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Originally posted by Zepee
Well, I'm doing my final highschool year and  I want to study in England from now on. This thing is there are so many universities to choose from I don't know where to start...

I want to study computer science, or whatever you call the course that will teach me how to do programming. I've been checking some sites, and I've seen some nice places... but I'm wondering if anyone here can give me some advice based on their experience/knowledge.

Basically I want a university that (in no specifical order):

 - isn't very expensive(most of them are 3000£ a year, but I mean with living costs included)
 - has a nice calm setting, but with life.. I mean a calm place, but with people and activities that make it fun
 - is good at teaching
 - has a computer science/whatever course

For the record, I'm already doing my research and I'm going to the British institute next week, but I would like to know if anyone has anything to say about the matter.

By the way, 3 universities I've found kind of pleasant were Cambrige, University of York and University of Essex. I know I can't apply for Cambridge, but do you know if the other two are good?

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Originally posted by Zepee
I'm not saying that UCL is a bad university or whatever (I haven't even looked it up), but the fact that it is in London kind of tells me not to get there... London is EXPENSIVE (from what I heard), and it isn't the calmest of places... not quite the setting I was looking for...

Just something that came to my mind.... why do you must apply to college in England 6-12 months before the year start? Here in Portugal you simply apply by July, after you get the results of your exams.... thats 2-3 moths before the academic year start.... I just find it odd to have to apply before even having my end grades.... does it mean I can have really bad grades this year, and those won't count to the aplication? 

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Originally posted by Khuzarrz

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Originally posted by Zepee
I'm not saying that UCL is a bad university or whatever (I haven't even looked it up), but the fact that it is in London kind of tells me not to get there... London is EXPENSIVE (from what I heard), and it isn't the calmest of places... not quite the setting I was looking for...

Just something that came to my mind.... why do you must apply to college in England 6-12 months before the year start? Here in Portugal you simply apply by July, after you get the results of your exams.... thats 2-3 moths before the academic year start.... I just find it odd to have to apply before even having my end grades.... does it mean I can have really bad grades this year, and those won't count to the aplication? 

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No, your grades will actually matter. What will happen, is you will apply, and then they will tell you "OK, we like the look of you, and with your other achievements (musical instrument grades etc.) you need 2 A's and a B to get in here". You should apply to 3-5 universities in descending order of merit. So if your first choice wanted 3 A's, but you only got 2 A's and a B, you'd have a backup. Oh, and just to make the point, you need to start calling it 'university' or 'uni' if you do come here. Calling it college will confuse the fuck outta everyone because our college is your high school.

I haven't actually got around to looking at prospectuses yet, so i'm not 100% sure on a recommendation. My sister just went to Kent though, and she did mention them having a great IT department. Might be worth a look.

Good luck!

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Originally posted by Zepee
Another thing I don't understand about english system...

First let me point out how your grades relate to ours:

A- 20-18
B- 17-14
C- 13-10
D- 5-9
E- 0-4

(if I'm not mistaken)

Now, here in Portugal when you want to apply for a uni, what you must have in mind is your average. For example, if I wanted to take Computer Science here in Portugal I should have an average of 14, being that specific classes (physics and maths) are worth more than the others.
But I have been looking into the requirements to join an English uni and what I see is: "at least 2 A and 1 B grade" or whatever... I mean, who cares if you have 2 A and 1 B.... If you have 2 A, 1 B and 5 C will you get to join the uni, and if you have 8 B you won't? I don't know if it is this way, but if it is I think its kind of dumb.... I mean, at the moment I have grades between 14-17 and my average is 16... Could I possibly get into a uni that says "at least 2 A and 1 B" or not?

Please shed some light on me..

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In the UK, kids take the following path.

Primary School > Secondary School/Grammar School > Sixth Form/College > University.

Or at least, that's what you're supposed to do. Now to answer your question, when you go to Sixth Form, you are there to sit exams called 'A-levels'. In your A-levels, you take three subjects, and study them. That's why they ask for 3 grades, and not 8, seeing as how you don't study 8 subjects.

If I were you, I'd completely ignore the British education system, it's flawed and worthless. I have many friends who have come from other countries to study in College/University, and none of them have had to worry about meeting the A-C target. Just send in your exam results as soon as you can, and they will figure out if you are worthy or not.

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Originally posted by Anageth

In the UK, kids take the following path.

Primary School > Secondary School/Grammar School > Sixth Form/College > University.

Or at least, that's what you're supposed to do. Now to answer your question, when you go to Sixth Form, you are there to sit exams called 'A-levels'. In your A-levels, you take three subjects, and study them. That's why they ask for 3 grades, and not 8, seeing as how you don't study 8 subjects.

If I were you, I'd completely ignore the British education system, it's flawed and worthless. I have many friends who have come from other countries to study in College/University, and none of them have had to worry about meeting the A-C target. Just send in your exam results as soon as you can, and they will figure out if you are worthy or not.

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Originally posted by we3ster

Choose York, it is a beautiful place and one of England's oldest cities, it's so nice, the Americans named their most famous city after it ;)

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Originally posted by ACE777

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Originally posted by we3ster

Choose York, it is a beautiful place and one of England's oldest cities, it's so nice, the Americans named their most famous city after it ;)

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This is totally off topic, but it actually was named after King James II, who was the Duke of York at the time when New Netherlands came under English control.  Sorry, I often find myself correcting people's history.  Anyway, it was named after the man, not the city.

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I know this isn't why you're posting here, but I must suggest looking at a different major.

Computer science is computer engineering's retarded cousin at my school. If you want to do real programming/software development, I'd go with computer engineering. Computer science is more for those that would like to one day teach people programming languages. With some games I've seen, computer science majors are more the people that would program menus and minor systems like that, while the engineers develop physics and gameplay.

Computer engineering is obviously going to be much harder, but I think engineering will give you more options later in life. If programming doesn't work out, you can do almost anything you want with an engineering degree.

I would actually recommend the Dutch universities. They cost nearly half of the british ones, and still provide the same academic level.

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Originally posted by zieen

I know this isn't why you're posting here, but I must suggest looking at a different major.

Computer science is computer engineering's retarded cousin at my school. If you want to do real programming/software development, I'd go with computer engineering. Computer science is more for those that would like to one day teach people programming languages. With some games I've seen, computer science majors are more the people that would program menus and minor systems like that, while the engineers develop physics and gameplay.

Computer engineering is obviously going to be much harder, but I think engineering will give you more options later in life. If programming doesn't work out, you can do almost anything you want with an engineering degree.

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York is a more beautiful town that Colchester, it is also a tourist town so it is very cosmopolitan. Colchester has a nice castle and is a military town so you can expect pub and nightclub violence. Historically it's the old Roman capital of Britain.

York University is an old established University, while Colchester doesn't have it's own university. Essex University, means it is not a university but a conglomerate of Polytechnics in the region. Namely Colchester Polytechnic + Southend Polytechnic = Essex University. In this way we make polytechnic students feel every bit as smart as University students.  

Regional Universities should be easier to get into than University town universities. If you want to study in Cambridge but cannot get into Cambridge University, you may also try Anglia University which is the regional University shared between Cambridge and Norwich.