IBA vs FAST vs Others for CS.

[saifookhan]

Asalam o alaikum all.

My name is Saif and i'm doing my A2s currently. Hopefully it will end in this may/june session.
I want to go in CS field after my A'levels. These past few weeks i've been struggling in choosing the right university i should attend.

Here is some homework i did about the institutes.
-I spoke to elders/seniors about this, 90% of them said to attend FAST for CS (since they specialize in it, they said).
-Some said in FAST you're most likely to get 'maila company' (no offense to FAST students. I'm not sure about the life over there. I'm just speaking on others' opinions).
-I personally prefer IBA because of extra curriculars and their requirements are high which is good, I think. Whilst FAST's requirements are 50% on aggregate.
-They both have similar fee structures.
-IBA is city centre while FAST is on the other end of Karachi.

What are your thoughts about this? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance.

PS i'm new to this forum. Loved it.

 

[hasnain1sds]

Welcome to PG.
I am not sure if you are aware that IBA has two campus: one is in saddar and the other one is inside Karachi University. For ECAs and socialising I personally feel KU campus is much better. Don't know how you got requirements for both the universities but those mentioned on websites and various brochures are just 'minimum requirements' i.e the least no. of marks you need to have for even being considered by the admission committee in realilty candidates have much higher marks. LUMS is the best university for CS as far as I know.

 

[ads496]

I faced the same dilemma a year ago and I chose fast over other universities. The thing is when it comes to CS two things matter a lot. One is the alumni of the university and the other is the reputation of the university which matter a lot when it comes to attaining a job. Fast is really good in these departments. Companies give first preference to fast when it comes to recruiting, this is something I have witnessed and not something I have heard.
Those are the pros now on the cons. I am a student from a levels too and in fast you will feel like a minority. Majority of the students are from inter. As you said that fast has maila mahol, well the ratio between girls and boys here so the mahol is not super sophisticated but you will adjust to it. I had a tough time in the start too but you will find a group that suits you. Another thing that fast lacks is the appropriate university life. If you are looking for excessive extra curricular activities then fast is not the place for you. The distance is large too but fast has a really good system of transport and provides cheap and convenient transportation.
Fast does have some cons but the pros overcome them easily. Another thing, I was advised to go to fast by a professor who works at iba. The professor herself is a Fastian and in her opinion iba's CS dept doesn't even come close to fast.


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[Lebowski]

Asalam o alaikum all.

My name is Saif and i'm doing my A2s currently. Hopefully it will end in this may/june session.
I want to go in CS field after my A'levels. These past few weeks i've been struggling in choosing the right university i should attend.

Here is some homework i did about the institutes.
-I spoke to elders/seniors about this, 90% of them said to attend FAST for CS (since they specialize in it, they said).
-Some said in FAST you're most likely to get 'maila company' (no offense to FAST students. I'm not sure about the life over there. I'm just speaking on others' opinions).
-I personally prefer IBA because of extra curriculars and their requirements are high which is good, I think. Whilst FAST's requirements are 50% on aggregate.
-They both have similar fee structures.
-IBA is city centre while FAST is on the other end of Karachi.

What are your thoughts about this? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance.

PS i'm new to this forum. Loved it.

FAST is the better choice imo. Quite a few people end up joining the CS program at IBA just because they dont get into the BBA program (The test is the same, the cutoff for CS is lower) .

IBA definitely has an edge when it comes to events but the main criterion should be academics where FAST is better by quite a margin.

Welcome to PG.
I am not sure if you are aware that IBA has two campus: one is in saddar and the other one is inside Karachi University. For ECAs and socialising I personally feel KU campus is much better. Don't know how you got requirements for both the universities but those mentioned on websites and various brochures are just 'minimum requirements' i.e the least no. of marks you need to have for even being considered by the admission committee in realilty candidates have much higher marks. LUMS is the best university for CS as far as I know.

The KU campus doesn't offer CS classes. And it is NOT better for socializing.

 

[saifookhan]

Welcome to PG.
I am not sure if you are aware that IBA has two campus: one is in saddar and the other one is inside Karachi University. For ECAs and socialising I personally feel KU campus is much better. Don't know how you got requirements for both the universities but those mentioned on websites and various brochures are just 'minimum requirements' i.e the least no. of marks you need to have for even being considered by the admission committee in realilty candidates have much higher marks. LUMS is the best university for CS as far as I know.

Thanks for your input. Yep, I'm awake for the two campuses. You might be right about LUMS, but i'm only looking for KHI univs.

- - - Updated - - -

FAST is the better choice imo. Quite a few people end up joining the CS program at IBA just because they dont get into the BBA program (The test is the same, the cutoff for CS is lower) .

IBA definitely has an edge when it comes to events but the main criterion should be academics where FAST is better by quite a margin.


