An honest, holistic review regarding UCL Mech. Eng. Department

Hello everyone,

I am, currently, a student of MSc Engineering with Finance at University College London. This Master belongs to the Mechanical Engineering Department.

I have read many posts and articles at this forum before selecting this particular MSc of UCL and therefore I want to say my opinion now that I am an active member of UCL society.

I will be completely honest with you and I will not favour UCL. The following conclusions are subjective, however I will try to be as objective as possible:

1) UCL Mech. Eng. is one of the worst departments of UCL. Nonetheless, this doesn't matter: honestly, the Mech. Eng. department is organised, has several good professors, renewed laboratories and many employers links. However, it is not so glamorous like biomedical department. In other words, UCL is one of the best universities in world, therefore even one of the worst departments is, still, a good one.

2) Employers love UCL and consider it as a world class uni. If you want to live and work in London, UCL brandname is veeery strong. Employers do not give a f**k about which department has a good reputation. What matters only is the great reputation of UCL. And believe me, this reputation opens many employers' door. This year, I made 40 job application (starting from November), I had 13 interviews, 4 Asssessment centres (I did not even go to 4 more) and finally 2 job offers. Apparently, what you do at interview does not relate to uni, but UCL helps you pass the initial stage (CV screening).

3) Doing a Master at UCL is hard; and employers know that. Many courseworks, many strict deadlines, a mass Group Design Project and tough work overall. I know some friends doing Masters in other (good) unis like Edinburgh and compared to UCL's work-load, it is like they do a 1-year vacations, not a Master. Believe it or not, UCL (and Imperial) are at an out-standing level from this point of view.

Finally: if you have a passion for mechanical engineering and want to work at a factory at Midlands, don't bother and spend your money at UCL and London. Better go to Bristol university or Loughborough. However, if you want to study engineering but at the same time you want to widen your work opportunities (i.e. you would not say no to working in a bank) and also thinking to work abroad, then UCL is the best choice (strong links with City, strong international reputation).

Last but not least, UCL has a great careers service.

Hi! First thank you for your post! I've been offered a place to study at UCL in Mechanical Engineering.
I would like to have your opinion.
I'm French and next year I could whether be studying at UCL in ME or staying in France and going to one of the best French schools. The thing is I want to have an international career and some people tell me that I'd better go to UCL, because although its mechanical engineering department is not the best, studying abroad + in an English country is a great way to start an international career.
(I don't want to live in France when I get a job)
So what do you think? Should I care about the reputation of the ME department or about the one of UCL? Or should I stay in France?

Mech Eng department is not very good at all. There are loads of french students in my course at UCL (Civil Engineering)

Hi! First thank you for your post! I've been offered a place to study at UCL in Mechanical Engineering.
I would like to have your opinion.
I'm French and next year I could whether be studying at UCL in ME or staying in France and going to one of the best French schools. The thing is I want to have an international career and some people tell me that I'd better go to UCL, because although its mechanical engineering department is not the best, studying abroad + in an English country is a great way to start an international career.
(I don't want to live in France when I get a job)
So what do you think? Should I care about the reputation of the ME department or about the one of UCL? Or should I stay in France?

Before I tell you my opinion, I want from you to clarify some things:

1) Are you considering to go at UCL for bachelor or Master? If it is for Master, what you have studied before?

2) In which university you would go at France (if you stayed at France)?

ps: if you are not at the particular Department, please do not just say what you hear from others (this is for the guy at civil engineering). You just confuse people..

Hi! Thanks for your reply
Well I'm going to UCL for bachelor. This would be my first year at uni (I'm only 17).
As for France, if I stay, well... it's a bit complicated. It's like: I spend 2 years studying in the best school of France (Ginette) to get into an engineering school (Les Mines, Centrale, don't know if you actually know them). Both Ginette and the engineering schools are the hardest things you could find in France, but I'm not sure anyone who's not French would know them. + I don't want to end up as an engineer, therefore I would then try to get into a business school (HEC). Everyone keeps asking me why not directly trying to get into a business school. The answer is: I don't like economics yet + I looove maths and physics, so that's it.
In a word, have to chose between the best French school, that is certainly not known worldwide, or UCL's department of engineering, provided that UCL has a very good reputation around the world...

