Postgraduate Student Profiles

Samantha Bail is currently studying the MSc Advanced Computer Science programme. She graduated from her undergraduate course on Media Informatics in Leipzig, Germany in 2008.

"During my undergraduate studies I discovered that I was a lot more interested in the computer science part of the course than the "media", so I decided to do a degree in computer science after graduating. I've always wanted to study abroad, so I applied for several courses in the UK. I had already been to Manchester before and liked the city, and the University has a really good reputation - plus, studying Advanced Computer Science in the same place where the computer was invented just sounded very exciting, so I decided to study here.

The wide choice of course units means you can take either a specialised or a more general approach, and not only units from computer science, but also the business school and mathematics are included. The units are all densely packed with information, which is highly interesting, but also requires a lot of attention and work. I was a bit worried about not being able to keep up with the course, but I just spoke to the lecturers and managed to solve problems quickly. I was surprised at how approachable and helpful the academic staff were.

There's a wide range of seminars, workshops and guest lectures in connection with partners from industry and business, which is great for preparing for the "life after uni" and giving you an insight into the various areas of computer science. We had speakers from IBM, Bloomberg, Disney/ Black Rock Studios (a gaming company) and Cisco Systems, just to name a few. I am also quite excited about my MSc project, where I'm going to do research into image processing on mobile phones and develop an application that helps blind people recognise emergency exit signs with their mobile phone.

I would advise prospective students to be prepared to do a lot more work than it looks like you need to on the timetable - even only one module a week can keep you busy for days. But also, don't work too hard as there's more things to see in Manchester than the MSc lab! I'm a course representative and help organising events for WiSET - Women in Science, Engineering and Technology - "real university life" as you would imagine it!"