Monday, 28th July 2003
Suddenly ground to a halt
I thought I had my life mapped out for the next five years - job set up for my gap year, three years doing Physics with Comp sci at Warwick university, then (hopefully) a year-long job with my gap year company should they decide to sponsor me through university.
However. This afternoon I received a phone call from the Physics admissions tutor at Warwick telling me that they are cancelling my course for October 2004 entry. He went on, "But I think, from reading your personal statement, that you're more a physicist with an interest in computer science rather than the other way around, is that right?" Well, no, actually. If any good universities offered a Comp Sci with Physics course (2:1 CS to Phy) I'd have applied for it.
So this leaves me with a few choices.
- I can opt for a full Physics degree, which shouldn't be a problem admissions-wise. The admissions tutor added that hopefully by the time I would be in my third or fourth year, there would by then be some kind of computational physics options.
- My UCAS form can be passed on to Warwick's Computer science department and they'll consider me for a Comp Sci degree. It sounds like I'll have to go through all the admissions stuff again, but it's unlikely I'll be called to interview or anything.
- At the moment I am under obligation to go to Warwick if I achieve the required grades (A-B-B). But seeing as the course that I'm obliged to take won't exist, they can release me from the obligation and I can go to my second choice university, Bath.
- I can withdraw from UCAS altogether and reapply for whatever I like in the next couple of months.
The first option isn't that tempting. I really do want to do some Comp. sci, as much as I can whilst still retaining some physics. This seems to point to option 3, going to Bath university instead. Except that I don't really want to. Yes, it was my second choice, but it was trailing far behind Warwick for a number of reasons, including campus and course. The computing part of their syllabus is mainly concerned with "the role of computers in physics" as the web page phrases it, and is therefore not ideal.
Withdrawing from UCAS and reapplying isn't something I'm considering seriously. I want to get this settled as soon as I can, and there weren't actually any other, different courses that I'd apply for now if I got the chance. This was what I wanted to do, and Bath's course was the second best choice.
What does sound attractive at the moment is opting for a full Comp Sci degree at Warwick. Being me, though, there is a "but" involved. Here goes.
Computer science is really a skill (or skills). I want knowledge. Reading books like In Search of Schrödinger's Cat and Richard P. Feynman's The Quantum Theory Of Light And Matter made me ache to learn more about quantum physics, relativity, and so on. I certainly don't want to study physics for the experimental skills gained - I'm a lousy experimental physicist. One of the main attractions of the Warwick course was that for the first two years, most of the lab time was replaced by comp sci modules. Another bonus about the joint degree is that (I've been told) it's more solid than a single degree and can potentially give you the edge when jobhunting.
Advice is gratefully welcomed on this matter because I really don't know what to do now. Am I being too picky about courses? Should I stick with straight Comp sci and absorb general physics knowledge for my own pleasure through reading things like The Elegant Universe (which should really be on my To Read list anyway), abandon the further physics education?
So come on, you people with life experience. Help me out here.
Comments
Does the straight comp-sci degree give you the option to do "unusual options" at any point? If so you could probably hope over to physics and do one or two modules with them that way.
If I come up with any other thoughts I;ll let you know.
I was in a very similar situation. I'd applied for Comp Sci courses, but my A-Level Maths didn't quite match what I needed at any of them. I was given the choice at Reading of doing Physics. The options at Reading was you could do your main degree as a module with other courses as your choice for the first year, one of which had to be Maths. At the end of the first year, you could then choose between your three modules as to your final degree. So I chose Physics, Comp Sci and Maths, hoping to choose Comp Sci at the end of the year.
However, when I got there, they decided that as my A-Level's weren't quite up to standard, I couldn't do the Comp Sci course. My options were drop out or continue with the Physics.
With hindsight, I think I made the wrong choice to continue with the Physics, but the thought of dropping out sounded a bit scary at the time. I know better know. In the end I did a Physics and Electronics degree. A nice mix, but wish I'd done the Comp Sci degree.
I'll give you advice on your question, but please bear in mind, that each University gives a different course. I loved Physics as a hobby, a love Astronomy and Quantum Physics and I did learn a lot on my degree. But I found it a very dry course, and as for the experiments, well I spent more time playing pinball (which might explain my Third; also playing the Uni MUD for a whole term (and I'm talking the WHOLE term (night and day)) didn't help)
I'm not you, and I chose differently at the time, but I'd do the Comp Sci degree. Do they have details of the Physics degree course? The offer of computation physics in a couple of years time (maybe) sounds a bit dubious, so don't base your choice on that. Please e-mail me if you want to talk it over some more.
