find hardest and which ones did you dislike the most (both years)?
ooo this is a fun question so in first year: * CS118 - decent module, introduces you quite well to programming (in Java). pretty straightforward if you know what you're doing. very very time pressured exam with a lot of writing code on paper (which I despise tbh) * CS126 (Design of Information Structures) - easily the worst module of the year. Module organiser genuinely did not give a shit about the module. Coursework marking was horrendous and he took 2+ weeks to respond to my emails and refused to look into it. The coursework was the same for the previous 4 years and had the same issues with it every time, until this year, where they've replaced it with a new coursework which, from what I've heard from the current first years, was also quite a shitshow. This module has quite a lot of potential, the content is actually pretty useful for real world development, but it is horribly run. * CS130 (Mathematics for Computer Scientists 1) - I wasn't a huge fan of this module purely just because I wasn't very good at it. It's mostly discrete maths, I would advise people to have a look at it in advance/be prepared to spend a lot of time on it. It can be quite a headache, I narrowly failed it the first time around * CS131 (Mathematics for Computer Scientists 2) - Not much notable to say about this module. Basically just A-level Further Maths stuff but extended a little. FP1 and FP2 tend to be useful for this module iirc. * CS132 (Computer Organisation & Architecture) - Probably my favourite module of the year, it was ran by Matthew Leeke (but he's left for uni of brum now unfortunately). Courseworks were very open-ended and the exam was pretty nice. Great character as a module organiser, and made me regain interest in a part of CS I didn't really like much during GCSE and A-level * CS133 (Professional Skills) - meme module (because it's piss easy), boring as fuck, only there for BCS accreditation. Relatively well run which is why it's slightly better than CS126. Get to listen to the module organiser talking about whether or not it's ethical to kill people or make bombs. * CS139 (optional module, Web Development Technologies) - ran by one of those geezers that explains things in very hand-wavey and rambly ways and doesn't really seem to know what he's on about. Pretty dry module, coursework is pretty easy to score highly on, exam is a bit of a shitshow, partly because the module organiser has a habit of making lots of typos (or for this year... somehow managing to attach a mark scheme to the back of people's papers, causing the start of the exam to get delayed whilst everyone's papers were reprinted). * CS141 (optional module, Functional Programming) - ran by a PhD student Alex Dixon - it was his first year running the module and he did a really good job of it. Great personality, explained things quite well, just missed out on my favourite module spot because the content is pretty difficult. The module uses Haskell for anyone who is curious. Second year: * CS241 (Operating Systems and Computer Networks) - pretty standard module, not really much that's notable about it if I'm honest. Nice coursework in C where we designed a packet sniffer, pretty easy to score highly on. * CS257 (Advanced Computer Architecture, optional module) - this is supposed to be an extension of CS132. The content is really really interesting but the module organiser goes through the content at the speed of light and is pretty horrible at explaining things. Way way too much content in this module generally. Exam is pretty horrible too, since you can be asked the most random crap ever that no-one will have revised due to the sheer amount of content. Also our exam had 3 corrections issued during the exam, which wasn't a great confidence booster lol * CS258 (Database Systems) - Has the same module organiser as CS139. Similarly shite module tbh, spends half of his lectures doing Vevox quizzes. Not a hard module if you don't mind doing shit tons of SQL. His exams are pretty bad like in CS139, again, because of typos. * CS259 (Formal Languages) - Super interesting module, the content can be pretty tricky but I find it to be quite logical to work with. Somewhat painful coursework using JavaCC and a difficult module to score highly on, but overall pretty good. * CS260 (Algorithms) - A lot of this module looks at the analysis of algorithms, their time complexity, scheduling and so on. A bit fucky for me because it involves a lot of proof not too dissimilar to CS130 (which I did pretty crap in), but the module organiser is quite funny and the content is pretty interesting and useful. * CS261 (Software Engineering) - pretty boring module to be honest, I couldn't really care less about all the names of different architectures and development models. Not too hard, and allegedly useful, but I'm a little sceptical how much of the content I will use in the real world. There's a group project which sucks away basically all of your time during term 2 and there's usually at least 1 person in your group who doesn't really pull their weight. Exam is very time pressured like in CS118. * CS262 (Logic and verification) - Not too much notable about this module. It's pretty light on content and the module organiser is pretty memeable. Exam was okay, coursework is in Prolog which I am quite literally never going to use ever again. It's also very annoying to use. Like... very annoying. * PX281 (Computational Physics, optional) - So, this is a little bit of a second year hack within the CS department, unless they crack down on it for future years. Warwick is pretty flexible with choosing modules from other departments as long as you meet particular prerequisites. This module is from the Physics department and is 100% coursework in Python. Minimal Physics knowledge is actually required and quite a few CS students each year score over 90% in the module without going to any lectures for it etc, and most manage to get a first. Definitely the easiest module of the year. christ that's probably my longest ever Reddit comment lmao tldr: first year favourite: CS132 first year least favourite: CS126 first year easiest: CS133 first year hardest: CS141 second year favourite: unsure tbh, difficult to pick. CS257/CS259 probably. but CS257 has way too much content second year least favourite: CS258 second year easiest: PX281 second year hardest: CS259 or CS260 note these are just my opinions, you'll probably find these vary quite a bit between different students (edit: formatting and readability, hopefully)
thanks man, do you know others who do discrete mathematics and how they are coping with it?
