Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), University of Southampton
Electronics and Computer Science (ECS)
What our students think
The following video is a series of interviews of recent and current students and what they think of Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton University. Below is a series of blogs that will help new students understand what it is really like to study in such a prestigious department.
If you have a question you’d like our students to answer, then email ask-a-student@ecs.soton.ac.uk.
Aditya Tandon - MEng Electronic Engineering (3rd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Hello everyone! Well, I think it’s been almost a year since I’ve written a blog. I’m just starting the third year now. Gosh, I feel old. I was a fresher when I wrote the last..." 
Adam Malpass - MEng Electronic Engineering (second year)
Last entry: 27th May
"This time 4 years ago I was celebrating my A-level results and getting a highly prestigious place at ECS. Now I am a graduate and I can’t believe where all that time has gone! I..."
Andy Baker - MEng Computer Science (Graduated)
Last entry: 27th May
"I will not pretend that this last year has been a bed of roses. Having been given a torrid time of it would be a much better description. A combination of outside pressures and some..."
Donald Henderson - BSc Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Hello my lovely blog readers :-)
I think the first thing to say is "yayy I got a 2:1 for first year"!! It's first year so technically I got 25 more percents than I need, but..."
Yusra Hussain - MEng Electronic Engineering (3rd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"I write this a week after term has officially ended, this means that I can officially say that I'm 'half-way through' my degree. That's two whole years done. Although, to be fair, the past year..."
Oscar Mariani - Software Engineering student @ ECS in the University of Southampton
Last entry: 27th May
"Tidying up the mess of a desk that I left during the last exam period, I found, behind several other 'post-it notes' one that had "BLOG!" written on it. It then came to me, it..."
Maria Lynch - MEng Computer Science (2nd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"So this is it, two more exams and first year is over. I can hardly believe that it was 8 months ago that I left what I knew and came to Southampton to start my..."
Jack Edge - MEng Computer Science (3rd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Second year[1] is very tough.
I mean, I'm not saying that to scare you; ECS is a vibrant, fun and clever place but the point still remains that second year is hard.
I'm sure that the third..."
Arinze Ekwosimba - MEng Electronic Engineering with Wireless Communications (2nd Year)
Last entry: 27th May
"It is indeed amazing how time flies; it seems just like not long ago we commenced the new academic year. With only few weeks away from the second semester exams one can only wonder what..."
Wei Hung Chin - MEng Electromechanical Engineering (2nd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"It’s been a long time since I last updated my blog here. Well, there have been lots of exciting things going on. When I landed in Heathrow two years ago, that was my first time..."
Robin Johnson - MEng Software Engineering (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Having been back at home for two weeks already, the release of the dreaded summer exam timetable has inspired/frightened me into finally doing something productive this break after a lot of sleeping and catching up..."
Joe Hart - MEng Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Woah, looking back over my last blog I've really realized how much I've settled in here at Southampton. I really feel like a true soton-ite. My last blog focused very heavily on the course, and..."
Elisa Stefaniak - BSc Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Today was a very eventful day. Aside from the less obvious (the music DVD I won arriving in the post) we got our exam results back! Looking back to a month ago (already?! these four..."
Dan Allisett - BSc Information Technology in Organisations (2nd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"It has been too long since I last updated this blog… my bad!
We are now well into semester 2 - here we go again:
The January exams went fairly well... fingers crossed; we actually get the..."
Fraser Philp - MEng Electrical Engineering (2nd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Semester two and finally exams are over and I’m getting back into the swing of lectures. The last two weeks have been spent on my second year group project. This primarily entails spending most of..."
Doug Thompson - BSc Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"Work continues steadily at IBM. If I told you what I was actually doing I'd have to kill you - such is confidentiality - and I'd prefer not to have to trace the IP..."
Rob Streeting - BSc Computer Science (3rd year)
Last entry: 27th May
"So what better to see in the new year than with a fresh exam season?
