Choosing a Course

There are lots of options so think long and hard about what is best for you. The problem is that, to a worryingly large degree, you are committing yourself to a future career, so ask yourself some serious questions about what you want to head towards. And do plenty of research - studying multimedia, for example, doesn't mean playing games all day (although everyone else will think that's what you do).

And remember that courses with similar names may not have similar content - there's a wide variation among the different institutions, so look into what compulsory modules you'll be doing and what the discretionary choices are. Don't jump in and hope to work it out later.

Some of the courses were born out of maths or engineering departments and they reflect that. While the more technical courses require decent mathematical ability, some of the more vocational courses - based on web or artificial intelligence for example - are less maths-dependent.

Also look into lab and workstation availability and the ratio of computers to students. It's worth investigating lab opening times and checking whether help desk facilities are available outside teaching hours. You're going to be spending a lot of time at a computer, so you don't want to waste half those hours queuing for a free one, or trying to get the thing to work.

Find out how many employers the department has regular contact with, and the work recent graduates have gone into. Details are available from individual departments or the university careers service. You can gauge from this a little about the kind of job prospects you're going to emerge with. The university may offer sandwich courses or perhaps an intercalated year (where you take time to pursue other studies). There are also some courses that include a year studying abroad. This is an attractive option, but some fluency in a language (if you're heading to Europe, for instance) may be useful. However, remember that you're already learning a new technical language, translating it all twice might he a bit much.