Uni Choices

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Trumpettom001

Well-Known Member
Figured this is the best place to ask in the entire world.

Basically, planning on doing some form of engineering at uni, and would like suggestions for which one.

On the list so far: Sheffield, Duruham, and Loughborough.

Def not on the list - OxBridge, in that I'm not a genius.

Go.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
ILB is at Sheffield..
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
I suggest that you become a bit more focussed as 'some form of engineering' covers:

civil engineering
electrical engineering
materials engineering
bio engineering
fuel engineering
mechanical engineering
chemical engineering
aeronautical engineering
automotive engineering
and many other disciplines

Each university will have its own strengths and weaknesses in the various engineering disciplines and nothing beats doing yor own homework to see how each of the departments fare in the university Research Assesment Exercise as well as looking up the league tables of the universities.

On top of that there are the various prospectuses that need to be browsed an the students' perspectives about the universities in question researched.

My advice is to:
Do some research on the disciplines that interest you.
Select the universities that interest you after looking at their Reasearch Assessment Exercise scores and league table positions (inc employment rates of graduates)
Read the prospectuses to get an idea of which grades are needed to gain entry
Research the cities for things like relative living costs and entertainment venues.
Make up a short list using the information collated from the research.
Select a pecking order.
Use it for your UCAS form.

There really isn't a short cut for this important set of decisions. An uninformed choice can lead to disaster - my sons' unhappy experiences at university bear testimony to the need to do a lot of personal groundwork.
 

wafflycat

New Member
You really need to narrow down from 'some form of engineering' to something a bit more specific...

Then research which universities do courses in the type(s) of engineering you're interested in and make your choices accordingly. When you get offers of places in, make sure that you take the opportunities to visit the campuses on the open days you get invites to, as then you get a feel for each place and where you're likely to enjoy spending three years of your life.
 

montage

God Almighty
Location
Bethlehem
Trumpettom001 said:
Figured this is the best place to ask in the entire world.

Basically, planning on doing some form of engineering at uni, and would like suggestions for which one.

On the list so far: Sheffield, Duruham, and Loughborough.

Def not on the list - OxBridge, in that I'm not a genius.

Go.


Just been through this process (infact been through it twice haha), looked at looodes of unis. It can be hard deciding which ones to pick, but the one thing I would really really state is that it is so, so important to look round them. I cannot stress this enough.

Do you have a clear choice so far?
Sheffield is really, really nicely located - Looks brilliant for cycling (ilb goes there, chat to him)
Durham - know nothing about this (apart from the fact that the city is situated inside an incised meander :rofl:)
Loughborough - you are likely to feel like a small fish in a big pond. Elitist feel to it. I went there to look at geography, and it is possibly the worst geog apartment I have seen. Grounds were ok, but all in all, I felt really let down. Anyway, everybody has different expectations, and I didn't look at engineering at all. Check it out.

London has a few very highly rated Unis for engineering. But there are a few red flags with some of them. Firstly, cycling is limited. Secondly, the cost....it is rediculas. Thirdly many people may chirp up and say go to Imperial which is really good for engineering - I will say one thing about this uni....sausage fest. 64% males....stay clear.

Also, make sure you pick at least two reserve choices. One with lower grades, one with far lower grades. Your year is likely to get slammed by UCAS...courses that were asking for ABB in previous years will be asking for AAA this year.

So how to pick these unis? I would start off with location. If you really really enjoy cycling, then this makes life easier - ditch all the places which are crap for cycling. Is campus a big deal? If so that is more off the list. Then look at reports and rankings of the uni - %of students in full time employment in the first year after they finished their course is a big one, as is student satisfaction. Look at comments on accomodation etc etc. Then look at which ones are highly rated for your course. It is better to go to a uni lower in the league tables where you are more likely to have a great time and attain your degree than one high up which you dislike, therefore making you more likely not to finish/do worse.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
If you are interested in engineering make sure your maths is good, a friend who is a lecturer in engineering is always complaining about the standard of maths of 1st year students.
 

mr_cellophane

Legendary Member
Location
Essex
Trumpettom001 said:
Figured this is the best place to ask in the entire world.

Basically, planning on doing some form of engineering at uni, and would like suggestions for which one.

On the list so far: Sheffield, Duruham, and Loughborough.

