Engineering for a female?

As your a guy, i wanted to ask. have you spoken to any of the 5 girls at all ? Also, if one of them spoke to you first, would you become friends with them? What would you think? Some guys in my class tend to avoid us girls, and never sits next to us either :|

Of course. I'm good friends with all of them. One of them has in fact become a really close friend of mine. There's another who my best friend is interested in so yeah we interact quite a bit.

The girls are light hearted too so they take banter pretty well. There's nothing worse than a sob story spoiling all the fun.

If I'm being honest, the close friend of mine is quite outgoing and not shy at all which is why we get along really well. But there are a few shy girls too and as I said my friends or I don't just ignore them - we talk to everyone so no one feels left out.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 61

Wissenschaft

9

Original post by MerveA

So shy guys wouldnt aproach the one lonely girl sitting alone because none of the girls came ?

Nope

Reply 62

MerveA

8

Original post by Stickman

Of course. I'm good friends with all of them. One of them has in fact become a really close friend of mine. There's another who my best friend is interested in so yeah we interact quite a bit.

The girls are light hearted too so they take banter pretty well. There's nothing worse than a sob story spoiling all the fun.

If I'm being honest, the close friend of mine is quite outgoing and not shy at all which is why we get along really well. But there are a few shy girls too and as I said my friends or I don't just ignore them - we talk to everyone so no one feels left out.

You sound like a great guy, we need a bit more of you in my class :wink:

Which uni is this by the way? and was it you lot that spoke first or the girls? I'd really want to make friends with the guys but they're not so approachable, its unfair really. Once i was sitting alone, and 3 guys looked at me and said 'why dont you sit next to the girl at the front row?' , kind of expecting all the girls to always be togethher, do the girls in your classes sit all together?

Reply 63

MerveA

8

Original post by Wissenschaft

Nope

Now this makes everything harder. :frown:

Reply 64

Architeer

1

I studied structural engineering and there were about 30-40 girls in a year group of 120-160 (numbers went down each year). Within a few of the small friendship groups I saw forming there was a mix of girls and guys, so there was definitely no "us and them" mentality. I know in chemical engineering though there were only about 6 girls in a year of about 80 and all the girls were friends, so it does differ.

If you want to do it, just do it :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 65

Stickman

19

Original post by MerveA

You sound like a great guy, we need a bit more of you in my class :wink:

Which uni is this by the way? and was it you lot that spoke first or the girls? I'd really want to make friends with the guys but they're not so approachable, its unfair really. Once i was sitting alone, and 3 guys looked at me and said 'why dont you sit next to the girl at the front row?' , kind of expecting all the girls to always be togethher, do the girls in your classes sit all together?

Haha, what uni is this? I'm a fresher at UCL. Uhm well the thing is to break the ice I made the Facebook group for our course for everyone to join in and I made my best friend admin too so before we started uni everyone knew us and so it wasn't that difficult to interact because well when we came in first day everyone recognised the pair of us.

Some girls we approached, some girls approached us. But I mean that's just a dickish thing that the guys there did. Clearly they can't handle female engineers. Not all guys are like that and the more you talk to, the more you'll see who you should be friends with.

I came from an all boys school so naturally there was that hurdle I had to cross of talking to girls; so I'm sure you can do the same.

Reply 66

student2034

OP

14

Original post by MerveA

You a muslim by any chance?

Yeah

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 67

TheNightCircus

Original post by Ad109

I'm a 15 yo girl currently doing my GCSE's.
After doing my physics gcse last year and being interested in mathematics since I could remember, someone recommended I researched engineering. After doing some research and talkin to a teacher from Aston engineering academy I've kind of like decided I do want to become an engineer? I'm not sure if I should as my family have that kind of 'engineering is a males job' approach to engineering which is slightly putting me off.
Should I really go on to do engineering? And if so which a levels will best suit it? And btw I got an A* in my physics gcse.
Thank you :smile:

I'm a 16 year old girl just starting my A-levels. I want to be a civil engineer i do physics, maths, further maths and geography. I say if you want to be an engineer go for it. There need to be more women in engineering. If you're really interested in engineering I think that next year you should look at doing one of the HEADSTART EDT COURSES. I have applied for some and they look great. Go for engineering :smile:

Reply 68

Stickman

19

Original post by TheNightCircus

I'm a 16 year old girl just starting my A-levels. I want to be a civil engineer i do physics, maths, further maths and geography. I say if you want to be an engineer go for it. There need to be more women in engineering. If you're really interested in engineering I think that next year you should look at doing one of the HEADSTART EDT COURSES. I have applied for some and they look great. Go for engineering :smile:

Headstart is alright. Try Sutton Trust and UNIQ too. They're really good.

Reply 69

TheNightCircus

Original post by Stickman

Headstart is alright. Try Sutton Trust and UNIQ too. They're really good.

