Student Comments

Comments from past Mathematics, Statistics and Computing students

Helen Wong

At the age of 19, I was just like any other young adult not knowing where to proceed my future and career. At the recruitment day, staff in the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences were very friendly and patiently explained the details of each degree course. I chose to study BSc Mathematics, Statistics and Computing as these three subjects are closely related to each other. The mathematics laid the foundation of logical thinking and reasoning for statistics and computing, whilst the computing section lead us to use the modern technology to assist the complicated calculations of mathematics and statistics. Most importantly, the tutors were the best. They know the subjects and they never turned me away when I needed help. They are knowledgeable and supportive.

Furthermore, this course is a sandwich course. I will never regret spending an extra year to gain work experience rather than just doing the 3-year degree courses. Actually, I recommended it to every one I know of who was looking for a degree course to study. The year of working experience gave me a taste of working life and the area that I wanted to work in after graduation. I gained my placement experience with the Aintree University and after graduating I continued my studies at JMU and earned a PhD in medical statistics. Now I am working as a Medical Statistician for the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and Arrowe Park Hospital of Wirral with responsibility for supporting medical research and clinical audits. This degree course was the gateway to my career achievements.


Ian Jarman
Mine is not a straightforward story of GCSEs, A-levels and then a degree. In fact I don’t have any A-level qualifications at all because at 16 I started in what could be called a humdrum 9 to 5 job working in the banking industry, certainly for me it eventually felt that way.
I noticed an advertisement for the Polymaths course, which offered progression onto a degree course. This was a fantastic but very intense, 2 nights a week for 1-year. I then started on the Mathematics, Statistics and Computing BSc degree course, which included a year placement in industry. My placement after the 2^nd year was invaluable in putting into practice some of the mathematical and computing skills learnt over the previous 2 years. This placement also considerably strengthened my CV. In my final year I completed a module on Neural Networks as well as a final year statistical project on breast cancer survival that provided an opportunity to apply for a post as research assistant with a research project within John Moores developing prognostic methods for breast cancer patients following surgery. This is now where I see my new career progressing. This work is very satisfying, has taken me to some great places across Europe and has the potential to be of great value to others as well as pushing back the boundaries of knowledge in our areas of expertise. What a change from my 9 to 5 office job!


Anna Padbury
My “A” level grades, particularly my “A” in Mathematics, were such that I had a great deal of choice of where to study Mathematics at University. However, I specifically chose the Mathematics, Statistics and Computing Course at JMU for several reasons. Among these were that the course content was extremely appealing; I could study part-time so that I could continue with my career progression at the same time; the course was focused on the applications of how the disciplines were used rather than the purely theoretical aspect; and I wanted to be tutored rather than lectured to.
The methods that I learnt for analysing data and problem solving have been invaluable. These skills are particularly transferable and highly desired by employers. Over the last 10 years, I have used these skills whilst employed as an underwriter, a team manager, a senior business analyst, a consultant and now as a project manager working at Senior Management level.


Barbara Wu
Like many disappointed A-levels students who didn’t have enough points to start their first choice of degree course, I looked everywhere for clearance places. I was lucky to be offered a place at Liverpool John Moores University to study a sandwich degree at Applied Statistics and Computing and it turned out to be a truly fantastic course and gave lots of useful experiences.
Needless to say, I had a great time and made lots of friends while on the course. The placement had helped me to decide on my future career path. All the lecturers were very supportive and when I finished my degree I was recommended for a scholarship to study for PhD. I am now lecturer at a local college delivering adult numeracy courses as well as professional development courses for numeracy and vocational tutors.