Def not on the list - OxBridge, in that I'm not a genius.

Go.

I would give Durham a miss, at least until you learn how to spell it. :ohmy:


Seriously, look around for the sort of job you want to do when you qualify and ask the firms which they would prefer to take graduates from.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
montage said:
Sheffield is really, really nicely located - Looks brilliant for cycling (ilb goes there, chat to him)

I always find it curious someone would say this. Sheffield is brilliant for cycling if you like hills - at least one forum member has recollected about in complaining terms about the hill I do every day. If one doesn't like hills it really does limit things.

Anyway as for sheffield I've known many people who have done engineering there and even some former staff in engineering departments and quite a few in other depts. I've known quite a few go to loughborough too. If one's heart was set on various engineering disciplines and one liked the cities I don't think one could go that far wrong. The bits that the students live in (sheffield students get a particularly good deal vs other cities) are in the 2010s very nice places to live in your 20s.

summerdays said:
If you are interested in engineering make sure your maths is good, a friend who is a lecturer in engineering is always complaining about the standard of maths of 1st year students.

Engineers moan about maths all the time, that is why they are engineers. If one is shockingly bad at it then obviously one shouldn't do it but generations of students that are all right at it have put up with it and got on fine. If one were to say to a prospective student go and look at K.A. Stroud and see whether you could handle that sort of stuff none of them will actually do it :ohmy:.
 

brokenbetty

Über Member
Location
London
Where do you want the degree to take you? Is it study for study's sake, the first step into a career in engineering, or the first step into a graduate job of some sort, details to be decided further down the line?
 

Yellow Fang

Legendary Member
Location
Reading
Loughborough's seems most famous for sport, but it's pretty hot for engineering too. Durham's pretty hard to get into I gather. Imperial has a pretty hot reputation for engineering too, but is also very difficult to get into. I think Manchester is another one. Southampton, Brunel, Oxford Brooks are others I can think of off the top of my head. Possibly Northumbria too. There don't seem to be too many students wanting to study engineering unfortunately. Reading closed is mechanical engineering courses (as well as physics).
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
vernon said:
I suggest that you become a bit more focussed as 'some form of engineering' covers:

civil engineering
electrical engineering
materials engineering
bio engineering
fuel engineering
mechanical engineering
chemical engineering
aeronautical engineering
automotive engineering
and many other disciplines

Each university will have its own strengths and weaknesses in the various engineering disciplines and nothing beats doing yor own homework to see how each of the departments fare in the university Research Assesment Exercise as well as looking up the league tables of the universities.

On top of that there are the various prospectuses that need to be browsed an the students' perspectives about the universities in question researched.

My advice is to:
Do some research on the disciplines that interest you.
Select the universities that interest you after looking at their Reasearch Assessment Exercise scores and league table positions (inc employment rates of graduates)
Read the prospectuses to get an idea of which grades are needed to gain entry
Research the cities for things like relative living costs and entertainment venues.
Make up a short list using the information collated from the research.
Select a pecking order.
Use it for your UCAS form.

There really isn't a short cut for this important set of decisions. An uninformed choice can lead to disaster - my sons' unhappy experiences at university bear testimony to the need to do a lot of personal groundwork.

Excellent advice.
 
vernon said:
I suggest that you become a bit more focussed as 'some form of engineering' covers:

civil engineering
electrical engineering
materials engineering
bio engineering
fuel engineering
mechanical engineering
chemical engineering
aeronautical engineering
automotive engineering
and many other disciplines

+ marine engineering. Theres even a chance you can get sponsorship and get paid if you fancy it. Though you might end up in Glasgow or South Tyneside as there ain't many places cover it.
VERY male dominated, but it is changing slowly. 64% quoted above for Imp is probably small in comparison.
Hope it works out wherever you decide upon.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
marinyork said:
Engineers moan about maths all the time, that is why they are engineers. If one is shockingly bad at it then obviously one shouldn't do it but generations of students that are all right at it have put up with it and got on fine. If one were to say to a prospective student go and look at K.A. Stroud and see whether you could handle that sort of stuff none of them will actually do it :ohmy:.

Well I know they ended up adding a maths module to their first year course so that they could try to get them to the point they wanted. This lecturer is one of those who says that A-Levels have got easier - I have no way of telling myself.
 
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