Computer Science BA

Beau x1

Hey. I'm in 5th year right now.
Thinking of doing this course.

How's the employment rate for this course? Positive amount of jobs available? Is UCD a decent place to do the course?

Any information would be much appreciated, cheers.

seraphimvc

boy,glad that you are looking forward something in our domain:D

maybe you should wander around those old posts or just quick search the forum?

i am sure there will be some warm hearted senior show up soon for ya,but i swear i have seen this kinda thread once in a while!

as i heard IT job in ireland is a fine job,not as saturated as others IT advance country like Germany or sorta,and UCD IT seems quite famous for its degree.

remus808

Hey there, I'm in first year of this course now. Seraphim is right, if you search you will find plenty of info on the course, I know theres one from myself when I was in your position.

IMO Computer Science is a great course here, and the employment opportunities seem very solid with the market situation at the moment. I would recommend you seriously consider why your choosing the BA course over the BSc though, as I would be of the opinion that the BSc is probably better regarded, despite the fact the courses are very, very similar after 1st year. What arts subject were you thinking of taking with the BA programme?

Dave!

I'm in second BA Comp Sci at the mo... Haven't a clue about job prospects as I'm not seeking work in any related field!

I'm not a big fan of comp sci, so in retrospect I should have just done arts, but it's not too bad.

Any other questions post away, but you'd be best served finding an old thread or 2.

Waltons

I'm in the third year of this course at the moment and I love it. The main difference between the arts course and the denominated course (apart from taking an arts subject, of course) is that arts students don't have to take any of the hardware modules. There's also a bit more choice in regards to modules compared to the denominated course, as arts students only generally have one or two core computer science modules.

For job prospects, I honestly can't say. I wouldn't be sure about the BSc being held in higher regard though, as I've seen some BA students subsequently doing Computer Science Ph.Ds, despite there being (I'd imagine) far fewer BA graduates than BSc or denominated comp sci graduates.

One thing you'd have to take into consideration though, the course isn't easy and has a very high drop out rate - I'd say there are only 5-10 BA students left out of ~50 who started.

Beau x1

karmabass wrote: »

Hey there, I'm in first year of this course now. Seraphim is right, if you search you will find plenty of info on the course, I know theres one from myself when I was in your position.

IMO Computer Science is a great course here, and the employment opportunities seem very solid with the market situation at the moment. I would recommend you seriously consider why your choosing the BA course over the BSc though, as I would be of the opinion that the BSc is probably better regarded, despite the fact the courses are very, very similar after 1st year. What arts subject were you thinking of taking with the BA programme?

Thanks, I'll give it a search. Seems like a great course indeed, however the reason for choosing the BA over the BSc is that I don't do honours maths, therefore the BA is my only way into Computer Science. I was thinking of doing Psychology along with either Economics or French/Spanish. Psychology interests me but I'm not sure if it's a bit of a waste in hand with a Comp. Science degree.

Waltons wrote: »

I'm in the third year of this course at the moment and I love it. The main difference between the arts course and the denominated course (apart from taking an arts subject, of course) is that arts students don't have to take any of the hardware modules. There's also a bit more choice in regards to modules compared to the denominated course, as arts students only generally have one or two core computer science modules.

For job prospects, I honestly can't say. I wouldn't be sure about the BSc being held in higher regard though, as I've seen some BA students subsequently doing Computer Science Ph.Ds, despite there being (I'd imagine) far fewer BA graduates than BSc or denominated comp sci graduates.

One thing you'd have to take into consideration though, the course isn't easy and has a very high drop out rate - I'd say there are only 5-10 BA students left out of ~50 who started.

See, I think I'd prefer to take some hardware modules. The only reason I'm going down the BA route is because of the honours mathematics. That sounds promising also, as I would probably wish to maximise my qualifications so its good to know that some BA students are reaching for Ph.D's.

Yeah, I hear the course isn't a walk in the park, but I'm definitely confident that I can do it without struggling.

I'm going to grab some past papers now in order to get a better idea of what the course contains.

Edit: Can't, I need a UCD login.

Donald-Duck

Beau x1 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll give it a search. Seems like a great course indeed, however the reason for choosing the BA over the BSc is that I don't do honours maths, therefore the BA is my only way into Computer Science. I was thinking of doing Psychology along with either Economics or French/Spanish. Psychology interests me but I'm not sure if it's a bit of a waste in hand with a Comp. Science degree.



