Cambridge Engineering Students and Applicants

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Reply 20

ebam_uk

Fointy

I'm used to just 19 hours of school at the moment. hah.

Ok So the work loads is gonna be heavy i take it, fair enough.

Whats the maths/physics like in the course?

Reply 21

xplosiv16

Thanks for all help so far guys.
Any idea if a portfolio of some sort is needed such as the ones people take for architecture?
Michael, we have not learned any of that yet, will i be covering that later in year 12 or must I do a massive amount of extra work? lol

tom

Reply 22

Excalibur

Which subjects are you taking? If you aren't already, do Further Maths - I think some Cambridge colleges ask you for STEP too. Read around Physics and make sure you are confident at it.

You could also try getting some work experience. A friend of mine is currently doing a year in industry with a deferred place for Engineering at Cambridge.

I don't entirely agree with the non-subject related reading - Cambridge would care about how good you are at Physics/Maths/science etc related to engineering, not whether he's read Nietzsche or not....

EDIT: you could also ask in here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=503928

Reply 23

xplosiv16

I am doing Maths, Further maths, Physics, French and History,
definitely dropping history and maybe french as well.
I thought only Churchill asked for step? Thats what put me off them :biggrin:

I think i may be doing work experience in julyish for a week.
So any idea on things to do to help me "stand out from the crowd?"
tar
Tom

Reply 24

Fointy

Are you under the impression that I'm currently on the course?

*confused*

Reply 25

xplosiv16

Also: is there anyone out there who knows the best college's to go to for engineering.

I think i will be going to one of: Gonvilland Caius
Emmanuel,
St. John's
Girton

I wasnt sure about Caius because of all its traditions or girton because of distance from town. Any advice on where/ where not to apply to? Also- advantages/dsadvantages of open applications?
Cheers
Tom

Reply 26

ebam_uk

Fointy

Are you under the impression that I'm currently on the course?

*confused*

Nope, you said early you are going to enter '09 after YIN.

Reply 27

Excalibur

xplosiv16

None of the colleges would differ significantly in terms of teaching - the quality of education you'll get would be the same anywhere, so just choose a college that you like the look of. For example, Caius, John's and Emma are all central colleges, although Emma is slightly off the tourist trail; John's is on the backs; Emma does your laundry for you; Caius chucks a lot of their students out on accommodation far from college; Caius and John's stereotypically has a more public school image; Emma has a duck pond; Girton is faaaaaaaar; Emma is closest to the Engineering dept although Caius isn't too far either.... actually, the oxbridge forum is probably a bit better for more of this kind of information! Also check what kind of requirements each college has - Caius appear to set you an additional test at interview as well as the TSA.

Open applications do not officially disadvantage you, but if there's even one college you don't like or wouldn't want to get pooled to, don't go for open - just pick a random college.

Reply 28

xplosiv16

Hi all

Im an english year 12 with my heart set on engineering at cambridge.
Is there anyone here who has been through the process and knows any ways of standing out from the crowd?
Thanks
Tom

Reply 29

andiroo

Learn to program and join the development team for a large open source project.

Reply 30

xplosiv16

andiroo

Learn to program and join the development team for a large open source project.

sorry, could you put that in idiot terms :smile:

how would you go about joining a development team and what is a large open source object?
Thankyou very much for help.

Reply 31

thefish_uk

Fointy

Are you under the impression that I'm currently on the course?

*confused*

He's asking me I think :p:

Maths: If you did A-level Further Maths then much of the first term will be revision. Then you go on to look at Convolution, Fourier Series, Laplace Transforms and functions of more than one variable which a lot of the stuff in the second year is based on. A big theme in the course is being able to treat any machine or whatever as a system into which you can put in any input (sine wave etc) and know what comes out.

Physics: Practically everything (except pure maths) involves physics. To be honest you're probably best finding the syllabus descriptions on the engineering department website.

Reply 32

ebam_uk

thefish_uk

He's asking me I think :p:

Physics: Practically everything (except pure maths) involves physics. To be honest you're probably best finding the syllabus descriptions on the engineering department website.

Physics? ok, at the moment i am really not liking physics due to the Forces, Fields and Energy module. I hope this improves once, though because looks like their will be a lot of physics at Cambridge.

Reply 33

thefish_uk

mabe_uk

Forces: You need to know about forces. Really.

Fields: Don't worry everybody hates these.

Energy: You wait until Thermodynamics... (to be honest I find it really impossible too)

Reply 34

ebam_uk

xplosiv16

Hi all

Im an english year 12 with my heart set on engineering at cambridge.
Is there anyone here who has been through the process and knows any ways of standing out from the crowd?
Thanks
Tom

Tbh, just be good at maths/further maths/physics. In my interview they asked me a lot of maths and physics question so I am guessing you should be pretty good at these subjects.

Also why do you want to do Engineering?

Reply 35

ukebert

Fointy

well done!

Any other Engineers applied deferred entry? I can't be the only one...

I applied for deferred entry, but last year :p:

I liked forces, and fields, and energy for that matter :p:

Got 85/90 for that exam :proud:

But I mucked up M2 :frown:

70%, appaling.

Reply 36

ukebert

Fointy

I'm used to just 19 hours of school at the moment. hah.

I'm used to 37.5 hours of work :cool:

Reply 37

mistrydude

I applied for natsci but i almost applied for engineering and several of my mates got in, the 2 qualities they are looking for is academic ability and motivation to study engineering.

So if your not already doin F maths, nows the time to pick it up, and if u cant do as much as you can. You need to be able to apply maths and physics to problems, so you need to understand it all inside out. Most of the interview will probably focus on this.

for extra curricular, you've probably missed your opportunity to take part in the engineering education scheme, but ask around at your school, (the project we did more or less got 2 of my team Imperial offers). You should think about taking part in a Headstart course (theres one at cambridge) which is where u basically stay at uni and do like a taster course in engineering. Some work experience would be useful. there are also some cool competitions like the schools aerospace challenge (google it) whihc are not only very good fun but very nice to talk about at interview. the Royal society of eng and several other organisations have some very good opportunities too.

IMO the academic side is more important but I can tell you point you in the right direction for lots of fun relevant extra curriculars if u pm me

Reply 38

didgeridoo12uk

if you really want to stand out, take STEP a year early

Reply 39

ebam_uk

ukebert

I applied for deferred entry, but last year :p:

I liked forces, and fields, and energy for that matter :p:

Got 85/90 for that exam :proud:

But I mucked up M2 :frown:

70%, appaling.

TBH 70% in m2 is quite good, a B. I hope to get that. But 85/90 in FFE is pretty solid, Im personally aiming for 80 ish out of 90 in FFE, there is so much to learn in it.