The KU campus doesn't offer CS classes. And it is NOT better for socializing.

Thanks for your input. When you apply for admission, you either sit in test for BS or you can sit in BBA.
There are two different slips for them. Furthermore, BS exam's math is a bit different from BBA's math exam.
English's essay part is different too.

Sorry i'll disagree with you on KU campus comment. My friend is studying BCS there in KU campus.
I'm not sure about socializing though. ECAs in this campus are more too.

 

[Azimiester]

go to fast .. you wont regret your decision ..

 

[saifookhan]

go to fast .. you wont regret your decision ..

Thanks for your input. May I ask why do you say so?

 

[r4fay]

I'm an Intermediate student and I have decided to get into FAST as well. I'm replying here so I can keep an eye on people's opinion. Personally, I feel there is no better alternative for FAST when it comes to CS. I had a friend who used to take tuition with me and he got into FAST last year. According to him, there have been tons of events. The company isn't your tight-shirt maila nor too burger. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but as far as I could tell he seemed pretty content, which gives me hope. FAST is far and going there means I'm throwing away 3 hours from my day in "travelling." I have also been to career counselling (well, Anees Hussian offers it) and they couldn't recommend FAST more, if I choose to go to CS. I was told to keep KU as second priority. On asking for third priority, they seemed to have a "eh, might as well do it from any other university" vibe.

Well, exams are kareeb and FAST admission test isn't too far away neither. In the first week of July, they told me. I will give the test and we will see. I don't know much about IBA, but it's mainly a business university. While FAST is an engineering/science university.

Edit: I forgot to mention girls to boys ratio, which is practically non-existent in FAST. However, that's expected of any engineering field. It's predominately male playground.

 

[saifookhan]

I faced the same dilemma a year ago and I chose fast over other universities. The thing is when it comes to CS two things matter a lot. One is the alumni of the university and the other is the reputation of the university which matter a lot when it comes to attaining a job. Fast is really good in these departments. Companies give first preference to fast when it comes to recruiting, this is something I have witnessed and not something I have heard.
Those are the pros now on the cons. I am a student from a levels too and in fast you will feel like a minority. Majority of the students are from inter. As you said that fast has maila mahol, well the ratio between girls and boys here so the mahol is not super sophisticated but you will adjust to it. I had a tough time in the start too but you will find a group that suits you. Another thing that fast lacks is the appropriate university life. If you are looking for excessive extra curricular activities then fast is not the place for you. The distance is large too but fast has a really good system of transport and provides cheap and convenient transportation.
Fast does have some cons but the pros overcome them easily. Another thing, I was advised to go to fast by a professor who works at iba. The professor herself is a Fastian and in her opinion iba's CS dept doesn't even come close to fast.


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Thanks for your input. It's great that you're there. I can get a direct guide from you.
Did you consider other universities too?
Which year are you in?
What do you do in spare time over there?
Being an A'levels student, how you prepared for the admission test?
How would you rate the crowd there on the graph of 1 to 10?
What do you think of the academics?

Tell me more about FAST. XD Thank you.

 

[saifookhan]

I'm an Intermediate student and I have decided to get into FAST as well. I'm replying here so I can keep an eye on people's opinion. Personally, I feel there is no better alternative for FAST when it comes to CS. I had a friend who used to take tuition with me and he got into FAST last year. According to him, there have been tons of events. The company isn't your tight-shirt maila nor too burger. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but as far as I could tell he seemed pretty content, which gives me hope. FAST is far and going there means I'm throwing away 3 hours from my day in "travelling." I have also been to career counselling (well, Anees Hussian offers it) and they couldn't recommend FAST more, if I choose to go to CS. I was told to keep KU as second priority. On asking for third priority, they seemed to have a "eh, might as well do it from any other university" vibe.

Well, exams are kareeb and FAST admission test isn't too far away neither. In the first week of July, they told me. I will give the test and we will see. I don't know much about IBA, but it's mainly a business university. While FAST is an engineering/science university.

Edit: I forgot to mention girls to boys ratio, which is practically non-existent in FAST. However, that's expected of any engineering field. It's predominately male playground.

Thanks for your input. The only thing which bothers me about FAST is like the guy above said, "an inappropriate university life". Like there's nothing much to do in free time. And since it's far away, we can't leave the university if we are free early (I mean we can leave but if we have our own car or something).
Another thing which i kind of dislike is, a person with a minimum of 50% in inter can apply. Which i personally think isn't good.

 

[r4fay]

Thanks for your input. The only thing which bothers me about FAST is like the guy above said, "an inappropriate university life". Like there's nothing much to do in free time. And since it's far away, we can't leave the university if we are free early (I mean we can leave but if we have our own car or something).
Another thing which i kind of dislike is, a person with a minimum of 50% in inter can apply. Which i personally think isn't good.

