[SillyEddy]

I'm looking to go into engineering, and going the masters gives me the best prospects. A 4 year degree at bachelors, or a 4 year degree including the masters, is required to go forward to become chartered.

I plan to do BEng Mechanical Engineering, then go on to do MEng Aerospace Engineering... But I'm struggling to understand what I'm looking at and how the fees work. I plan on going to a 'lesser' university (which seem to better suit me anyway!) and then getting a nice postgrad at a better university.

I take it the fees have to be paid directly by the student? So taking an industrial placement year might be a good way to save some money up, right? But when I look at a full MEng course (4 year), it says the tuition fees are the standard £9k per year. However, when I look at the one year MSc course (to add to my BEng) the fees are more like £5000. That's considering The University of Manchester.


So why is the one year addition on its own more expensive than the cost of each year of the 4 year degree?


Also, I want an MEng, but although the universities offer a 4 year 'MEng' course, the postgrad year by itself usually seems to award 'MSc' instead. Yeah, I am that fussy about it!


So can you help out and explain what I'm looking at?

Do I need to fully fund the 4th year after a 3 year degree? (or find scholarships, etc)
Why are some universities showing a single 4th year to be half the price of a standard degree year?
Why is it generally MSc? It's certainly not part of their 'research degrees', it's a standalone course.

Cheers

[Smack]

A BEng is a bachelors and an MEng is a masters. An MEng is one year longer than a BEng, but both are single degrees i.e. you cannot do your MEng at another university, and you do not get awarded the BEng and then the MEng. An MEng is actually called a intergrated or undergraduate masters: the end qualification is equivalent to an MSc but it is not a stand-alone degree.

An MSc is a postgraduate degree, and lasts a full year rather than just an academic year like the MEng year.

Whilst your MSc may be cheaper than doing the MEng year you have to pay upfront for an MSc. And the quality of many MSc degrees can be somewhat lacking too since universities sometimes treat them as money generators since the know that there are large amounts of foreign students who will pay for anything so long as it's from a decent British university. The MEng is a better option as many MSc degrees are no accredited by their relevant professional instiutions.

[SillyEddy]

Hmm. That certainly gives food for thought. I was under the impression that an MEng elsewhere could be carried on immediately after doing the BEng. I always said that I want to do a postgrad, but nobody ever questioned if I knew what even I meant by that.

I'll have to check the accreditation - That is entirely the point in me doing a 4 year course. I'll also have to hop on over to my university choices and see what I can do. I think there's the option to do a 4 year course at both - Either a long bachelors or the so called integrated masters.


That's a royal pain though. I thought MEng was a standalone year. So is MEng a title retained entirely for the integrated course, and MSc for the postgrad degree?


Edit: I'm looking at fairly reputable universities, and they've got accreditations for their regular courses. The iMechE website lead me to the Engineering Gateway website. A BEng + MSc is a suitable route it seems. I just need to see if I can cross-breed the two course areas that I want to do into a single engineering accreditation; BEng Mechanical Engineering + MSc Aerospace Engineering. Bleurgh, MSc! I am no scientist!

Further edit: If I do a BEng at Coventry and MSc at Manchester... Am I SillyEddy Msc BEng? or SillyEddy MSc (Manchester)? Does the best part of the degree take over, even if it's not in the same degree area?

[TenOfThem]

If you do the MEng (the better route if you know now) then you are just an MEng

If you do the BEng and then the MSc then you are a BEng, MSc (though I do not know anyone who uses their letters)


One key difference is that you can start a MEng and then (usually) drop down to a BEng after a year (sometimes 2) in most universities, if that is what you decide

Another is that you would have to apply for the MSc and that would be class dependant and there may simply not be one available to you


Tenofthem
BSc, PGCE, MBA, NPQH

[SillyEddy]

Yeah, most university websites say that it's feasable to skip between the MEng and BEng routes as you progress - So it's only really in the last year or so when they actually need to know who's around. Ultimately I will leave it down to progress if I do the masters at all (I would really like to though!) but if I decide to go one route, I'll need to make sure I have funding in place.

I've emailed the accreditors for the course just to find out from them too - I'd really like to get a specialism in one particular area, hence why I was going to do the latter part of the degree in aerospace instead of mechanical.


The MEng Mechanical route does sound rather good at this time though. However, only one of my university choices offer it - The other only does BEng. So in that case, would I have to get lucky and end up on a separate masters course somewhere else? If I'm going to have to do a separate masters, I might as well do the specialism that I want to do anyway. I just need to see if they'll accredite me in the future. iMechE, as the name suggests, is of course relating to Mechanical. Good news is, the BEng-only university are also accredited with IET, so they should be more forgiving with the mix-and-match approach. That said, iMechE do also talk about aerospace on their website, so they might possibly accept it as a reputable addition towards my accredition. I need to wait for their response.

[TenOfThem]

(Original post by SillyEddy)
Yeah, most university websites say that it's feasable to skip between the MEng and BEng routes as you progress - So it's only really in the last year or so when they actually need to know who's around. Ultimately I will leave it down to progress if I do the masters at all (I would really like to though!) but if I decide to go one route, I'll need to make sure I have funding in place.

I've emailed the accreditors for the course just to find out from them too - I'd really like to get a specialism in one particular area, hence why I was going to do the latter part of the degree in aerospace instead of mechanical.


The MEng Mechanical route does sound rather good at this time though. However, only one of my university choices offer it - The other only does BEng. So in that case, would I have to get lucky and end up on a separate masters course somewhere else? If I'm going to have to do a separate masters, I might as well do the specialism that I want to do anyway. I just need to see if they'll accredite me in the future. iMechE, as the name suggests, is of course relating to Mechanical. Good news is, the BEng-only university are also accredited with IET, so they should be more forgiving with the mix-and-match approach. That said, iMechE do also talk about aerospace on their website, so they might possibly accept it as a reputable addition towards my accredition. I need to wait for their response.

Sounds like you are doing all the right research

[SillyEddy]

(Original post by TenOfThem)
Sounds like you are doing all the right research

Well given the cost of a degree, I need to make sure I'm getting the right reward afterwards!

I know people who have done the straight BEng and then managed to get their chartered status through other means, but it seems like a lot more effort. So routes exist no matter where I go or what I do. I'm just trying to make sure it's as easy as possible, and that nothing will bite me in the ass in a few years time!