Electronic/Electrical Engineering?

I haven't really seen anyone around here who are applying to these courses or are already on them.

Can't wait to start myself. Anyone already on the course who can tell us how intense the first year is? Social life possible?

If you have done A-levels you will find it slightly easier than those who done BTEC. The maths is not all that difficult just carries on from A level further maths plus a bit more. The physics isn't all that difficult either. The reason it's hard is the sheer volume of information you have to take in, even thought it's only the first year. Over the course of this first year I have: completed 2 group projects, done 5 different lab classes, kept 3 detailed lab books, done a total of 6 tests and 4 exams plus weekly maths exams as well as fortnightly online sheets. It is intense but if your manage your time well you can find a balance between work and socialising.

Thanks for your reply!

As far as I can tell, you just finished your first year at Leeds? Was this for straight EE? Also, how many hours per week did you spend in lectures/tutorials/labs (combined)?

Any tips on how to best deal with group project work? With project work being so important in engineering, how do you best cope with people who are lazy and distributing tasks fairly?

sorry for all the questions

Yes I have just finished my first year and it was pretty tough! Im doing EEE but the first 2 years are common with the all the other Electronic courses. You have one tutorial a week, we spent them doing work sheets for ELEC1130, which is a circuit analysis module. Combined I would say I spent about 20-25 hours a week combined depending on which week we were in, although they expect you to match that work in your own time as well! In the labs, you work in pairs, so thats not too bad. There are 2 projects you do. One you do with a partner so it's easier to get the work done. In the other you get put in groups which is your personal tutor group. To be honest everyone in my group got on with the work although one done little compared to everyone else! At the end of the project though you get to mark the individuals in the group, on the amount of work they put in so if there is a lazy person they wont get as many marks as the others. My tips are to make sure everyone has something to do as this will help you get the tasks done quicker and to just put the effort in to finish it asap. If you leave it too late, you probably wont be able to have a working project at the end, although that's not the most important thing!

Thanks! That puts my mind at rest about the project work. I suppose since the entrance criteria is quite high at Leeds, I shouldn't need to worry about lazy people.

Has the course lived up your expectations in terms of the teaching quality and depth/breadth of material covered? The dept. has an excellent research rating etc., that's why I chose it... so I hope the teaching staff are good

I would imagine that most people are happy with holding down a 2:1 on this type of course, but are there many that you know of that got 1:1s?

And yeah I noticed that most of the EE courses are similar in the first 2 years, but I'm pretty bummed that there are no nanotechnology specific modules until the 2nd year, but I suppose that's the same at any uni.

Personally for me I didnt really enjoy the course. That's really more to do with me rather than the actual course content or the teaching. Out of the 6 modules I really enjoyed the maths and physics side of it. The teaching is generally good, personally for me Ed Lindfield is the best lecturer there (You will have him for ELEC1260) and also Julie Carter who teaches maths. What grades are you expecting? Althought the entry requirements are AAB some people this year have got in with grades like BBB and BBC. A lot of people I have spoken to have averaged 1:1's and some 2:1's which is pretty much the standard that most people have got this year. Ed Lindfields module (ELEC1260) is the one that covers nanotechnology in the first year. In the first year it's more of an introduction to nanotechnology and physics so it prepares you for next year when you cover quantum mechanics.

Ah right. I already got my grades last year, so I've got an unconditional offer (which I've accepted).

It's for EE and nanotechnology, which must have a slightly higher demand as the requirements are AAA. I'm happy to hear that there's a nano component in the first year as that's primarily what I'm interested in, but the course it doesn't get nano-specialized til the 4th year as far as I know.

Surprised to hear people getting in with BBB considering the demand for uni places last year, but I guess this subject is typically a bit undersubscribed?

It seems to be the norm for all Electronic courses that they become specialized in the last year of study. I think it was the case that there was spaces to fill so they let people in with lower grades. Not sure how many spaces there were but I would say that there was roughly 70-80 students on all the different course.

I was wondering about books. I checked out the reading list which seems to be quite extensive. Would you recommend I wait til I start attending lectures before I order any of the books, or do most people just get them from the library anyway? (seems to be short loan times, though)