Let’s ignore that though, and talk about coursework, as there’s been some pretty special stuff emerging in the previous week. Both..."
Luke Avery - MEng Software Engineering (1st year)
Last entry: 27th May
"I'm back at home for the christmas holidays. Now I can reflect on the first term and what a fantastic time I had! As you might expect, it was a time of trying and testing..."
Mustansar Ghazanfar - Postgraduate in Communications, Signal Processing and Control
Last entry: 7th June
"The Best Student Paper Award
What’s up every-buddy!
I have good news to tell you regarding my research. I won the “Best Student Paper Award” at “The European Conference on Data Mining (ECDM'11)”, July 2011, Rome Italy...."
Nick Hatter - MEng Computer Science (3rd year)
Last entry: 7th June
"If there's anything I've learnt this year it's this: Computer Science is not for the faint-hearted. I'm talking about things like artificial intelligence, networking theory, compiler engineering... these are all difficult subjects for instance. I..."
Sam Bull - BSc Computer Science (2nd year)
Last entry: 7th June
"Being a part of ECS has many perks – near unlimited access to extremely powerful computers, discounts on a large amount of professional level software, very knowledgeable and helpful staff, there’s a lot going for..."
Cameron Fisher - MEng Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology (2nd year)
Last entry: 7th June
"In life procrastination never really gets you that far. That’s a bit of a lie because you can get far. It just takes twice as long! Semester 1 of my first year is over and..."
Sam Whitehall - MEng Computer Science (2nd year)
Last entry: 7th June
"Where did semester one go? Without wishing to resort to cliché, time has genuinely flown by. My friends and tutor group are so familiar now, it feels as if I’ve known them for years… it’s..."
Carolina Ferreira - MEng Software Engineering (2nd year)
Last entry: 6th June
"The closer I am from Christmas break, the more I feel pressured. Exams are coming up in about a month and there are a lot of assignments to be done and subjects to be studied...."
Sally Shi - MEng Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology (2nd year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Hello, my dear readers! Happy to see you all again! The weather is getting colder, but my life as an ECS student keeps my world warm and bright. Hopefully this blog is helpful and it..."
Craig Saunders - MEng Software Engineering (second year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Almost a year since my previous blog post so I will fill you in with what has been going on in my life!
Last year shortly after my blog post I successfully applied for a position..."
Nic Lee - BSc IT in Organisations (2nd year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Hello world. Over the period of the next three years, I will be posting in this little space, with (hopefully) useful insights of university life.
I was born and bred in Singapore, a little country in..."
ma2g10 -
Last entry: 6th June
"About this time last year I spent some time reading these blogs here. It turned out to be a quite useful resource not only for "meeting" people from Southampton, but also getting a better overview..."
Gemma Roberts - MEng Electronic Engineering (2nd year)
Last entry: 6th June
"So here I am at the start of four years in Southampton. And the first week and a half have been more eventful than I could have thought. Living in halls is a great experience,..."
Ananya Gupta - MEng Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 6th June
"..."
James Leedham - MEng Computer Science, Part 4
Last entry: 6th June
"Introductory post. A brief summary of my time spent at the university thus far
As a fourth year student only just now starting to blog for ECS, I shall take this opportunity to reflect on my..."
Ian Gilham - BSc Computer Science (third year)
Last entry: 6th June
"During the last week I've been playing with some of the emerging Web technologies that aim to make the Internet a more interesting place over the next few years.
I've just finished redesigning my ECS..."
Chitresh Lather - BEng Electronic Engineering (1st year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Hi everyone! Finally the weather has improved. The bright sunshine has spread all over, with some colourful flowers and lush green grass making it more beautiful.
Had a very nice time back home during easter, also..."
Chris Malton - BSc Computer Science (1st year)
Last entry: 6th June
"IE being IE, or maybe Firefox being Firefox
I feel the need to talk about something that's not coursework or exams of doom and gloom (see May 24th 2010 entry). However, I do feel the..."
