Engineering Myths

Big Boat has a point (and I'm not just saying that so this thread doesn't look like everyone's piling in against him).

Great piece!
Does anyone have any recommendations or reading lists to get someone prepared for an undergraduate in Engineering.
Im currently on a Gapyear and looking for things i can learn to pass the time, and prepare me for University

I don't really have any reading list, but id say brush up on maths, most importantly Differential equations, matrices and complex numbers. They appear everywhere in engineering. I'd recommend learning whatever CAD software the university uses. And lastly a programming language. Most undergrad courses now teach programming in first year, it's mostly likely gonna be C or Python so find out which ever one your uni does and start learning the basics.


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Eh, unless you're doing electrical/electronics engineering then programming really isn't that important - certainly not something I would advise an engineering applicant to brush up on as a vital part of the degree (again, unless you're an electrical/electronics applicant). I don't think programming is something that's commonly taught outside of electrical/electronics engineering, certainly not a significant part of the degree where failure at it would entail failure of the degree.

But I would certainly agree with brushing up on maths.

There are a few myths that surround the study and practise of engineering, and a few of the same questions that keep getting posted again and again by every successive generation of applicants. Hopefully this addresses some of them.

You will have no time for a social life/you will have to study all the time. This is probably the most prevalent myth surrounding studying engineering, and perhaps also one of the most damaging. Look, if you’re studying almost any subject at university there is going to be lots of hard work involved. But students of even the most rigorous degrees – maths, medicine, physics, law, etc. – manage to balance a social life with studying. If you can’t, then you need to study more efficiently, and/or improve your time management skills.

You need work experience to get into an engineering course. This one in particular seems to worry many prospective engineering students, but given that I’m posting this in a post about myths, you can guess what it is. Given that in the UK it is the norm to attend university immediately after finishing secondary school (not withstanding a possible gap yah to Combodiah), you’re not expected to have obtained any work experience before commencing an engineering course. In fact I am going to posit that it is almost impossible to gain genuine work experience before starting the degree for the simple reason that without any sort of engineering education there are no engineering tasks you can perform. It would be remiss for a company to get a pre-university student to perform a genuine engineering task, such as to perform a calculation or mark up a drawing. What “experience” in this context usually means is “shadowed someone for a bit, and maybe got the coffee”. Only a very small amount of engineering students will have done this before their degree and I have heard no evidence whatsoever that admissions tutors are particularly bothered about it. Good if you can get it, but certainly not a deal breaker if you can’t.

You will need to get a good laptop to run CAD/other engineering software. Lots of people ask what kind of specs they’ll need to handle the software they’ll be using as part of the course. The answer is always the same: there is no point in buying an expensive laptop solely or primarily to run CAD or other computer intensive engineering software because the department will have computers that will run the software. So if you can only afford a cheap laptop that will only run Chrome and Word, it’s fine.

You will be using all of the complex maths taught during the degree as part of your job. This is probably the most common myth surrounding engineering as a job. I understand why you would think this; after all, an engineering degree is largely about applying complex maths to supposedly real world problems. Why would engineering degrees have so much calculus if it practising engineers rarely, if ever, use it? The answer to this question, like the maths itself, isn't exactly simple, but the best way to think of an engineering degree is one that provides the theory behind why you do what you’ll be doing during your career. Engineering degrees work you through the steps that are gone through to produce the equations you’ll be plugging numbers into; they train you how to think rigorously about physical concepts. Yes, many practicable problems may be solved analytically, using a fairly high level of maths, but once the analytical solution is known, the problem is then generally reduced to a simple arithmetical one. And now, with the widespread use of finite element software, numerical solutions are increasingly easy to use, and required in many cases where an analytical solution would either be quixotic at best, impossible at worst (situations involving complex geometry, non-linear behaviour etc.) To add to this, there's a whole lot of experimental data that goes into engineering too... in some cases, experiments and experience are much more useful than pure maths (e.g., friction coefficients). So, if you think that engineering is a career where you get paid to play with calculus all day, then you may be quite disappointed, unless you stay in academia.

You automatically get chartership after four years. In reality, the amount of years experience you have bears little on whether you are eligible for chartership. It’s about achieving a minimum level on key competencies. Some companies offer accredited graduate schemes where as part of the scheme you will gain the relevant competencies to become chartered in a four year period. Perhaps this is where the four year figure comes from. But if you’re not effectively being fast-tracked to chartership by your company it can take more than the mythical four years (in fact it probably will). In fact it may be that chartership isn't even for you.

You’re guaranteed a job once you graduate. It certainly isn't “guaranteed” by any stretch of imagination. Merely sitting and passing your degree isn't enough nowadays, you need much more than that. Employers are looking for candidates who at least show signs of being able to be competent engineers in the future, so you’re going to sit some fairly rigorous interviews where you’re really tested in a way that is more relevant to what’s required from industry than passing university exams. Your “soft” skills are going to be tested, too, as are your presentation skills (presentations are very commonly used as part of the interview process). So don’t sit back and expect the job offers to come swarming in because you passed all of your exams (even with flying colours), you need to put effort into developing yourself into an employable person.

The degree teaches you everything you need to know. You only really begin learning about engineering once you begin your first job.

Terrific thread. Thanks!

You planning on studying engineering?

Yesss aerospace most likely in the US

Have acceptances from the US and offers from the UK, but I like the opportunities and the programme is really highly ranked in the one I'm looking at in the States

Wow! You in year 13?
And how did you apply to the ones in the US?
Plus if your year 13, what are your predicted grades?

Yeah, Y13

The US has its own equivalent of UCAS (CommonApp) but a few unis have to be applied to through their own portal online.

A*A*A*A*

Ohh i can see that, what subjects are your predicted grades in?
Plus if you do go to the US how are you going to finance it!

Maths, FM, Physics and German.

I'm a dual citizen (but live outside the UK) so it pretty much costs the same either way.

In fact the US gives many more scholarships than the UK does

Seems like a tough combination of subjects! Im guessing your German then!
Ive always wondered how US student finance works, is it the same as our own or is there a difference!?
Ps sorry for the questions, im curious

No haha I just like the language

There are a lot more options AFAIK: lots of colleges readily help you finance your studies and especially at the top ones, you graduate without debt. This is through a combination of a job during studies, need/merit based scholarship and funding from your own means.

At some of the top institutions, finance is need blind: whatever you can't pay, they give you.

And no worries, hopefully others can benefit from the knowledge

I think (for mechanical engineering students) that whilst maths is important, definitely go to uni knowing about GD&T, thread sizes and standards, bending allowances etc.

This sort of stuff is rarely taught in detail, but if you want your projects to run without rework and be a practical engineer, this sort of thing is a must.

Looks like UK should take a look at how the US run things! Sounds much better, and generally friendlier

Yes. Yes. Yes.