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I am also studying at Teesside university

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i think it was 'gakkari suru' that asked about industry placement - at teesside, you are given the option as soon as you start the course - they even find the placement for you (i've not heard anything about mine yet).

in response to the abertay question, i would perhaps have preferred to goto dundee, from what i hear the course is top rate. however, because i did not do maths at A level, they would not let me even apply. teesside is a great university and the computer games programming course (hey, i got the name of my course changed now too, yay) is really getting good (the first year seems a little easy, at at times irrelavant, but its worth sticking with it to get to the second year). teesside is also a lot geographically closer to where i live.

good luck with all your applications guys, i was just about to say i might be seeing some of you in september, but then i remembered, its placement year, so i should be working for Rareware or something (yeah right, i wish).

Secondly it's got that 'oxford' karma about it. I mean I didn't even bother, because I just *knew* about 5 million people would apply, and well I haven't got that much cofindence in myself.

Well, I know it's abit late now, but I'm going to the open day tomorrow. Will post my impressions, if anyone's interested tomorrow night.

I'm a 3rd year student here, and I feel strongly obliged to put you off coming. Several things have happened to the course in the last few years:

1: The degree is now BCS Accredited which, whilst sounding good, means that you'll have to do useless and patronising modules in subjects like ethics / professionalism that genuinely detract and even replace the more useful games / graphics based modules.

2: There has been a major shift to Java, and you'll be unlikely to do any C++ until late in the 2nd year / early in the 3rd year. When you are trying to make your first game (in the 3rd year) you don't want to be learning C++ at the same time, trust me.

3: I can honestly say that none of the lecturers here know the first thing about games, and certainly don't play them. The marking schemes are barely concerned with gameplay; yet if you have implemented a clever programming technique in a dire game you will do well.

4: The course used to be sponsored by Sony using the Yaroze consoles. This has now been dropped, the Yarozes are quite literally broken and gathering dust whilst stuck in red-tape limbo, and for at least the next 2 years students will be making games with a buggy student-made wrapper around DirectX technology. So when you leave you won't even know DirectX.

5: If you choose to do a joint degree with what you see as another compatible subject, there will be no communication between the different departments, and you'll spend 3 years being shunted between the two in ways you daren't imagine, whilst wishing you had the promised personal tutor.

6: Statistically, around 10% of those that start the course will get any degree at the end of it. Middlesex is primarily a business designed to attract as many students as possible to enroll in order to determine their funding. Instead of starting the course at a suitably high difficulty level in the 1st year (with the inevitable drop-off), courses are kept easy until the 3rd year when they reach what should be a normal difficulty. So, you learn little for 2 years, then drop out in the 3rd after re-enrollment due to disillusionment, depression or simple failure. Since September last year my course has been truly decimated.

7: Last year the engineering department was shut down without warning; students in the first and second years had to change universities as a result. Rumours of cuts in other departments persist, along with publicly-declared closures of key facilities.

I trust this information is enough to help you in your decisions. For what it's worth, I'm on the Board of Studies for my course representing students to the university authorities, so I have experienced all the above (and all the excuses for them) first hand.

The only good points I can think of are that you can do joint degrees in almost any 2 or 3 subjects, and also that you can delay your specialisation until the 2nd and 3rd years and, eventually, you'll get to make at least 2 games.

Well, I went Teeside yesterday (woke up at half 4, yes HALF FOUR, in the morning to get there!). And I must say I ha... loved it. . In my own personnal experience, it seemed that Teeside was about 3 times better than Lincoln(Hull). Teeside seemed like a place that was actually cared about, but Lincoln(Hull), with it being gotten rid of in less than two years, was run down to be honest.

Teeside's facilities are bigger and seemed better. Also, although it was exam week, so it's probably not that good to base a comparison on (people would have been on study leave or whatever), but how can I say this without offending... basically the people who were around didn't look like geeks who hadn't ever been exposed to the sun. (No offence intended). So a plus for Teeside then.

Also what I loved is, the fairly good town centre which was actually visible from the main entrance of the uni. That means whenever you need a shop, you could easily (within 2 minutes) walk there.

I've got two gripes with it. One, it's 5 and a half hours drive from where I live, two it's rather industrial. Where's all the green?

Despite all that though, it's still my first choice, and pending anything only Mystic Meg could predict, I'll be there next September, AND I'm actually looking forward to it.

if you're after a bit of greenery you can goto North Yorkshire (apparently, i've never been myself)

the five and a half hours is no big deal - you wont do it that often

Anyway, it's up to you.

i'll keep you posted.

that was a very badly worded post. my apologies!

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Signiture's are soo 'last topic'

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just to let you know, the university is going to be putting my name forward for a place at SCi! (makers of Carmaggedon, in London). Even though chances of me getting there are still slim, its a chance nonetheless, and has installed some confidence in me relating to the uni's placement finding prowess.

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UK Nintendo site you ask? http://www.uknside.com/

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I've applied for the Paisley - 'Computer Games Technology' course, and apparently, they give students details to nearby devcos. DMA?
oh, and i read in the prospectus, that they give u a laptop for the first year. any truth in that?

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