Christopher Campbell Jensen - BSc Computer Science (third year)
Last entry: 6th June
"After "forcing" multiple friends to proof-read my report, it reached a stage where I deemed it "fit for purpose" and handed it in. What a relief! Now I have the distributed (COMP3019) coursework to deal..."
eb1v07 - MEng Electronic Engineering (3rd year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Life is a funny thing. It can chew you up, spit you out, occasionally steal your hairbrush, but what makes you really want to shake your fist in its general direction is when you realise..."
Oliver Lea - BSc Computer Science (second year)
Last entry: 6th June
"#7 - Semester 2, and other musings.
First: Woah, wait a second, I've been 21 for 2 months already, good grief this time has gone insanely fast.
Anyway, now that's out the way, onto the blog! It's..."
Tom Hennigan - MEng Computer Science (second year)
Last entry: 6th June
"It's been an awful long time since my last entry in here, so I thought I should explain what I've been doing with myself since last January.
Whilst I've been very lucky to have my parents..."
Darren Richardson - MEng Electronic Engineering (1st year)
Last entry: 6th June
"Well, it's suddenly very cold here but Christmas is coming over the horizon, bringing with it mulled wine and mince pies to keep me warm. The fact that Christmas is almost here also reminds me..."
Slav Losevs - MEng Electronic Engineering (1st year)
Last entry: 6th June
"I’ve finally decided that “writer’s block” is a pretty lame excuse and I must entertain you with my first blog entry. ;)
England is treating me surprisingly well. Everyone spends at least 5 minutes a day..."
sh31g09 -
Last entry: 6th June
"I have decided that my excuse for my first entry (and probably most future entries) being late is this; I will always wait until more than half a semester has passed so I can write..."
Aaron Joseph - MSc Software Engineering
Last entry: 5th June
"The Arrival of the End
It has been a while since I last visited these here pages with an account of the adventures I have experienced as an MSc student in ECS. Now I find these..."
Rikki - 4th year PhD student
Last entry: 5th June
"I'm in Trento, Italy for the second conference of my academic career: UMAP (User Modelling And Personalisation) 2009. The first was back in November at DIGITEL 2008, in Banff, Canada, but someone convinced me not..."
Ben Wadmore - BSc Computer Science (second year)
Last entry: 5th June
"It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog, but with several coursework deadlines, followed by a hectic exam period, I have failed to find the time to write one.
The exam period was a..."
Jevan Bryant - MEng Electromechanical Engineering (third year)
Last entry: 5th June
"You know you’re an engineer when: You start to lose your audience...
I was at home in Marlborough the other weekend, while the country was still being inundated by snow. We were enjoying Second Christmas, a..."
Norhidayah Azman - PhD student in Web And Internet Science (WAIS)
Last entry: 5th June
"Doing a PhD straight after an undergraduate degree brings both good and bad connotations about yourself. Particularly in Malaysia, jumping straight from a BSc to PhD is fairly unheard of, thus they automatically assume that..."
Raluca ‘Pinky’ Laic - MEng Computer Science (second year)
Last entry: 5th June
"Chapter 2
Sorry for the long time out. I really really really wanted to continue my story about how's life here. But honestly, it's going too fast, I don't even know how time passed! Really. It's..."
Muddasser Alam - Researcher in the IAM Group
Last entry: 5th June
"Hey guys, I am back!!!! I am very sorry that I am being very lazy. To be honest, the reason for this laziness was mainly study. Well, I said mainly because I don?t want to..."
lh25g08 -
Last entry: 5th June
"Part 1
I've been here for about 5 weeks now, it doesn't feel like it though... but then again time in University seems to work completely differently from the rest of the world. It feels like..."
Group Design Project 2006 -
Last entry: 5th June
"We’re back to the reality of university after a much-needed and in most cases much-deserved break over Christmas, where I for one spent so much time worrying about how much work I had to do..."