Giving Uni a go

[Destroyer^]

im about to go to Uni in septmber so im applying at the moment... now first thought is

what shall i study and i was thinking i want to study to do mostly around... computer hardware/engineer... to do with insides of computers now i spoke to a few people before about it and they suggested computing science instead of computer science as i could choose more hardware aspect in year 2 and 3.... any advice?

also anyone that has done a computing degree is it full of unsocials? cuz i like to drink alot... and really ive "seen" quite a few sport science girls at my local uni and they have awwesome socials but obviously theres different types of people that do computers to sports?

[bsodmike]

if you like computers/hardware etc, do EEE or electronic and comp. eng. Computer sci is 'mostly' software oriented, programming based - not as intensive as EEE or gives you as much exposure to electronics and hardware in general.

With EEE, you also have lots of modules to choose from and software development is standard these days and many 'computer sci' modules such as communications/networks, fibre optics etc.

[Steve]

Computer Science and the programming they teach in EEE, are vastly different IMO.

Not wanting to trumpet my own degree here (well actually, yes I am), but maybe have a look at Computer Science & Electronics? Here at Bristol, the degree straddles the CS and EEE departments, so you get to see things from both ends. As long as you can handle the maths, and the analogue electronics every now and then, you should have fun. Other unis will have varying flavours on the theme.

It doesn't really matter how social people on your course are - you can live with and join societies with others.

[kalniel]

It doesn't really matter how social people on your course are - you can live with and join societies with others.

Absolutely - and this is usually better as well as then you get two sets of mates - ones from your course and others from your hobbies/socials.

[digit]

I think you'll find it hard to find a degree around "computer hardware/engineer". If you however go down the networking route its likely that you'll be offered as part of your studies Cisco certification or like me basically do a degree structured completly around Cisco. Its a great way to get exposure to the devices and is very hands on, pretty much a case of here is some networking kit, here is a manual work through it at your own pace.

I'd personally steer clear of anything going very in depth about signals/ modulation as not only is that heavily maths orientated its in my opinion very boring to.

Also bear in mind you could do a joint degree and mix two interests together so you can potentially have two different paths once you get your degree. For example computer networks with games design etc etc.

[TheAnimus]

Absolutely - and this is usually better as well as then you get two sets of mates - ones from your course and others from your hobbies/socials.

Hell yes.

I bought a flat with a friend of mine who i met by doing some almost socail work type things involving kids + higher ed.

I keep in the loosest contact with my course mates, to be honest most of them are the bad kind of geeks that are totally up their own arse with open source software. The kind of people who lecture you for not using the flavour of the month distro of linux, except for one or 2 who its all about BSD. Its amazing how many started to actively insult me for taking part in an MS sponsored compititon! (I don't know if they thought it was just joshing, but it hardly made me want to hang round with them socially).

But more importantly, there were 2 girls in my year. One of them had more facial hair than I did (seriously). One was a furry (found out when i had to wear this giant panda outfit for halloween one year......... And no, there is no way you can even begin to have sex whilst keeping the panda outfit on.)

So you do what surprisingly few people did, live with 'normies' people who are doing degrees that attract a more normal person. Or better yet, if your remotely athletic join the cheer leading society. OMG i wish i'd thought of that one. A mate did this, been very honest saying "there are NO girls on my course" and ended up going out with 3 of them that i know of (i'm also fairly sure he was there to comfort more on the rebound). Also if ever i saw that on someones CV, i'd hire them, damn smart guy.

[Whiternoise]

If you want to get smashed, join a sports club. End of

Go to a uni that's got a lot of societies, that way you're bound to hook up with people you like.

Course wise, there are a couple of compsci's in my corridor here and their work is mostly maths, logic and they're starting off with Java. It really depends what you want to get out of the job. If you want to get down to the nuts and bolts of computers then electrical engineering is probably the way forward, somewhere like Bristol/Imperial/Southampton would be a good place to start. Computer Science is good if you want to do "straight" programming with maths. If you're just going to still be tinkering with computer bits as a technician then do the degree you're most interested in and get accreditations afterwards (A+, Cisco, etc).

[bsodmike]

I keep in the loosest contact with my course mates, to be honest most of them are the bad kind of geeks that are totally up their own arse with open source software. The kind of people who lecture you for not using the flavour of the month distro of linux, except for one or 2 who its all about BSD. Its amazing how many started to actively insult me for taking part in an MS sponsored compititon! (I don't know if they thought it was just joshing, but it hardly made me want to hang round with them socially).

But more importantly, there were 2 girls in my year. One of them had more facial hair than I did (seriously). One was a furry (found out when i had to wear this giant panda outfit for halloween one year......... And no, there is no way you can even begin to have sex whilst keeping the panda outfit on.)

I know the feeling; there was a lot of that going on in my division as well. As you know some engineering software can be utterly ridiculously expensive (for a student at least) and one of my mates gave me a copy of a compiler he had been using for years; I got well flamed buy a chap I had to work with for 'supporting' piracy blah blah, yada ya...

Don't even start to go near the whole MS/linux/Mac scene...best avoided if you want to live a 'peas' (as per Clunk) life...

What's a furry?? You wore a panda outfit? LOL...that musta been uncomfortable to say the least...

[staffsMike]

But more importantly, there were 2 girls in my year. One of them had more facial hair than I did (seriously). One was a furry (found out when i had to wear this giant panda outfit for halloween one year......... And no, there is no way you can even begin to have sex whilst keeping the panda outfit on.)

