You might already know that courses in Uppsala University are mostly taught only during one period (half semester). All courses range from 5 to 15 credits and if you plan to finish your degree on time, you should take 60 credits per year. Nevertheless, do not believe that the workload of each course is 100% based on the credits: many students (including myself) complain about this problem. There are courses of 7.5 or 10 credits that are actually OK, but many 5-credit courses seem to require a lot of work, sometimes even more than a 7.5-credit course.
This period I’m taking User Interface Programming II (5) and Machine Learning (7.5). It’s less than 15 credits but I already took extra credits the previous semester. You might be interested on following on twitter how much I’m actually working on each course. As a spoiler, I’ll probably be working more on the UIP2 course than in ML. Why? Well, it’s a project-based course without final exam, which means that the whole evaluation is made on one single project that has to be developed during the course. Be careful with project-based courses: they are usually very good and very interesting, but in order to make the most of them you have to work A LOT every week. In fact, when I tool UIP1 I have to say that I learned way too many things about developing graphical interfaces and I met very nice people, but I spent most of the period working only on this course. My advice: combine those courses with regular courses so you can get a better balance and some free time.
If you want to know more about the courses just follow these links: User Interface Programming 2 and Machine Learning.
Hello,i have a question about the duration of the autum semester. Do you know if the semester actually ends in January or is it just tests and classes end by the end of December?
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteIt kind of depends on the course. In my experience most courses end around December 20th (including exams). When I took Human Computer Interaction I had to submit the last assignment the first week of January (but it was possible to do it before the break).
What I do know is that in January you can take re-exams (if during a previous period you failed/missed an exam).
I think it is save to say that there won't be much (if any) to do during a whole month! But you should check with your teachers first just to be 100% sure :-)
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteI went through your blog and it was a great experience. Thanks for sharing all these info.
I got admit in Uppsala University for Masters in Computer Science for Autumn 2011. I want to know about the availability of jobs after the course. How difficult it is to get a job in Sweden? I heard after the masters we can stay in Sweden for 6 months and look for jobs. Is it true?
Thanks,
Shantanu
Hi Shantanu!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked my blog :-) I think you're right and you can stay during some time after finishing the program. I've heard it can be hard but I don't know if first hand... What I do know is that you should start learning Swedish right away. Don't be confuse by the fact that everyone speaks English. Their language is Swedish and that's what they use at work so you should really make an effort.
I know some students even get thesis projects at big companies like Ericsson and of course, in many other not-so-big companies. If you want to get a job after graduation probably you should try to get a thesis at a company as well.
Congratulations on getting accepted! I wish you a lot of success in Uppsala! :-)
Andry