Personal Statement:Mechanical Engineering 3

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Mechanical Engineering Personal Statement

From Beijing’s Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium and the International Space Station to the increasingly versatile mobile phone, it is very easy to see how feats of engineering pervade every area of our lives today. After reading Invention By Design (Petroski) and seeing in detail how engineers have developed weird ideas into household items, I am even more convinced that engineering is the career for me, as I have enjoyed imagining and building things since I was very young.

In April I spent 2 days at an Engineering Experience course at Loughborough University, where I spent half a day in 4 departments; Aeronautical/Automotive, Chemical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering. I found Mechanical Engineering to be the most suitable for me, because of its links with robotics, which I am very interested in. One task I had to do (as part of a group) was design a solar powered car using up to 3 small solar panels, up to 3 pairs of wheels, corrugated plastic and balsa wood. After a race between the cars of each team, ours came second.

Throughout my school life, I have consistently striven to find out more about several of the different disciplines of this broad subject. For my Year 10 work experience, I spent a week at Fern Plastic Products, and I found out how a batch of injection moulding machines are used and managed, and how they function individually. I spent the second week at Modular Automation, where I used CATIA, a professional CAD solution, programmed a Stäubli robot arm, and learnt about the intricacies of their latest projects. One of these was a robotic production cell which assembled and filled specialised capsules from many small components. They contained the resin used to fill cracks in windscreens.

This year I have participated in the Engineering Education Scheme, working in a team of 5, in conjunction with Chassis Systems Limited (GKN AutoStructures). The group’s task was to design and produce different methods of explaining the production process to visitors to the factory. After splitting up the task into separate objectives, I was given the task of making an interactive program in Flash. I had to learn the language of Flash, ActionScript, from scratch. I acted as leader when necessary, e.g. in preparation for the main presentation. The Scheme definitely enhanced my ability to work in a team, not to mention my presentational powers, and it reinforced my desire to pursue a career in engineering.

I am a highly motivated individual, and always have been; I have won the school effort prize in Years 7, 9 and 10, while winning different prizes in Years 8 and 11 (for exam grades). After completing AS Product Design, I took up AS Further Maths. I enjoyed the practical work I undertook in Product Design, as well as Systems & Control for GCSE, but I felt that Further Maths and some Mechanics would better equip me for university.

On the extra-curricular side of things, I am a form prefect, and have mentored younger pupils in Physics. I also help my contemporaries whenever I can. My hobbies include playing football and badminton, and I have assembled and maintained my own computer, and have constructed and programmed 2 robots, using parts collected from the fortnightly magazine Ultimate Real Robots over a number of years. I try to keep up to date with technology via a subscription to the Engineering & Technology magazine, and feeds from websites like Engadget.

I believe that the skills I have acquired so far, my innate determination, and the exhilarating things I hope to learn at university, will provide me with everything I need to help change the world. I feel that engineering is one of the few professions that the world could not function without. I appreciate that it will be a challenge, but I am ready for the commitment.

Universities Applied to:

• University of Bristol - AAA
• University of Cambridge - Rejected after interview
• Loughborough University - AAB
• University of Leicester - ABB
• University of Warwick - AAB

Grades Achieved:

• Chemistry - A
• Maths - A
• Physics - A
• AS Further Maths - b
• AS Product Design - a

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