Is Civil Engineering for me?

Something someone said...
"I can't answer for you, because I do not know your passions. But I can answer for me. I am a Civil Engineer. I have worked in this field for almost 50 years. Early in my life I wanted at times to be an Electrical, Chemical, or Mechanical Engineer. But I gravitated toward civil because I always felt a sense of accomplishment when I could see a physical product of my efforts. I worked predominantly in the Construction phase of civil engineering. During my life I worked on the largest railway yard in the world. The tallest building in the country in which I lived. The largest nuclear power station in the world. I consulted on the concrete mix design for the world's tallest concrete structure.
All of these feats are in my resume and in my memory. Today I am in my late '60's, and last week was asked if I would like to supervise a construction project for a previous employer. My blood is racing again. I have began to make my plans to head out again into the world and add another page to my memoirs. Is civil right for you? I don't know but it was for me.

Good luck with your future. I hope that you enjoy yours as much as I have enjoyed my past."

Ive done a year of Civil Engineering at uni so i might be of some help. The modules i did were 2 mechanics modules which were aimed more at general engineering applications, a maths module, geology, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, a module looking at how materials behave under stress/strain and that kind of stuff, and a surveying module where we learned how to use bits of equipment and how to survey areas of land. there was also a drawing module where you start looking at plans and get an intoduction into using basic CAD.

In the end the course wasnt for me, i swapped to a different one, but there were loads of aspects of it that i really enjoyed. Even if your not sure about the civils side of things, most university courses put all engineering students together for the majority of first year, so if you find that you change your mind between environmental or civils, there shouldnt be much of a problem is swapping over, or even to something like mechanical or aerospace if that would interest you?

can i ask what course you plan to swap to? and i was wondering what kind of things 'mathematical methods' involved? just out of interest to try to draw some comparisons to my course? and what was the project based on? was it like designing a bridge or something?

Nearly finished my first year.

I do Applied Maths 20%, Mathmatical Methods 40%, Physics 20%, Engineering Exp/Project 20%.

Personally it wasn't for me and I'm changing.

The course is challenging and the maths for me got very boring, although by the sounds of things you like maths a lot more than I do. The down side to all of it for me is that I basically haven't learnt anything in a year and have not done any work which I have found particularly interesting, other than my portfolio work which was only interesting because I chose to do a load of extra work.

Also I'm at Plymouth Uni and the course isn't taught very well here. The whole Physics module is a joke. Both the Maths Modules are just power points which you're talked through and I found any help I need from other sources ie. YouTube.

The project I dropped out of in the early stages as I had already decided I was going to change courses and knew I wouldn't put my best efforts into it, which would effect the others working in my team... and it seemed unfair on them

Sorry to sound so negative about it as I think it would get more interesting as I progressed through the course. But it was too much for me really and wasn't giving me the Uni experaiance I wanted.. as I basically had lectures all day everyday, 3 exams a months and my second piece of written work was 14,000+ words.

The 14,000 words was interesting in parts. Also for me my maths is pretty poor and I felt it would leave me with a poor grade overall.

Ive done a year of Civil Engineering at uni so i might be of some help. The modules i did were 2 mechanics modules which were aimed more at general engineering applications, a maths module, geology, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, a module looking at how materials behave under stress/strain and that kind of stuff, and a surveying module where we learned how to use bits of equipment and how to survey areas of land. there was also a drawing module where you start looking at plans and get an intoduction into using basic CAD.

In the end the course wasnt for me, i swapped to a different one, but there were loads of aspects of it that i really enjoyed. Even if your not sure about the civils side of things, most university courses put all engineering students together for the majority of first year, so if you find that you change your mind between environmental or civils, there shouldnt be much of a problem is swapping over, or even to something like mechanical or aerospace if that would interest you?

I've looked at the course at Plymouth and it doesn't seem right for me. Which A-Levels did you take? I know you say the maths is challenging, but how challenging is it? And it's okay to be negative! I want to hear lots of different opinions of civil engineering courses!



I've looked into other types of engineering. Aeronautical sounds fascinating. But that's reassuring to know I might be able to swap if I'm really not happy.

Hmm. Looks like quite a few people have switched courses

I have no A-Levels. I got 3 Distinctions* in Manufacturing Engineering.

As you've done Maths a lot more than I have you may find it a lot easier. Further Maths was a module at College but I doubt it was much compared to an A-Level.

Okay. Well hopefully my work experience will help me make up my mind. Thanks for the advice

I'd just say be prepared for a lot of Maths and think about what you want from your uni experience. The course is very full on and doesn't leave a lot of time to have fun (at least I thought).

9am lectures everyday left me not wanting to go out and enjoy myself until the weekend but nobody really goes out on the weekend. Also I spent a lot of my time studying but I think it was getting very little result from studying which made me really change my mind.

Now I'll be doing a course which is more written based and suits my style of leaning I think.

work experience is definitely a good idea, even if just to get an idea of what to expect from your course and see where you aim to be after it. aha you happen to have had two replies from two people who have swapped from civils, its not that bad, really! but yeahh, between all the engineering disciplines there was loads of people swapping between them in my first year, theres really not that much difference in the courses. in 2nd year it starts to become much more specialized.

best thing you can do is get as much experience as you can, i would definitely recommend looking into the ICE's scholarships if you decide on civil engineering. if you manage to get one, they give you around £1,500 a year plus a paid summer internship sort of thing. thats what i did and eventually decided against staying at my course, so the experience definitely helps you figure out what you want to do after uni, plus its extra money

did you get the scholarship? What did you end up swapping to?

yeahh i did, was really helpful and not too much effort to apply to. would recommend it to anyone. experience is ridiculously helpful when it comes to applying for jobs after university, especially in a job like engineering. but for me it was helpful because it helped me realize that it wasnt for me, ended up swapping to a physics course

thanks! and loads of people get them, its a scheme setup by the ICE. they basically get 20-30 of the big civils firms and get them to take on a load of undergrads as kind of mentors if you like. both the ICE and the company pay towards the £1500, and you work during the summer. although theres no contract or anything, if you get one of the scholarships, the company will very likely offer you a job once you graduate. each company gives out a few scholarships a year, depending on their size. my company had about 30 people on the scheme when i was there, thats including people in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years though

http://www.ice.org.uk/Scholarship-and-Awards/QUEST-Awards/Undergraduate-Scholarship

thats a link with more info if your interested. i do believe theyve just started accepting applications.
aha yeahh they stopped the scholarship once i changed courses. made it all the harder to swap course in the first place, but looking back im glad i did now anyways