That's the main reason I've been reluctant about FAST. The same friend that I told you about returns back home at about 5:30 - 5:45, which I think is very exhaustive. I have a ton of hobbies but I will never have time to carry them out. It's not like, "come on man, it's university, what'd you expect?" I reckon there will be very little time to even do the university work (assignments, homework research, etc). IBA is very kareeb to my home, and lets be honest, it is a well-known university. They have been upgrading their infrastructure.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to your skill and perhaps luck. It's not like you won't get a job just because you didn't do CS from FAST. You have to deliver; if you can't, you're fired. I have been told this thing on this forum.

The only thing that frightens me the most about IBA is their admission procedure. It's not exactly as simple as it is with FAST. You have to go through group session, which in case are absolutely a nightmare because lack of speaking skillz.

 

[ads496]

Thanks for your input. It's great that you're there. I can get a direct guide from you.
Did you consider other universities too?
Which year are you in?
What do you do in spare time over there?
Being an A'levels student, how you prepared for the admission test?
How would you rate the crowd there on the graph of 1 to 10?
What do you think of the academics?

Tell me more about FAST. XD Thank you.

Yes I considered other universities too, fast was second on my list. The first was nust seecs just because I was in love with their campus and overall environment but sadly my merit wasn't high enough.
I am currently ending my first year (second semester).
Yaar fast main spare time bohat kam hota hai. I usually have classes all day and if I am free I go play some table tennis or to the lab for some interwebz ( the Internet here is phenomenal).
I was taking preparatory classes for nust at anees hussain which prepared me for fast too.
I would rate the crowd 7. The main reason that I stayed back and didn't transfer was academics. The academic life at fast is quite tough. As you said that their requirement for admission is just 50% but after the first semester you will realise that their academic standard is quite high.


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[Lebowski]

Sorry i'll disagree with you on KU campus comment. My friend is studying BCS there in KU campus.
I'm not sure about socializing though. ECAs in this campus are more too.

Are you sure? This must have been a recent change. I am in my last semester (BBA) and I haven't heard of CS classes at the main campus. The test was definitely the same for both programs when I applied. We just had to tick whichever program we wanted to apply to. Do check the procedure for this year on their website.

The ECAs as you call it happen in the main campus as its a bigger space and hence has more open space. However, what actually matters is who are the people organizing the events and which campus they belong to.

 

[Yawarjr17]

Are you sure? This must have been a recent change. I am in my last semester (BBA) and I haven't heard of CS classes at the main campus. The test was definitely the same for both programs when I applied. We just had to tick whichever program we wanted to apply to. Do check the procedure for this year on their website.

The ECAs as you call it happen in the main campus as its a bigger space and hence has more open space. However, what actually matters is who are the people organizing the events and which campus they belong to.

The tests for both are different. The math in the CS test is more advanced. More along the lines of SATII.

 

[newb3e]

udacity.com

 

[musab]

you should have a look at suffa's cs faculty DHA Suffa University - Faculty Members
almost equal to fast coz most of faculty has teaching background of fast, better social life and great location, what you guys say??

 

[assasin42o]

you should have a look at suffa's cs faculty DHA Suffa University - Faculty Members
almost equal to fast coz most of faculty has teaching background of fast, better social life and great location, what you guys say??

Dont. Its yet not recognized in the market, and would take 5 years min to establish a rep. Is se better SSUET hai.

 

[musab]

It is hec recognized

 

[SohaibArif]

The thing about FAST is that you may regret it for the first year and you have a 50% chance of failing ITC, your first C programming course. When you have passed through that and the real computing courses begin then you will meet the much better teachers of FAST and they are much better, with a few exceptions who will not be named by me but other Karachi Fastians will know.
As far as ECAs are concerned, FAST has many and they host an event called PROCOM every year. That is a very very big event, Imran Khan came for it as a guest when I was in my first or second semester. Almost all responsibility of executing the event is on the students divided into various groups for different tasks, like a Marketing group , Security group, a Catering group, groups for various events in Procom. For sports there is Sportics, there is a gym and a sports room(never been to either due to work and generally not being interested in these things but it exists) and there are several other competitions and events.
My advice is if you want to do CS, then FAST is the best option but be prepared to work hard and be prepared to fail a few times, only to repeat that subject and get much better, and transport will be a problem but I come by private car and if my classes for the day end early, I do drop people off uptil Quaidabad on the way back home and several other people do the same.

 

[SohaibArif]

you should have a look at suffa's cs faculty DHA Suffa University - Faculty Members
almost equal to fast coz most of faculty has teaching background of fast, better social life and great location, what you guys say??

Why isn't Sir Hilal Qurashi listed here? did he leave?

For everyone else, this person mentioned above was the one who brought CS to Pakistan and founded FAST.