OXFORD - 1 Year CS Program

Graduate School
1

<p>How hard is it to get into Oxford's 1 year MSc in CS? I'm an American looking to study in the UK. I've got good research and work experience but my undergraduate GPA is a little above 3.2. Are there any UK Software Engineering or CS programs that would be a better fit for me?</p>

2

<p>Obvious question: why is your GPA so low? Is there any reason to think that those reasons won’t be true next time? </p>

<p>Less obvious question: is your degree in computer science? is it from a very big name uni? </p>

<p>Finally, Is your objective to go to Oxford in particular, or more just to study in the UK? If the latter, here are lists of the top MSc in CS programs in the UK:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Computer%20Science”>http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Computer%20Science&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Education & Careers - The Telegraph”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationpicturegalleries/9601080/Top-10-universities-for-computer-science-and-information-systems.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“University guide 2014: league table for computer sciences and it | Education | theguardian.com”>http://www.theguardian.com/education/table/2013/jun/04/university-guide-computer-sciences-it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For most of the unis, your experience will make up for your GPA, but that is of course harder with the top tier. </p>

3

<p>Isn’t that table (though still useful) ranking undergrad courses?</p>

<p>CS isn’t my area, but IN GENERAL I’d say admission is slightly less competitive for grad courses than for undergrad ones at Oxford.</p>

<p>Looking at the requirements on the website for this course, they want a US GPA of 3.55 - but <em>perhaps</em> if your GPA in comp sci and math courses is higher (and it’s only lower overall because of unrelated gen ed courses), you have strong recommendations from your math/CS profs, and you have strong industry experience which shows you could cope with the demands of the course, they might be prepared to overlook it: <a href=“MSc in Advanced Computer Science | University of Oxford”>http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-computer-science&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>To decide on a suitable programme, you don’t want to just look at minimum grades. You want to look at the syllabus to see if the course teaches what you want/need for your future steps. </p>

4

<p>My experience is that the UK schools are sticklers for GPA and other floors that they state (unlike American schools).</p>

<p>Why do you want to do this particular degree? Do you want to work in the UK? A different field, but I know that the Oxford MBA just didn’t do a whole lot for an American I know who got that degree a few years ago.</p>

<p>Personally, if I’m hiring, I’d be more impressed with a CS masters from UIUC or GTech (even the online versions) than a CS degree from Oxford.</p>