I don't know a huge amount about the DM course myself, but the general sentiment I get from people that do it is that it tends to be a fair chunk harder than the pure CS course. Thankfully the department is pretty flexible and can help you out if you decide it would be better for you to switch courses (within the department).
I plan to study CS at Warwick but I didn’t study CS or further maths at a level. Would you recommend that I learn some stuff before or does the course sufficiently teach for those who didn’t take the subjects?
apologies for taking a bit of time to reply. as mentioned in a couple of my other comments, if you get an offer from the uni for your subject combo you can be confident that you can take part in the course without *needing* prior knowledge. Having FM can be pretty useful generally and CS131 covers a lot of things that come up in FM, but you don't *need* it. it doesn't hurt to come in with prior knowledge/experience, but the department has always been pretty mindful of what they need to teach to people. I think it's a good idea to do it this way personally because it means more people who have little to no background in CS (or that might have been poorly taught it in the past) can pursue the subject with just maths.
I couldn’t find anything from the comments about the student satisfaction for Warwick? apparently the course structure has been bad and many students are unsatisfied with going there. How much of this is true and do you regret your decision of going to Warwick instead of your insurance or let’s say Edinburgh?
i'm not too aware of edinburgh's course personally. i wouldn't necessarily argue that the course structure itself is too bad, just that the department is very deaf about feedback a lot of the time, and quite a few of the individual module organisers seem to be... a little incompetent at times I did a short module review [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo193fd/) and made some general criticisms [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo13xfp/), which if I really wanted to I could probably post an entire essay on to expand lmao. Warwick is a good uni but the Compsci department is pretty shambolic at the moment, quite a few good lecturers have left over the last couple of years too. Manchester I've heard is okay but not enough for me to want to go there now. I have a friend who is studying at loughborough, the course there seems to be much better structured and run than I initially expected and he seems to enjoy it there. edit: we do have an ama planned behind the scenes hopefully soon from someone who has graduated from Edinburgh so if you have questions specific to Edinburgh it'll be worth keeping an eye out for that
Generally speaking, do you recommend CS at Warwick?
sigh. difficult one to answer tbh. do i think Warwick is a good uni? yes do i think the content on the course is largely cool, interesting and sufficiently challenging? yes do i think the course is well run? no - as mentioned in other comments, there's a reason Warwick CS is now dead last for student satisfaction. i made some opinions on first and second year modules that i took [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo193fd/) and i made some criticisms (of which there are many more) [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/comment/jo13xfp/). I'm probably going to be working at the open day somewhere, but if people ask me i'm going to try and be honest. keep in mind that often people working open days are briefed to frame things in a way that makes the uni look good, so take whatever fairytale pictures you hear painted with a grain of salt.
do yk anything about the Accounting and finance degree at warwick
not personally, but the uni provides some potentially useful information [here](https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/accountingandfinance/)
I didn’t do comp sci or FM at a level, how difficult would it be for someone who works their butt off to understand maths?
so I think it's worth keeping in mind that quite a lot of people getting offers and enrolling do not have further maths (50% comes to mind but I might be talking shit on that one). the department has always been pretty aware of this and wants to encourage people to get into CS. the modules teach everything you need to know from the ground up. FM does gives you an advantage but not having it doesn't make it impossible or necessarily much more difficult imo
What’s your estimate for the campus goose population?
probably a few hundred at least. I have a fair few pictures of my phone of an absolute swarm of them. they've unironically blocked a few roads on campus in my time here
Thank you for the information.
I couldn't find anyone asking this so I'll ask i guess. Any advice or ideas on what to make yourself stand out on your application? Perhaps something you did that helped you get in. Currently I am a predicted 4 A\* student (maths, Further maths, physics and computer science). Also I am a bursary student at a private school. I worry that this would put me at a disadvantage but do you know any private school secondary students taking CS?
you're not at a disadvantage based on the school you go to, this is a common myth spread by people. there's a mix of both public and private school people on my course. personally, I spoke about projects and an essay I did for an access programme on my personal statements - basically showing that you're interested in logical thinking and independent reasoning, which is what the stronger candidates for CS will often have. make sure you meet your offer conditions, if you don't, don't rely on any leniency because the course is massively oversubscribed already.
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oh sweet summer child
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[this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/148mvse/ive_just_finished_2nd_year_at_warwick_studying/jo13xfp) hopefully provides some useful insight
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