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Good uni options?

chaz1992

Me and my head of sixth form sat down to look at possible uni courses for me, and along with info given on push.co.uk (good website, especially if you want to find the right uni for you) I came up with the following 5 choices:

1.) Engineering - Cambridge (A*AA)
2.) Aeronautical Engineering - Imperial College (A*AA)
3.) Mechanical Engineering - Imperial College (A*AA)
4.) Mechanical Engineering - UCL (AAB)
5.) Mechanical Engineering - Warwick (BBB)

I was wondering if those choices were good or just too top ranged leaving me with no real back up. I'm predicted 4 A's this year in maths, further maths, chemistry and physics. Next year, i'm hoping to get 1 or 2 A*s, but will need to retake C3 as I feel i've messed up that exam for copying a formula out of the formula book incorrectly.

So yeh, I was wondering if these are good choices for engineering or if I could choose better.

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Reply 1

TheSmurfs

They are good choices.... But is it not better to substitute the aeronautical engineering course from imperial for a low end uni (just in case there is no harm in having a back up)

Reply 2

jpatel10

Agree with above post.

The other thing that you have to keep in mind is that you only get one personal statement. Whilst your grades will be one of biggest factors whilst applying to the likes of Cambridge and Imperial, i should think that if you applied to a Aero Eng course and your whole PS was about Mech Eng, they wouldn't be too pleased. In fact, my classmate was in a similar situation and got absolutely grilled at his interview lol.

Reply 3

chaz1992

In my personal statement, I'm going to write about formula 1 and how that has influenced me. In that, a large bit of aeronautical and mechanical engineering takes place, but I guess you could be right. Any suggestions on other universities?

Reply 4

jpatel10

chaz1992

I know i'm no expert when it comes to Engineering but I mean, let's take somewhere like Brunel. I know, it's not rated very highly in general but if your grades are good enough to be seriously considering applying to Imperial, you'd have like a 99% chance of getting in. And AFAIK, Brunel was named after a famous engineer, so i guess their reputation in that field can't be that bad?!

Reply 5

feedz

jpatel10

man whre did u get in?which uni u goin to and which course?

Reply 6

chaz1992

I went on the Warwick website ( http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/ug/entreq/#A-level ) and it said I need an AAB or ABB to do it whereas UCAS, on there website, sayI need a BBB. Confusing.

Reply 7

jpatel10

feedz

man whre did u get in?which uni u goin to and which course?

I got offers from Sheffield, Leicester and Liverpool for a mixture "Maths and Economics" and "Economics". Firm and insurance in my sig. May i ask why?

Reply 8

yosrush

chaz1992

I had one of my choices as EEE in Edinburgh uni, with a dentistry personal statement. Got an unconditional offer for that without much bother. I'm aware that Edinburgh is hardly Imperial or Cambridge, but it's just something to keep in mind; the personal statement isn't the be all and end all.

Reply 9

feedz

do you people thing oxford is better than imperial and ucl for engineering?

and can there be any substitute for imperial, go for bristol? or if doin mechanical engineering go to ucl instead of imperial?

Reply 10

LazyWorseThanInfidel

those websites, i tried them, i found them uterly useless personally

Reply 11

chaz1992

I want to stay in England, prefarably below the midland areas.

Brunel seems good as that's literally one bus ride away.

Bristol seems good as well. Looks like I need to go to a few more open days now.

Reply 12

tkwan196

chaz1992

i wouldn't apply for mech eng and aero for imperial. put down bristol instead for one of them. and i'd choose loughborough over warwick, went to warwick for an interview and hated it. the department was pretty crap.

Reply 13

TheSmurfs

AWWW i wish you would conside Edinburgh its a fantastic uni the course are brilliant and they try their best to let their students adapt to university (I REALLY REALLY REGRET TURNING THEM DOWN!!!)

but Kings is one that generally makes low offers how about it. Its got a good reputation overall but its not actually that great for your course.

Reply 14

Smack

Volunteer Team

According to the Complete University Guide, UCL has a shockingly low employment rate for mechanical engineers. Does anyone know why this might be?

Anyway, do you want to actually work in engineering or just do the degree as a stepping stone for something else?

Reply 15

Smack

Volunteer Team

tkwan196

Well, it's accredited by the ImechE so certainly the course material is up to a very high standard and employers nation wide will recognise it. But the department might well be pretty crappy for all I know.

Fine choices IMO.

If you're unsure about aero and mech eng then I think applying twice is fine, but be aware that aeronautical at Imperial is pretty competitive. Personally I'd sub out Warwick and UCL for somewhere like Bristol and Southampton which I felt had much stronger departments.

Reply 18

Smack

Volunteer Team

Peel

Me too. Whilst I haven't visited any of the unis in question, from what I've heard on places like the IMechE website, Southampton and Bristol really do have top class departments, whereas I haven't heard anything at all about Warwick and UCL. :s-smilie:

Reply 19

Miss_Scarlet

They are nice choices... but are they realistic?
If you are intelligent, then I would definitely keep 4 like that and you will probably be OK, but I would change just one for a slightly lower-class Uni, in case you do not get offers from those ones, or miss the grades for an offer.

I know so many people who only applied to top Unis...and they didn't even get an OFFER from any of them!
Being intelligent alone isn't always enough to guarantee you an offer. Top unis get loads of applicants like that. They also look at personal statements and so forth.