Computer Science & Software Engineering > Reviews (3)

I chose Birmingham University due to it's promixity to my house plus it's excellent reputation. I chose Computer Science because that's what interests me and they seem to have excellent facilities such as UNIX labs.

So first the good points -

- Very good UNIX lab
- They have an NT lab, although it is very small and often crowded
- Some of the lecturers are very nice and very helpful
- The library is useful and easy to use
- I've met some very nice people on the course
- Some modules are really excellent, especially the cognitive science ones
- Eike Ritter!

Now the bad points -

- No real common room
- One tiny lecture theatre, so be prepared to walk across the campus regularly
- Some lecturers are inhuman.
- Computer Science Society (COGS) isn't very successful due to the fact that computer scientists don't like being told what to do or where to go.
- The Software Engineering modules are incredibly annoying and very Dilbert
- Certain staff in the school office should be poisoned (I'm not being harsh, they think that students are scum)
- Jim Yandel

Computer Science is obviously an afterthought, a department tacked on to the University. In a few years I'm sure it will have vastly improved, especially with lots of useful suggestions from the students and support from the University. I've met a lot of great people on the course, and you could definitly do a lot worse, but if you are a hardcore techie programmer, you will find the Software Engineering part infinitly annoying.