Be Recursive

Originally I’m from Canada. Yes that does make me Canadian, however, I’m actually pretty much English. Parents are English, Grandparents are English, Great Grandparents… you get the idea. So when I moved over here (the UK) to start in the Lower Sixth I felt like it should be a breeze. A Levels, i only have to take 4 subjects compared to about 8, i don’t have to do any homework for my grades and I only take 3 exams at the end of the year per subject? Please. However, what anybody really neglected to tell me was exactly what courses i should take. Therefore i pledge to share my experiences, including my Cambridge application to help those who might wish to succeed.

Courses

Now as far as computer science is concerned, you only really need one thing: Maths. Maths, maths and more maths. You will be eating maths for breakfast. Dead serious, if you don’t like maths, run, and run fast and far away from computer science. OK i might be being a little melodramatic but seriously, you need maths and if you’re looking for higher end universities, you need an A. Now one thing that no-one told me when i started was if you’re looking top 5 universities for computer science, you need double maths. You need A Level maths and A Level Further Maths. I started the year taking plain A Level maths and i found it a bit easy, so i moved to AS Further/A Level maths. Little did i know that poor decision to not jump straight to A Level Further would screw my Cambridge application. I applied to jesus, got pooled for the whole time and eventually got rejected. However, their main criticism? No A Level further Maths, they just didn’t think i was up for their level. Oh well, letting sleeping dogs lie, I got into Imperial and they gave me the harsh offer of 4 A’s (3 A Level A’s and an A in AS further Maths). To cut it short, if you’re going for the top, take A Level Further as well. If it starts to go tits up, drop down to single maths and don’t worry about! As far as other subjects go you probably should have a science in their, preferably Chem or Physics. Computing A Levels are generally regarded as foobar, but they can make up your other A, so taking them neither hinders nor increases your chances of getting in. Everyone just wants maths. Your other subjects are pretty much free though. For Cambridge you need a science because of the tripos system, but if you don’t have one, call their bluff and go for Geology, since you simply can’t study it at A Level!

University Choices

If you’re going top end you have a pretty good selection if you ask me. Cambridge/Oxford offer superb education, and a unique take with their collegiate systems. Imperial/UCL/Kings are in London, Imperial being the most prestigious and nightlife in London? Supreme. Bristol has awesome nightlife if not a bit out of the way, and the course looked pretty good. Warwick has an intense engineering department and if you like campus then you’ll love it. If you like the more technical/physical side of computing then hit Southampton, the city is decent enough and everyone was pretty friendly when i went. My bias starts to more than creep in now, when i say Imperial and Cambridge were flat out the best courses for me. I enjoy programming intensely and i happen to pretty much enjoy maths and they were the best mix between the two. I did look at Oxford and to be totally honest it just felt like a bit of ramshackle affair. The talk was long and boring, the lecturers didn’t seem enthused about their subjects and everyone just sort of looked… tired? However, at Cambridge and Imperial they had an energy about them. It seemed more like it was on the cutting edge of Computer Science. My most important advice, however, is to choose the course, then the uni. Don’t go thinking, i want to go to Cambridge, what’s easy to get into. Choose something you want to do and then choose a course that appeals to you at a place that appeals to you.

Interviews

Relax. That’s the most important advice I could possibly give. The interviewer is going to be a lecturer in your subject, he enjoys at least some things the same as you. Don’t try and impress them and don’t try to be their friend. Just realize that they just want to see you. Be yourself, answer their questions honestly, with some discretion , and most importantly seem enthused! They just want to see you really want to do Computer Science, not that you can accurately simulate the world with your latest program… though if you can they’ll probably take you unconditionally. As far as clothes go, just be comfortable. The more comfortable you are the less it seems like an interview and the more it seems like a sort of informal discussion about your subject (although be intelligent about your decision, if you make a little effort and perhaps wear a shirt and not your Rammstein T-Shirt it’ll come across better ). Remember to ask a question, they need to see you like the university as well as the subject. As far as being nervous about the questions, here’s some sample questions:
1.
X² + Y² = 10003 Find the two integers such that this statement is true.

2.

Given that (100)^0.5 = 10 find an approximation to 2 decimal places of (99)^0.5

I won’t give the solutions but i’d be interested to see any anyone has!

Filed under:
University by Patrick