18 Nov 2024

Thinking of Applying To Engineering? Four Students Discuss Their Experiences

Advice Engineering

Engineering is recognised as a degree with great prospects and opportunities after graduation. Yet, it is a completely new subject for many students and it can be difficult to know what to expect and which courses to apply to. In this article, I’ll be putting some common questions to students who have studied or will be studying engineering to give you an insight into what it’s like to apply to, and study engineering.

 

Meet the Students

  • Tosin Sonubi: A data engineer, Chair of the Stemette Futures Youth Board and General Engineering graduate (specialising in mechanical and manufacturing engineering). Before her degree, Tosin studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-level and Further Maths at AS level.
  • Maria-Emilia Ariciu (Emilia): An incoming first-year aeronautical engineering student with a passion for F1 and aerodynamics. Emilia studied in Romania and took Romanian Language and Literature, Maths and Physics for her final exams before applying to study engineering.
  • Ffion Parry: A biomedical engineering graduate about to continue her studies with a PhD. She studied Maths, Physics, Chemistry and the Welsh Baccalaureate before deciding to pursue engineering.
  • Grace Newman: A second-year automotive engineering student and aspiring motorsport engineer who studied A-levels in physics, maths, further maths, chemistry and an EPQ before starting her degree.

 

How did you know that you wanted to study engineering?

Tosin: Tosin ‘decided to study engineering because of the role models in [her] life’ who inspired her and gave her the confidence to pursue the subject.

“Engineering also seemed like a natural choice for me because it would leave so many opportunities open to me and as someone with so many interests in so many sectors, it felt like a choice which didn’t close any doors.”

Emilia: For Emilia, Formula One was the ‘spark’ that ‘ignited [her] interest towards engineering’. She’s been a fan of the sport for ten years now, attending races that inspired her to pursue a career in the sector. At the same time, her ‘love’ of maths and physics had made her curious about the science behind the world around her and inspired her to take part in olympiads and contests. From here, she decided to study these subjects further with engineering.

Ffion: Like many students, Ffion was unsure what to study at university. To help make her decision, she looked at different online courses before deciding biomedical engineering was the right course.

“I liked the idea of combining engineering and medicine and the ability to improve people’s lives using new technologies.”

Grace: Grace decided to study engineering because she had “always been curious how things are designed and improved”. She had enjoyed physics and maths most at school but especially lessons where she got to apply that to real-world problems, which naturally led [her] to engineering.

“With regards to why automotive engineering – I’d always wondered how F1 cars were able to go so fast, and knew I wanted to work in a high-pressure environment, which is why I aspire to work as a motorsport engineer.”

 

There are so many different types of engineering you can study, how did you choose which one?

 

Source: GIPHY

 

Emilia: ‘Captivated’ by both ‘rockets and Formula One’, Emilia wanted to study a more general engineering degree that would leave her options open and allow her to learn about multiple industries – this led her to aeronautical engineering. She suggests researching the different disciplines because ‘either you’ll get the spark of what the core of that type of engineering is’ or you can look for another type that excites you more.

Tosin: Whilst her general engineering degree was quite broad, Tosin chose a specialism in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. To choose her specialism she chose to focus on the modules she wanted to take as she was particularly keen to study robotics, automation and automotive engineering as well as sustainability.

“I wanted to further explore my interests with the knowledge that with my well-rounded base of general engineering, I could take my learning almost anywhere.”

 

What did a day in your life look like studying engineering?

Both Ffion and Tosin described how they would dedicate 9 am-5 pm each day to their degree including lots of time in lectures and labs as well as independent work between.

Ffion: I’d have at least two lectures a day and one day a week I’ll have an electronics lab session. The times when I’m between lectures and labs I’m studying in the library and meeting my friends for lunch.”

Tosin: Besides her studies, Tosin also recalled “spending time exploring societies” and “developing new friendships.” I was curious about how she had balanced her time and whilst her second and third years had been during the pandemic, which allowed her to focus more on her studies, she found being “intentional in scheduling fun, like Stemettes, and reconnecting with friends” a good strategy.

“Finding balance was hard as I wanted to do, and engage with, everything. I found that having time blocks and the Pomodoro technique helped me. Being aware that balance looks like flexibility and things look different daily.”

 

Some students worry that before starting an engineering degree they need plenty of experience with practical work and programming. Do you think this is the case?

Grace: Grace recognised that experience in engineering before starting a degree can be helpful and that her prior experience in F1 meant that she was already familiar with some of the content in her lectures and labs. However, she said that it was ‘by no means necessary’. She found that in her degree, “the first year was taught assuming no prior knowledge beyond A-levels, so not having experience doesn’t hold you back!”

 

Is there anything you wish you had known before starting your degree? Did you have any misconceptions?

 

Source: GIPHY

 

Grace: Whilst Grace does wish she had known ‘how different the content would be from sixth-form’ as she found that there were ‘a lot of new concepts and module topics’, this was an aspect of her degree that she enjoyed.

“It was nice to study something different and I found the content fascinating. But prepare to walk into a few lectures containing brand new concepts!”

Ffion: But, Ffion was most surprised by the ‘amount of electronics’ which she did struggle with at times. Her degree included a lot of building circuits which ranged from ‘ECG machines’ to ‘wearable tech to alert the wearer of a certain concern.’

 

Do you have any advice for students applying to study engineering?

Emilia: After she was accepted to study aeronautical engineering this year, Emilia had some amazing advice about writing a personal statement. She suggests not listing your achievements but ‘start with an idea and then build a kind of tree from there’. For example, Emilia’s was ‘based on F1 and then [she] added experiences like competitions and internships that [she] did.

“Don’t worry if it’s not conventional. Mine wasn’t at all and that’s why it was appreciated! Try and be bold and proud that you’ve written that piece!”

 

This article was written by Abbey Jones.

Advice Engineering
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