Computer Science

Iceboy

Do you need higher level maths to do it? Also how much time is spent in lectures/labs per week?

Joneser

Hi, as long as you pass in Honours maths, or get a B3 or higher in Ordinary you are eligible to enter computer science in UCD. Also re lectures and labs, you will usually have 2 lectures per subject per week, and either a 1 or 2 hour tutorial/lab for each subject. So would say just under 30 hours per week in total would be spent in lectures and labs/tutorials.

You can find more information on the course here: https://myucd.ucd.ie/program.do?programID=73

JonB

No, Ordinary Maths will do. Think you need a B3 or higher in Ordinary Maths. Normally I do about 20-24 hours worth of lectures/labs.
edit: Woops got beaten to it by a superior post above.

If it's anything like Computer Apps in DCU, then although you won't need higher maths, you'll need to work your ass off to get a grasp of the maths being used in the course..

Iceboy

Okay thanks for the replys guys, so basically half the week is spent in lectures and the orther half on the comouters in the lab correct?

Also anyone who is doing CS can they give their opinion on the course in terms of difficulty, failure rate, do you enjoy it or maybe think it's extremely boring or not what you thought it would be? Cheers

Joneser

Iceboy wrote: »

Okay thanks for the replys guys, so basically half the week is spent in lectures and the orther half on the comouters in the lab correct?

Also anyone who is doing CS can they give their opinion on the course in terms of difficulty, failure rate, do you enjoy it or maybe think it's extremely boring or not what you thought it would be? Cheers

I'm a 4th year student and I can say that the course is pretty tough if you don't keep on top of things as it can snowball on you if you don't keep up with your assignments. First year is pretty light-weight as you don't really get any take home assignments, you tend to just have work to do in the labs.

From then on the workload increases quite a lot with you having to do quite a bit of work on your own as you wont have time to get it done in the labs, which basically become help sessions for if you are stuck on something that you need to do for the assignments.

The course is mainly focused around software but there is a hardware module every year which is about the designing of hardware, not building computers like some people may think.

The drop out rate is quite high as either people just find that the course doesn't suit them so switch to another, or else they just couldn't do the work. There is a new "setup" to first year now where they have maths classes specifically for computer science students and they will bring you around to visit companies and see what they do and they will come in to give you talks on careers in IT.

Davidius

Think this might be slightly relevant.

Healium

Iceboy wrote: »

Okay thanks for the replys guys, so basically half the week is spent in lectures and the orther half on the comouters in the lab correct?

Also anyone who is doing CS can they give their opinion on the course in terms of difficulty, failure rate, do you enjoy it or maybe think it's extremely boring or not what you thought it would be? Cheers

I'm a first year, and I need to change courses after a little over a week of lectures. It's just not for me. I find it boring, and also not what I expected it to be. My own fault for not doing enough research

Davidius wrote: »

Think this might be slightly relevant.

Guilty

Iceboy

Healium wrote: »

I'm a first year, and I need to change courses after a little over a week of lectures. It's just not for me. I find it boring, and also not what I expected it to be. My own fault for not doing enough research

Guilty

What aspect do you find boring? Is it you just can't get your head around the stuff or is it like you just sit and listen to lecture all day?

Walnut.

I did Computer Science last year. Ended up not liking it cause it's not what I thought it would be, I probably didn't research it enough. I found it a bit software-heavy, I was hoping there would be more of a hardware element to it. Also I thought the course was run very badly, though it may have changed now. I finished the year anyway and decided to switch to Engineering and I have to say it's going good!

Healium

Iceboy wrote: »

What aspect do you find boring? Is it you just can't get your head around the stuff or is it like you just sit and listen to lecture all day?

It's pretty much 50% maths in 1st semester, and the CS stuff isn't interesting to me...

I can send you a detailed PM if you want?

Iceboy

Healium wrote: »

It's pretty much 50% maths in 1st semester, and the CS stuff isn't interesting to me...

I can send you a detailed PM if you want?

Ye please do, would be much appreciated