Engineering courses for university

[mamakosj]

I am currently in the 6th form at school, and am looking to go to a university that has a good facility for either mechanical or electronical engineering courses. I would hope to do several years at university, achieving the highest qualification I can, followed by some years working in the Navy or the MOD as a chartered engineer. I am doing A levels (maths, further maths, physics, chemistry, electronics) and i expect to get mostly A grades with perhaps one or two B grades. Please could someone give me advice on where to go, or perhaps a good link where i could find out about the different options avaliable to me.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Klaynos]

http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/RIJU6oJOUV3Ohqq5t65dFansTD-T_-4SJq/HAHTpage/search.HsKeywordSearch.whereNext?query=938&word=ELECTRONIC+%2F+ELECTRICAL+ENGINEERING

http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/RIJU6oJOUV3Ohqq5t65dFansTD-T_-4SJq/HAHTpage/search.HsKeywordSearch.whereNext?query=941&word=MECHANICAL+ENGINEERING

http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/RIJU6oJOUV3Ohqq5t65dFansTD-T_-4SJq/HAHTpage/search.HsKeywordSearch.whereNext?query=223&word=ENGINEERING

 

My best advice to you is decide how far away you want to study and then look at unis in that range. Go to open days, read prospectuses, and have a look around online

[mamakosj]

Thank you for that information. I have done some research myself, and come up with a few different universities, which have courses that I am interested in.

 

Some of the engineering-based course options that appeal to me are 'Space Engineering', 'Mechatronics/Robotics', 'Nanotechnology', 'Microelectronics', and a few others that are linked to mechanical and/or electronical engineering.

 

Does anyone have any comments on the following universities? (reputation, past experiences, recomendations, good research, surrounding areas etc)

 

Aston

Brunel

Imperial College

Leeds

Loughborough

[Klaynos]

Well a couple of my friends went to/are at IC one of them really disliked it, he did physics, and one of them doing comp sci I think, although I can't really remember, it might be physics too, quite enjoys it I think... So I've been completely useless here.

 

See if their student unions/guilds have websites with forums on. I know mine does with a special section for interested people. Read their prospectuses (I'm sure you have already). Make sure you visit them before deciding! VERY important that.

 

http://www.unofficial-guides.com/guides/

 

Will give you an interesting outlook...

[mamakosj]

Thank you. The website is a great help.

[weknowthewor]

u can go to kingston or cambridge university in london or oxford(new branch) in united states.

[J77]

u can go to kingston or cambridge university in london or oxford(new branch) in united states.

Bizarre comment?!?

 

OP -- it may be a bit late now but my advice would be to go for Aero/Mechanical, if you like the hands-on stuff, or Electrical if you've also could a keen interest in Physics.

 

For good engineering depts, I'd check out their research scores (not this year, yet... but from 2001):

 

http://www.hero.ac.uk/rae/rae_dynamic.cfm?myURL=http://195.194.167.103/Results/byuoa/uoa30.htm

 

Also, consider where you'd like to live -- up-North, down-South, or in London...

[Klaynos]

Bizarre comment?!?

 

Esspecially as Cambridge is in urm well Cambridge not London....

[mamakosj]

No your posts are not too late - I have untill next January to make my final decisions.

 

Recently I have shown some particular interest in both Leeds University and Imperial College London. My subject areas would be mechanical or electronical engineering. Some examples of courses that I'm interested in are:

• space engineering
  
• micro-electronics
  
• nano-technology
  
• mechatronics and robotics

I've also looked at some more general courses too.

 

If anyone has been to these universities or done courses like these, then please state you opinions. Thank you.

[J77]

It's more than likely that you'll follow the "general" engineering courses for the first couple of years -- ie. a bit of each discipline including maths -- then onto more mech/aero based subjects in the 3rd year, with final specilisation in the 4th.

 

Don't pick a course because it's got a gimmicky title -- like "space engineering" -- do it because of the quailty of the institution, even if it's just called, plain old, "Mechanical engineering".

 

Also, Imperial -- do you want to (and can you afford to) live in London for 4 years?

[mamakosj]

What are the options for living on campus (in general)?

 

My ideal would be to do a Meng sandwitch course, hopefully with MOD sponsorship, then do a few years compulsory service in the MOD of possibly the Navy. Finaly, I would love to work towards being part of a space program, if possible, and maybe even work in the ISS or something like that.

[J77]

What are the options for living on campus (in general)?

You don't find campus unis in the middle of the big cities -- eg. London, Bristol, Manchester...

 

Places a bit outside are campus based -- eg. Surrey and Warwick spring to mind.

 

Have you looked at how you obtain MoD sponsership? Will you have to apply early?

[mamakosj]

I have obtained information about university sponsorship from both the MOD and the Navy, but have only started to follow it through with the Navy at the moment. As far as I know, I should not need to apply for sponsorship untill I apply to a university.

 

I also intend to take a gap year to include a couple of work placements in the subject areas that I will be studying at university, and possibly an expedidtion of some sort. This could also be linked to my subject area.

 

Does anyone have any good ideas about what I could do for my gap year? Are universities less likely to take people who have gone on gap years or does it not matter too much? Another idea is that by taking a gap year, universities will be able to see my actual A2 exam results rather than just my predicted grades; Does this make much of a difference?