How to write a University Entrance Portfolio?

[Joshua Waring]

I've got a week to write a Portfolio to attempt for University Entrance, but I have a large Dilemma How do I write a portfolio? I've gone with the assumption of having examples of work and why I would like to be in the course.

But I would like to be sure, I've been improving previous projects to use as work samples.

PS it's for a Computer Science course

[Orangy Tang]

Warning, personal opinion:

Universities don't necessarily want to see portfolio work in the area that you're applying for. They want to see that you're someone they can teach the course to and you'll achieve a good result for them. That means they don't necessarily care if you took CS at A-level, but instead are more interested in if you've got a good foundation (which for CS means good Maths results, and additional sciences help too).

Alongside that they're interested in seeing people who can teach themselves, and who have enough determination to not quit the course after a year. This is where your personal projects come in - emphasise quality over quantity - don't have tens of little games that aren't polished, try and focus on one or two bigger ones that you've worked on for quite a while.

If all else fails, be nice. People reading/interviewing for uni places are human too. 

[Cero]

Design is different from CS
and there are huge differences depending on where you are USA vs Europe for example

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Joshua Waring]

I'm In Australia.
This is going to be a challenge.

[gouessej]

Design is different from CS
and there are huge differences depending on where you are USA vs Europe for example

There is no selection to get into (public) university in France  As long as you have your "high school leaving certificate", you can enter. There is only one private university and it will be probably closed in a few years...

[DrHalfway]

What ENTER score did you get? CS at RMIT (if you're in Melbourne) is 70 something for entry. They do also take into consideration of your high school subjects, for example, my ENTER was bad because of my English, I barely passed, only thing that really got me into CS was my good scores in mathematics subjects.

Other good university options for CS is Swinburne University and Monash University, I probably wouldn't go anywhere near Melbourne University for CS, too theoretical, too much crap, not enough stuff to get you ready for the real world. I've got friends who came out of that university with good grades who can't tell the difference between an abstract class and an interface.

[sproingie]

Can your friends tell the difference between a NFA and a DFA, NP-Hard and NP-Complete, or a monad and an applicative functor?  If I go in for a computer science degree, I damn well don't want to be taught something I could get from Sams Teach Yourself Java In 24 Minutes.
 

[DrHalfway]

I apologise if I'm coming off as rude or arrogant, but going to a CS degree and completing it successfully should warrant that the student is a competent software developer. Its not about how much theory you know or where you can get your knowledge from, the end result doesn't change, the student should be a competent software developer.

At the end of the day, it is also the students responsibility to seek further knowledge in their field and not rely solely on what a university teaches.

Now here is fact, what percentage of students coming out of a CS course at said university are considered to be competent software developers?

I've been given a link in an e-mail which is a very good read (from my recent applications for a job)

http://www.supercoders.com.au/blog/stuffyoumustknowobjectoriented.shtml

[ReBirth]

At the end of the day, it is also the students responsibility to seek further knowledge in their field and not rely solely on what a university teaches.

It has always been like that and will next. College takes long time to review "new tech" (programming lang or libs or any software) before put it on use in class. However world needs you to learn it now so you have to always learn by yourself if you take CS.

[sproingie]

I apologise if I'm coming off as rude or arrogant, but going to a CS degree and completing it successfully should warrant that the student is a competent software developer. Its not about how much theory you know or where you can get your knowledge from, the end result doesn't change, the student should be a competent software developer.

The ghosts of Alan Turing, John Von Neumann, and Edsger Dijkstra are going to visit you tonight.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[DrHalfway]

I apologise if I'm coming off as rude or arrogant, but going to a CS degree and completing it successfully should warrant that the student is a competent software developer. Its not about how much theory you know or where you can get your knowledge from, the end result doesn't change, the student should be a competent software developer.

The ghosts of Alan Turing, John Von Neumann, and Edsger Dijkstra are going to visit you tonight.

I get visits from time to time, some more pleasant than others 

[BoBear2681]

Can your friends tell the difference between a NFA and a DFA, NP-Hard and NP-Complete, or a monad and an applicative functor?  If I go in for a computer science degree, I damn well don't want to be taught something I could get from Sams Teach Yourself Java In 24 Minutes.

Sproingie is spot on.  A Computer Science degree is not the same curriculum as going to a trade school to get a .NET certification and learn to create CRUD applications.  Sans single-credit electives, you're only really taught programming languages as tools to learn the math and theory.  Students are pretty much expected to be self-motivated to learn languages.  And as an armchair academic, I like it that way. 

This is somewhat of an educated (?) guess on my part, but that may be why a masters in CS doesn't seem to help as much in private industry as it does for other fields.  Getting an MS does not mean you're going to be a better programmer than the next guy who only got his bachelor's.  You didn't learn Java more in-depth than him, nor did you learn how to write iPhone apps better than he did.  You learned about automata theory, AI, compiler design, security, etc.  You have a broader knowledge of computer science though.

Whether or not you're a better programmer really boils down to how your work experience compares to his.

[Roquen]

The ghosts of Alan Turing, John Von Neumann, and Edsger Dijkstra are going to visit you tonight.

McCarthy!!