Ross Kinsella said:
@ DoPo
- how is the pure degree divided?
- by this I mean what % of your time do you spend looking at hardware / software?
Well it depends. I myself had slightly less than 1/6 of my course in total on hardware/networking. However, I had a choice, and I could have done more, or a lot less than that. Also, what do you mean by "software" - for non-hardware modules, I've done two on Maths (basic and advanced maths for compsci), also two on AI (again, basic and advanced), several on software techniques (data structures, design patterns, agile methodologies) and some on general software engineering skills (development lifecycles, formal methods), so on, aside from the purely programming ones. It's not all software. But you can choose.
You usually get several core modules each year, which you have to take, but you can pick the rest. A pure Computer Science degree has the most freedom because you don't specialise in anything (as opposed to artificial intelligence, robotics, internet computing and so on). In fact, the difference between the degrees is mainly the modules you're taking, so if you're doing a degree in internet computing, you'll get the core modules for compsci plus some internet related modules and that's it. This means that a person who does a pure CS degree can pick the same modules as one who does IC. The advantage of CS is the choices you can make - you can get a module on internet stuff as well as one or two on computer graphics and one on robotics, for example. Whatever you're interested in. And depending on the Uni, you may be allowed to take several modules outside the department each year (something logical, so maybe business but not medieval history), which gives you an even greater flexibility.
Generally, when you're doing a combined degree, you will either do a major/minor split or a 50/50 one. The latter is fairly self explanatory - you'll get the same amount of modules from each degree, if you do a major/minor, though, you get something like a 2:1 ratio.
If you're really undecided, I'd suggest taking the CS/business degree. It's fairly easy to change during the first year[footnote]A guy I know changed like a dozen times then. He went from Business Information Technologies (which doesn't have a lot to do with business itself but more like "how businesses use computers") through most other CS disciplines, back to BIT, then over the CS field again, and finally back to BIT.[/footnote]. After the first year (or rather during), you can decide what you like more or less and change (or not) afterwards. You might get a little problem but it shouldn't be too hard to go pure business or CS in the second year. Don't do what a different guy I know did - he was doing major CS/minor business and about halfway of the second year he regretted his decision. At that point he realised that he utterly hated programming and actually loved business...but didn't want to lose a whole year (the current one, and then another one
at least) to change over, so he had to force himself to finish what he started.