Yeah I looked at them to but I can't do things that are during the holiday because I'm going away but the headstart is during term time so I can do it. Thanks for the advice anyway

Original post by Ad109

I'm a 15 yo girl currently doing my GCSE's.
After doing my physics gcse last year and being interested in mathematics since I could remember, someone recommended I researched engineering. After doing some research and talkin to a teacher from Aston engineering academy I've kind of like decided I do want to become an engineer? I'm not sure if I should as my family have that kind of 'engineering is a males job' approach to engineering which is slightly putting me off.
Should I really go on to do engineering? And if so which a levels will best suit it? And btw I got an A* in my physics gcse.
Thank you :smile:

I wouldn't let it put you off, although I understand that your parents' views may be important.

Industry is screaming out for more female engineers. Almost all of the girls on my engineering course did very well on the jobs market upon graduation. So if it's something you want to go into, I'd definitely recommend it.

Reply 71

TheNightCircus

Original post by Smack

I wouldn't let it put you off, although I understand that your parents' views may be important.

Industry is screaming out for more female engineers. Almost all of the girls on my engineering course did very well on the jobs market upon graduation. So if it's something you want to go into, I'd definitely recommend it.

I agree when I told my parents that I wanted to be an engineer they were supportive but I think they were surprised you know a girl wanting to be an engineer. But, no now they're all behind it so sure you're parents views are important but if you really want to be one then they're are going to have to learn to accept it.

Reply 72

F1 fan3

1

Go for it! I'm a girl and currently doing A2s but picked the wrong subjects- I didn't really consider engineering when choosing them. I'm going to do a foundation year then mechanical/automotive engineering at uni. You should do what you will love and don't let your parents stop you- it's a brilliant career choice with so many options and job prospects available to you and we definitely need more girls doing it! :smile:

Reply 73

Sam.B57

2

Original post by Ad109

I'm not quite sure about further maths? Is it just more maths and maybe harder? And is it really necessary?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I've applied for Structural Engineering at university, and I would highly recommend taking further maths. It is different to maths, harder, but helps you gain such an understanding. I'd also say Maths and Physics are musts, and chemistry too; I'm doing all 4 at A2 level

Reply 74

raq123

2

Its a choice
for women if they enjoy, know what to do . Than it fine for a female

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 75

TheNightCircus

Exactly. I too agree that even though further maths is harder than normal maths it's well worth it. Also doing further maths is the only way I can do mechanics at my school so it is definitely worth it as mechanics is brilliant.

Reply 76

Architeer

1

I studied Physics, Maths, Geography and Art at A-level for Structural Engineering (Maths and Physics were essential, further maths would have been a bonus, but I wanted some variety, and chemistry would have been no help at all for my degree, although I did consider it as I enjoyed the subject at GCSE).

My Uni had a maths test in freshers week and anyone that didn't pass had to have extra maths lessons the first few weeks. Fortunately I passed - most people that failed probably only failed because it was freshers week so they didn't take it seriously (since everyone had to have got an A grade or equivalent to qualify for the course - this was back when this was the highest grade it was possible to get).

In first year we had 2 modules (1 per semester) that was basically a combination of refreshing A-level maths, teaching most/all of further maths and some fundamental "university" level maths. It was a joint module across all the different engineering departments and gave a great foundation to bring everyone up to the same level. Because I hadn't studied further maths a lot of the content was new to me, so my friends who had studied further maths were at an advantage. However, we soon discovered that because we had taken A-levels from different exam boards, some content had not been covered by all of us before anyway, regardless of which subjects we had studied. That was the point of the 2 modules, to bring everyone to the same level knowledge-wise - after all you not only have people from all over the country who have studied slightly different syllabuses, but also people from all over the world who have different qualifications altogether. Certainly speaking amongst ourselves we couldn't find two people who had previously learned all the exact same content before university. I had done mechanics while others hadn't (there were even things I had studied that my friend who had done further maths had never hear of!). I don't regret not taking further maths as after those 2 modules we were all at the same level anyway. Taking further maths would be a good idea if you don't fancy learning a lot of new content in your first year, but if you're confidant you would cope fine then it's not a problem not to have done it.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 77

Romula

11

Original post by Ad109

Thank you. I've just always thought my family knew best as all they want is the best for me. And if I do end up doing so won't my family in a way bring me down as I won't have the support at home as well?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Your family love you. They will support you in whatever you do, even if they are initially uneasy; once they see you doing a job you love and are good at, then they will be very proud and happy. And re Further Maths, yes it is hard, but not as hard as the maths you're going to be studying at university, so it would be really good preparation (as well as a big advantage when applying to universities like Cambridge).

Original post by Romula

Your family love you. They will support you in whatever you do, even if they are initially uneasy; once they see you doing a job you love and are good at, then they will be very proud and happy. And re Further Maths, yes it is hard, but not as hard as the maths you're going to be studying at university, so it would be really good preparation (as well as a big advantage when applying to universities like Cambridge).