Choosing a Uni course

[chess]

Okay, it's about time I got this down in a coherant fashion and asked for help...

The choices are: Compsci, Maths, Physics, or some combination.

Compsci:
Pros: I know I'd be good at it. I know that compsci stuff excites me. I know I'd like all of it, because I can understand what all of the 'course content' bits mean, or at least most of them. If I was going to say which course I was certain I'd enjoy, it'd be this one; probably it'd be the one I'd enjoy most.
Cons: It doesn't feel like a 'proper' subject. It entails spending lots of time at a computer, which I do too much of anyway, and it really wouldn't be good for me to be doing computery stuff all day and then spod all night too. Same problem if I become a computer programmer or summat - would have to find something else to do in free time, 'cos computer use all the time is not good. Also afraid that compsci courses will attract more 'normal' people than Physics/Maths courses, so I won't like as many of the ppl I'm taking the course with.

Physics:
Pros: I've always been drawn to the subject of Physics, for one reason or another - although mainly the electronics side of things, and computer simulation. I'm pretty sure I'd be up to it, really. It's a 'real subject'. Quite a bit of it is off the computer, so I wouldn't have to give up much computer time for it - although the areas I'm most interested in are the most computer-oriented ones, naturally.
Cons: I've become quite disillusioned by Physics throughout secondary school, although it may just be boredom through an underchallenging syllabus and way too much repetition. But I don't really know what degree-level Physics entails, and people have been scary at me about visualisation stuff or summat which I think I'm pants at. And I'm just generally not so sure I'm extremely interested in it, any more. I couldn't guarantee to myself that I'd enjoy the course.

Maths:
Pros: I wouldn't get bored through underwork :-) plus I rather like A-level maths, better than A-level Physics - but that could just be because I'm doing Further Maths so we're doing Maths faster, so I don't get bored through underwork. And there's not a chance of having to do any practical stuff.
Cons: I'm not really sure I'm good enough. I'm pretty certain that I'm not good enough to be a research mathematician, and I kinda want an academic career, and so I don't know what I'd do with a maths degree, really.

Can anyone help?

Comments

[stipe.livejournal.com]

My personal opinion is against math, having done three years of it now. It will depend on the program, I expect, but while I got to take a few courses that were interesting (Algebra, Graph Theory) I also was required to take courses that were not interesting at all (two stats courses, lots of Calculus).

I think I'm a person that "likes" math. I like reading interesting books on math, math was pretty cool in highschool. I don't like math enough to enjoy university level math, however.

On the other hand, if you like math a lot more than I do, you might like it a lot. Incidentally, I ended up in math because the computer science program here is part of the math faculty, and that's what I was aiming for. But I would've had to take even more math courses to finish a four year C.S. degree, so I'm doing a three-year math one.

[chess]

there are such things as 4-year CS degrees? one of the things that put me off CS is that I could only find 3-yr BSc ones, whereas maths and physics tend to come in 4-yr MSci flavours.

[passage.livejournal.com]

So does this mean that you feel compsci won't go deep enough for you or that you want to spend as long as possible as a student?

Neil

[chess]

Both :) - but mainly the first.

[passage.livejournal.com]

I also looked for 4 year courses, in part because I was wanting to study two subjects, and in part because I wanted to come out able to do something like a PhD.

And I wanted to know more things ...

Tis what put me off Exeter, they have a 4 year maths course, and a 4 year physics course, but they only do three year maths and physics ...
Strange people.

I'm not sure that I'm being any help however.

Neil

[jarel.livejournal.com]

But surely you could do a three year one, then choose a separate MSc course?
That might have other benefits, as the same uni might not be the best for both.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

The disadvantage would be that you'd need to look for separate funding for the MSc rather than only having to organise stuff at the start of the degree.

[stipe.livejournal.com]

Waterloo is changing, so I'll say what things were when I started, and what they'll be next year.

When I started, CS was a department in the Faculty of Mathematics. Waterloo is one of the only schools in North America to have a faculty of mathematics, and this means they give out B. Maths. If you do CS, you spend 4 years in the math faculty and graduate with a B. Math, with a major in computer science.

Next year, they're opening the Faculty of Computer Science, and will quite possibly be the only school with such a faculty. Then you'll spend four years in CS and graduate with a Bachelor of Computer Science (a BCS, I suppose).

Most universities here are less CS oriented though, and you'll graduate with a BSc if you do CS.

[chess]

It's not that I want a 'BCS' or whatever - I want a MSci instead of a BSc. How easy is it to do a MSc after a BSc?

[stipe.livejournal.com]

It's probably quite different here than there, but usually here you'd get an BSc first, probably in a four year program. Then you'd spend another year or two to get your MSci.

[chess]

It seems here you get 3-yr BSc courses, or 4-year MSci courses. (Although some compsci courses come under MEng.) You can get a taught MSc, too, which is probably more what you're thinking of (and some unis do 4-yr BSc's, but those are normally joint honours with really incompatable subjects or sandwich courses or suchlike)

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I think things may be different in Canada. I'm pretty sure they are in the US.

Do you include sandwich years in the count of years, btw, Chess? Mine lasted four years, but only three of them were in university.

[chess]

Nope... I don't like the idea of a sandwich course, it means I actually have to go out and do something approaching real work... and it wouldn't help with the going-into-more-depth bit that the 4-yr courses provide.