See, I think I'd prefer to take some hardware modules. The only reason I'm going down the BA route is because of the honours mathematics. That sounds promising also, as I would probably wish to maximise my qualifications so its good to know that some BA students are reaching for Ph.D's.

Yeah, I hear the course isn't a walk in the park, but I'm definitely confident that I can do it without struggling.

I'm going to grab some past papers now in order to get a better idea of what the course contains.

Edit: Can't, I need a UCD login.

inismor.ucd.ie/~fintanc/COMP10010

Thats programming for first year

Beau x1

Donald-Duck wrote: »

inismor.ucd.ie/~fintanc/COMP10010

Thats programming for first year

Thanks a lot. I know that those modules are definitely for me, if anyone has any other links for other modules (because quite frankly they're pretty difficult to find in a site as hugely filled with content as UCD), they'd be much appreciated.

Waltons

Beau x1 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll give it a search. Seems like a great course indeed, however the reason for choosing the BA over the BSc is that I don't do honours maths, therefore the BA is my only way into Computer Science. I was thinking of doing Psychology along with either Economics or French/Spanish. Psychology interests me but I'm not sure if it's a bit of a waste in hand with a Comp. Science degree.

See, I think I'd prefer to take some hardware modules. The only reason I'm going down the BA route is because of the honours mathematics. That sounds promising also, as I would probably wish to maximise my qualifications so its good to know that some BA students are reaching for Ph.D's.

Yeah, I hear the course isn't a walk in the park, but I'm definitely confident that I can do it without struggling.

I'm going to grab some past papers now in order to get a better idea of what the course contains.

Edit: Can't, I need a UCD login.

You don't need honours maths to do denominated, BSc, or BA comp sci - you can get in with a B3 in ordinary level. I'd also be of the opinion that you wouldn't be wasting your time doing, for example, psychology; I've seen numerous psychology post-grads in the CSI building, presumably dealing with cognitive science studies which are done there. You'd be surprised where disciplines overlap.

Overall, I'd say go for the BA if you have a particular interest in any of the arts subjects. Otherwise it might be a better idea to go for the denominated or science route

Beau x1

Waltons wrote: »

You don't need honours maths to do denominated, BSc, or BA comp sci - you can get in with a B3 in ordinary level. I'd also be of the opinion that you wouldn't be wasting your time doing, for example, psychology; I've seen numerous psychology post-grads in the CSI building, presumably dealing with cognitive science studies which are done there. You'd be surprised where disciplines overlap.

Overall, I'd say go for the BA if you have a particular interest in any of the arts subjects. Otherwise it might be a better idea to go for the denominated or science route

Ah well that's good to know as I was heavily thinking of doing psychology too with Comp. Sci.
I just realised, I can't do the denominated (which I actually don't get what that means, seems like a 'worse' version of computer science?) because I don't do a laboratory science subject in school. So I guess my only route into Computer Science is the BA?

Also, how much of CS BA is CS? Because I wouldn't be going near arts (not that I don't like it or anything) if it wasn't for the CS. Anyone have a timetable? I'm so confused right now it's ridiculous.

Waltons

Beau x1 wrote: »

Ah well that's good to know as I was heavily thinking of doing psychology too with Comp. Sci.
I just realised, I can't do the denominated (which I actually don't get what that means, seems like a 'worse' version of computer science?) because I don't do a laboratory science subject in school. So I guess my only route into Computer Science is the BA?

The two disciplines won't link up immediately, but there are some cognitive modules available from second year onwards, as far as I know. There was a bit of a problem before about not being able to take psychology past first year, back when I was starting. I think that's been sorted, but you might want to search through some old threads on here to see.
Denominated comp sci is pure computer science; you wouldn't be doing anything outside it bar a few maths modules in first and second year. If you're not doing a lab subject in school though, I'd imagine your way in would be through the BA.

As for the breakdown, it depends on yourself to an extent. There are a few core modules that you'll have to take, and an option or two on top of that. If you want, however, you can use your horizons modules to take extra modules. After first year, you decide whether you want to do a joint major, or minor/major with your arts subject, or (I think) you can decide to do only computer science.

dhaddock

hey im doing the BA and am in first year and my advice would be to do it if you have a genuine love for computers and in how they work in every aspect - dont do it if u like using computers for bebo and think this course might be good !!!

im glad i did the BA because i got to do film studies and geography and realised i didnt like either! so im going to drop BOTH at the end of first year and do a single major in computer science which will mean u do every CS module the BSc guys are doing bar the maths. check out http://davy78x.mine.nu for the BA single major module list

i had a link to the book youll be using for henrys course but i cant find it!!

hth

Beau x1

See the thing really is, I'd rather do a computer science course more than anything. The BA to me seems like I'd be doing more artsy things than anything else, which I don't really particularly want to do. In my case would it be better to go to DIT and do a computer science course there? Is it highly regarded by employers there or would I be better off doing Computer Applications in DCU?

