Computer Science/Software Eng: Do not come to ANU - RANT
Hi, fourth-year AACOM student,
The introductory skills taught are well suited for those interested in highly theoretical topics and/or research. If this is not you, good luck. Please consider another university; I wish I had gone to CIT/UC.
All of the courses I will gratuitously complain about are compulsory or commonly taken COMP electives.
Angel of Death (or CollegeSysSoc)
I have met many smart people absolutely done with this university. From budget cuts to a ridiculous fusion with the School of Environmental Science. What overlap does a college of engineering/computer science/cybernetics/(whatever name they shift to every 2 years) have with the school of environmental science??? They should be with science disciplines. From this late-term Mengele's experiment of sorts, we now have the College of Systems and Societies. What the actual?
COMP1730: Gas Station Quality
Furthermore, the first-year courses are completely inaccessible to anyone, especially those who do not have a compsci/math background. Having programmed for years, going into Comp1730 Programming for Scientists felt like receiving information from the floor of a gas station bathroom: by that I mean a Python course was digested with gas-station sushi, and the explosion of refuse is the 'introduction' to programming. Never before have I seen such a wonderful topic of coding reduced to the equivalent of the ground-floor Marie Reay bathrooms.
HasKYS
Also, what kind of self-satisfying nutjob chooses Haskell as the introductory course for all higher-level computing courses? A wonderful friend did speak positively of the introduction because of the parallels to maths. However, this program is an extreme outlier, as absolutely none of this content is relevant in any other course, except for study experience/an introduction to VSCode. Quite frankly, just lose the 4k in Fyshwick and use Grok to get the same experience.
Scizoaffected Course Structure
COMP2300 went through multiple changes throughout the years, but one constant: Shoaib Akram. Somehow tenured/protected, this man is at the forefront of a compulsory course that runs. ONCE. A. YEAR. It is a prerequisite for multiple courses, with a structure that was born with the first horseshoe crab.
Wait..
Hold on...
NEW STRUCTURE INTRODUCED 2026!!! WOOOHOOO AVG MARK OF 40% for a 30% of final grade midterm!!!
What is consistency or care for students when you are protected by the university despite so many complaints 😵 Idk how a course required for nearly every 3rd year course can only run once a year, and if you fail, join the slums of Griffin Hall.
Final Thoughts/Positivity
I love coding and want to encourage as many people to try it, but AVOID ANU AT ALL COSTS. With all that said, if you like research, go for it! I promise it will challenge you but give you a good idea of future research paths.
Just pls pls stay away from CSSA common room ;) (it's too cozy to share - jkjk).