I don't really know where your interests lie in CS, but here's a few points I noticed while I was studying.
1) regardless of what you study in physics, you'll be confronted with a lot of aspects of computing. Calculating the collective motion of a billion galaxies, or even "just" testing the properties of QCD need powerful computers. Physicists and engineers have to build them, and physicists need to be able to work with them. The downside is that you will only see the practical topics: if you like formal logics and things like that, maybe CS would be more appropriate.
2) secondly, I think a lot of the interesting topics in CS are very accessible, hence, relatively easy to master on your own. By reading CS books in your spare time you can, for example, learn a programming language, which, although not the essence of CS, is very rewarding in itself. Physics, on the other hand, is more demanding. You have to cover a lot of basics in order to get to something really interesting. For example: getting to a level where you understand what's behind "the elegant universe" takes *years*...
My point is that some basic knowledge of CS is more interesting to yourself than a mediocre grasp of physical concepts.
At the end I can't really help, but whatever you choose, there are beautiful carreer opportunities everywhere. The important thing is to pick one and then stick with it (which is basically what you had figured out already, so I haven't really said anything new :))
(Have you considered maths BTW? You can combine it with either physics or with CS :))
(Sorry for not having a blog yet --- I was working on that and wanted to refrain from posting to other people's blog before mine was finished, but I just couldn't resist :))
obviously i've got to second the maths course suggestion. :)
i don't know enough about what you're looking for in a cs course, but from what you say then you'll be wanting more than a couple of basic modules in physics, and your passion for wanting to read more about it makes it hard to reconcile doing a straight cs degree.
you seem, to me, to be the kind of person who'd want to know more than just the general overview from books; i don't think you'd gain as much detail or appreciation of the subject from those as from a series of taught modules. i think physics is one of those subjects where there is a real benefit from being able to talk to other people on your course, to help you understand ideas and concepts you may be struggling with, or to find different ways of looking at things. you won't get that from reading books in your spare time.
i know you said you want to sort this sooner rather than later, but having several months to make this decision is quite a luxury -- you can wait until you have your results; knowing exactly what grades you have makes choosing institutes a lot simpler: all they can offer you is unconditional places. if you have time to consider your options, don't hurry to get it over with.
[ps...do maths, it's far cooler ;) ]
Don't you hate it when they change everything like that.
Advice? Bah! I don't even know what *I'm* going to major in!
Woah!
I believe you know a friend of mine, Dave 'Greenhamster'?
Hello there!
Well, I went to Warwick, and lived with a guy in my final year who was doing the course Warwick have now rather unhelpfully cancelled.
The Comp.Sci and Physics courses, as well as the Maths course (iirc) are alone at Warwick in having the option to take modules from any other department. So if you have the CATs spare, you can study anything.
Also, I think Warwick knows full well that on the whole, people go to Warwick for Warwick itself rather than the course, and I know LOADS of people that arrived on a course, decided they didn't like it, and changed...with no problems at all.
Give the Comp.Sci bods a call and see if it would be easier to transfer across when you're already there. It's very common.
In case there was a girl doing Classics who transferred across to Comp.Sci after her first year. She blogs...
That's how accommodating they are...
Oh, and it looks like you guys had a good time at the blogmeet..!
:-)
... Whatever you choose, make sure you don't regret it.
I'm younger than you. You should be advising me?
But if it was me, I'd try Bath. *shrugs*
I pursued physics in addition to compsci, planning on a dual degree but found that physics was something I was more interested in exploring then 'doing'. (BTW, both books you mentioned are terrific.)
CompSci should give you more opportunities straight out of the door -- don't let the dour stories from the rest of us necessarily scare you. However, you have to understand your own aptitude -- what you want to do.
You have to ask yourself, what do you see yourself doing in five years? Ten? Once you're in comp sci, you're basically out of physics, but you know, the reverse isn't true -- you can be in physics and switch or focus on computers.
But if you don't like the experimentation, are you going to be happy doing this for a few years?
You also might chat with profs from both departments, tell them your story, see what can be worked out.
I am sorry that your program busted, but I do envy you the choices you have now.
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