That was the same on my course *shudders*

I think there were less hardcore nerds at my university but tbh being Stafford.. they probably didn't want to go there anyway lol

So you do what surprisingly few people did, live with 'normies' people who are doing degrees that attract a more normal person. Or better yet, if your remotely athletic join the cheer leading society. OMG i wish i'd thought of that one. A mate did this, been very honest saying "there are NO girls on my course" and ended up going out with 3 of them that i know of (i'm also fairly sure he was there to comfort more on the rebound). Also if ever i saw that on someones CV, i'd hire them, damn smart guy.

That is so genius I don't even know where to start my praise. The sentiment is right though, if you want to find like minded people at uni, just get yourself into the societies

I was mostly mates with a few people on my course and one of the guys I got lumped with in halls for the first year who it turns out is still my best mate to this day lol

Course wise, it was probably me that was talking about Computing Science (at Stafford) as they do give you a pretty free choice to what you want to do, but there is programming in there especially in the first year.
Engineering based computer courses will probably give you a bit more hands on work to do and most likely give you a thorough understanding of the inner most workings of the modern comptuers.

[Destroyer^]

hmm yeah was thinking about networking or electrical engineering but me and maths get on ok but we dont like to see eachother too often lol.....

Im designing a network for my college atm anyway so will see how i do for that

well im into weight training and football... played abitta rugby but dont u need to be really good to join a uni team?

[Whiternoise]

Things like football/rugby tend to be very popular and as such you're not going to be short of choice in terms of teams. There will probably be tryouts for the first teams, but there will be clubs for people who just want a kick about.

If you want to do serious hardware stuff then maths is quite important, since there'll be (i imagine) a fair amount of physics involved, as well as things like Fourier analysis which can be a bit hard to get your head around.

@bsodmike - furries are people who ah, enjoy the Company of people dressed as animals..

I agree about software prices though, they're prohibitively expensive! MatLab isn't too expensive, i think it's £80 for the student version (but that's something ridiculous like only a year's license). But we use graphing software called Origin which retails at around £500, so no way we can just buy a copy to use on our machines. Then if you want more specialist programs, plus maybe graphic design, modelling, it racks up FAST.

[bsodmike]

@bsodmike - furries are people who ah, enjoy the Company of people dressed as animals..

I agree about software prices though, they're prohibitively expensive! MatLab isn't too expensive, i think it's £80 for the student version (but that's something ridiculous like only a year's license). But we use graphing software called Origin which retails at around £500, so no way we can just buy a copy to use on our machines. Then if you want more specialist programs, plus maybe graphic design, modelling, it racks up FAST.

The compiler I was using was in the £1.5k+ mark; of course I have over the years purchased many kits like MATLAB (twice), Mathematica and a couple others...and yes, only a one year student license

>.<...now I wish I hadn't asked that LOL...err...

I must actually congratulate the OP for starting this thread; goes to show that you have invested quite some thought into this. Personally, I played the 'anti-social' card and made....2 people I'll call life long friends from being at Uni for 4 years (and many others who I've met over MSN and Hexus).

Wouldn't say I regret it per say, but then again I like to keep to myself I guess. Also it's kinda hard to mingle with folks my age when I have 'extreme' collecting hobbies in fountain pens, watches, select single malts, cigars...and a couple others

[staffsMike]

I must actually congratulate the OP for starting this thread; goes to show that you have invested quite some thought into this. Personally, I played the 'anti-social' card and made....2 people I'll call life long friends from being at Uni for 4 years (and many others who I've met over MSN and Hexus).

Wouldn't say I regret it per say, but then again I like to keep to myself I guess. Also it's kinda hard to mingle with folks my age when I have 'extreme' collecting hobbies in fountain pens, watches, select single malts, cigars...and a couple others

Must be a Mike thing...

I mean I had mates at Uni, when I was there but I don't really talk to them now other than the fore mentioned best mate, so I'm half as good as you.

That said once I met my girlfriend I didn't really bother too much with socialising anyway as the club thing never really appealed anyway and since I don't drink there isn't much enjoyment to get out of them lol

[bsodmike]

Must be a Mike thing...

I mean I had mates at Uni, when I was there but I don't really talk to them now other than the fore mentioned best mate, so I'm half as good as you.

That said once I met my girlfriend I didn't really bother too much with socialising anyway as the club thing never really appealed anyway and since I don't drink there isn't much enjoyment to get out of them lol

It must be That's exactly it to be honest; <rant>the whole clubbing notion never appealed to me either and in Leeds, all the freshers were raving about going to 5+ clubs per night, through the entire week! Regular chit chat is also boiled down to their 'experiences' from the night before, and where they intend to go to the following evening/night....*sigh*.</rant>

Of course the downside to all this anti-social behaviour meant never meeting any nice girls... Don't seem to be making much progress on that front, and GoW2 should ensure that I'll be tied to my screen for at least another week...

[staffsMike]

I didn't meet my gf at uni anyway, as I suffered same the fate (but glad of it now of course.. she might be reading ). Met her at work and she lives down by my folks which is quite handy because I've moved back in for a year

Mainly spent 3 years, travelling back a forther between uni and gf, and watching so many TV shows that I fail to recall of them, and all in big marathons as my mate aquired them very often

[Destroyer^]

see from what im reading it mite be worth me looking at networking or electrical engineering as maths isnt soming i want to spend alot of time with.....

and im completely the opposite to you guys... i cant spend too little time alone or i start going a bit mental lol so im pretty much go out and get hammered every week and pull someone... thats what i enjoy doing ... i try to balance the geek with the party animal and also some body building

anyone got any comments about networking degrees?