ICE or IStructE graduate member?

So I've just graduated and my student memberships have expired or are expiring. Many job listings I've seen around require me to be a member of a professional body.

My initial choice would be to stay with ICE. However, this will cost me £182 for the year, whereas the IStructE is giving me a discount and only asks for £47. That's a huge difference!

So my question is... would it matter which one I am a member of? I'm assuming it does, as I am applying to both Civil and Structural Engineering roles. I just wanted to ask because ideally, I'd like to save £135 Tbh, I can't really afford £182 right now or I wouldn't have even bothered making this thread.

If you're applying for jobs in both areas I'd recommend ICE (sorry). ICE covers both civil and structural whereas IStructE is mainly structural (although this can include the more "structural" bits of civil e.g. bridges). I would say that even in structures you might want to start out with ICE rather than IStructE - in the consultancy I work for most of us aim to get chartered with ICE initially though lots of us get chartered with both institutions in the long run. (The reason most of us choose ICE first is that general opinion is that they make their development objectives easier to hit than the IStructE's and also you avoid having to take the IStructE exam which is notoriously hard. Once you're chartered with one there's no real reason to get chartered with the other except feeling pleased with yourself.)

However if you join ICE only you miss out on IStructE's magazine, which is much much better than the ICE one.

If it's any consolation, once you have a job you will be able to reclaim some tax on institution memberships by citing them as work expenses, this can also be done for a few years retrospectively.

I got told about the IStructE exam from my lecturer as well, telling me how hard it will be. He said there's a large proportion of people fail every year. That's terribly worrying!

The pass rate is something like 33%. The pass rate for people taking it for the first time is ludicrously low - I've heard 15% mentioned. Colleagues have told me that even if you have ticked off all your development objectives and can get through your Professional Review after 3 or 4 years, you will probably take longer to gain the breadth of experience necessary to pass the exam.

I'm going for ICE first, but I do intend to join IStructE as a member once I've achieved CEng with ICE.

I definitely remember one or the other having a cheaper rate for the unemployed. Certainly worth a check.