Thinking about doing a masters conversion course in computer science, wherever I can get in. I have a fine background in math, although I haven't complete more than calculus 1 (just because of the nature of my undergraduate degree). Has anyone done one of these? What were your experiences like? How difficult were the admissions?

Thanks

Hi There,

Currently finishing off the MSc Comp Sci Conversion at a university in the South West of England and I have to say it's been a fabulous experience in the main.

You'll probably not need to worry too much about hardcore maths for most conversion courses; however, there's always the opportunity to put your maths to use in most of the programming you'll be doing, as well as with your project / dissertation.

The admission process was nice and smooth in my experience - applied end of December, heard back second week of January with my offer.

Touch wood, and provided I don't mess things up, I'll be sticking on to do PhD after this! (And the Department have a strong track record of conversion students successfully completing)

I would say go for it :)

For a conversion course you won't need to worry too much about the Maths - most places will just want to see strong evidence of interest in the subject. For example, at York the MSc in Information Technology is the "conversion" course and the only requirement is that you are proficient in at least one programming language.

Thanks for the great replies guys, what you've said has been really encouraging.

I am an undergrad in the US, and I still have the potential option of taking more summer courses and finishing my undergrad with a degree in comp sci, but I would rather pursue one of these masters courses and keep my BA the same. That being said, what are the admissions like? I don't want to end up not having any training in comp sci.

Afraid I've no idea what the admissions process will be like for North American institutions; however, for the vast majority of well rated UK MSc Comp Sci Conversions, it's really just an application form, personal statement, and a couple of references. Interviews are generally very unusual for these courses.