I wouldn't really want to drop my arts subjects in the BA in UCD and then get a BA since it would seem kind of pointless as I barely would have done any arts subjects.

Waltons

As far as I know, it may be possible to switch to the denominated course after first year. One of my friends did this, and had to take a few extra maths modules, but it was all sorted after this. I can't guarantee this though

I'd say, if you don't want to do any arts courses then you may be better off going elsewhere.

Dave!

second year notes are here if you wanna have a browse... obviously you won't understand it just from the notes though
http://www.agentfactory.com/~rem/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=5&id=16&Itemid=27

Raphael

Basically the impression I get is that with the BA Comp Sci you do an arts degree, with one of your subjects being CS. As it progresses, the CS becomes heavier. Wheras with the BSc, you do a science degree, with one of your subjects being CS, and as it progresses, the CS becomes heavier.

So which you do should really be based on what you want to do with your other subjects. You can't just do CS, same way I don't just do physics. You need to do other subjects, and which ones you want should determine which degree you go for.`

Dave!

No you do just do Comp Sci... But it involves alot of hardware sh*t on top of the programming. It's all Computer Science though! It's just various aspects of it.

Waltons

Yep, Dave's right, there's just a bit of extra maths involved, as mentioned

WellCultured

to the OP:

I didn't do honours maths for my leaving cert and i'm a denominated BSc comp sci student. So unless something has changed in the entry requirements you should be able to get in with a B in ordinary math.

Beau x1

Thanks so much guys, I appreciate all this help. I really want to choose this course, but I don't know what kind of job prospects and salaries this would offer me. Anybody have a clue? It gives a brief description on the site, but nothing much.

By the way, would anyone mind giving me a timetable for this course? Would give me a broader idea of how much of everything I'd be doing. Thanks.

Waltons

Funnily enough, myself and a friend were looking up jobs the other day. One interesting job we spotted was something along the lines of fraud analyist for Paddy Power. Some obvious jobs would be stuff like software testing too, or possibly IT consultancy. I'm not really sure myself though; the only reason I was looking is because I'm nearing the end.
Salaries vary, I guess. Best bet would be to take a gander at some of the job sites and have a look through the IT sections.

Can't give you a timetable for first year, unfortunately; maybe another kind user will be able. There are lists of modules you'd be taking online though

seraphimvc

Beau x1 wrote: »

Thanks so much guys, I appreciate all this help. I really want to choose this course, but I don't know what kind of job prospects and salaries this would offer me. Anybody have a clue? It gives a brief description on the site, but nothing much.

By the way, would anyone mind giving me a timetable for this course? Would give me a broader idea of how much of everything I'd be doing. Thanks.

try www.careerdirections.ie

remus808

Hey, I'l do my best at cobbling together a brief outline of the 1st year timetable. For the record I'm doing German with my BA at the moment (I also took Linguistics and Psychology to make up the extra credits), as I wanted to keep on a language.. And also wanted to avoid doing maths. But i'm going into the single major stream from next year on, very similar to the BSc course but no maths next year either

But basically, there are 6 first year CompSci modules, 2 in Semester 1, 4 in Semester 2. (For the BA only 4 are core modules; Formal Foundations and Comp. Architechture are only core for BSc denominated students AFAIK)

Semester One:
Intro To Programming 1:
2 lectures, both 10-11AM tuesdays and thursdays. One 2 hour lab slot from a list, usually from 2-4 or from 4-6
Algorithmic Problem Solving:
2 lectures, 3-4pm wedensday and 11-12am friday. One 1hr tutorial from a list.

Semester Two:
Intro To Programming 2:
Same timetabling as part one
Software Engineering Project:
1 lectures, 1-2pm tuesdays (only on every couple of weeks). One 2 hour lab per week, usually 4-6
Computer Architechture: (my elective)
2 lectures, 1-2pm thursday, 2-3pm friday. One 2 hour lab slot per week, again in the evenings generally

Don't know the timetabling for Formal Foundations..

Hope this was of help!