Ok. I understand what you mean that you do not want to end up as an engineer. For me is the same. I studied 5 years Mechanical Engineering at the best technical university of Greece but then I decided that I prefer to work in a business/finance position, therefore I did this Master at UCL (Engineering with Finance).

Overall, if you are sure that you prefer to have an international career, that you want to study engineering but at the same time follow a more managerial path in future, I denifinitely suggest to you to go to UCL. As I have aforementioned, the Mech. Eng. department is not the best of UCL, but this does not matter at all in your employment opportunities.

I don't know for which course you have offer, but the ideal for you is to do the BENG Mechanical Engineering with Business Finance. If you have an offer for the pure Mechanical Engineering, you can accept this offer and then apply seperately for the the other course.

Hello everyone,

I am, currently, a student of MSc Engineering with Finance at University College London. This Master belongs to the Mechanical Engineering Department.

I have read many posts and articles at this forum before selecting this particular MSc of UCL and therefore I want to say my opinion now that I am an active member of UCL society.

I will be completely honest with you and I will not favour UCL. The following conclusions are subjective, however I will try to be as objective as possible:

1) UCL Mech. Eng. is one of the worst departments of UCL. Nonetheless, this doesn't matter: honestly, the Mech. Eng. department is organised, has several good professors, renewed laboratories and many employers links. However, it is not so glamorous like biomedical department. In other words, UCL is one of the best universities in world, therefore even one of the worst departments is, still, a good one.

2) Employers love UCL and consider it as a world class uni. If you want to live and work in London, UCL brandname is veeery strong. Employers do not give a f**k about which department has a good reputation. What matters only is the great reputation of UCL. And believe me, this reputation opens many employers' door. This year, I made 40 job application (starting from November), I had 13 interviews, 4 Asssessment centres (I did not even go to 4 more) and finally 2 job offers. Apparently, what you do at interview does not relate to uni, but UCL helps you pass the initial stage (CV screening).

3) Doing a Master at UCL is hard; and employers know that. Many courseworks, many strict deadlines, a mass Group Design Project and tough work overall. I know some friends doing Masters in other (good) unis like Edinburgh and compared to UCL's work-load, it is like they do a 1-year vacations, not a Master. Believe it or not, UCL (and Imperial) are at an out-standing level from this point of view.

Finally: if you have a passion for mechanical engineering and want to work at a factory at Midlands, don't bother and spend your money at UCL and London. Better go to Bristol university or Loughborough. However, if you want to study engineering but at the same time you want to widen your work opportunities (i.e. you would not say no to working in a bank) and also thinking to work abroad, then UCL is the best choice (strong links with City, strong international reputation).

Last but not least, UCL has a great careers service.

Hey, I wanna so MEng in Mechanical engineering, but I think I want to stay in London for job opportunities and some family reasons... I'm doing Maths, Further maths and Physics, I have already secured an A* in FM, so I think I can get the grades.
My Best options are UCL, Brunel and Queen Mary, however some reviews and statistics have put me off UCL slightly...
I just wanted to know your opinion if I should still apply to UCL or maybe have a look at other outside-of-London unis such as Bath?

Hey, I wanna so MEng in Mechanical engineering, but I think I want to stay in London for job opportunities and some family reasons... I'm doing Maths, Further maths and Physics, I have already secured an A* in FM, so I think I can get the grades.
My Best options are UCL, Brunel and Queen Mary, however some reviews and statistics have put me off UCL slightly...
I just wanted to know your opinion if I should still apply to UCL or maybe have a look at other outside-of-London unis such as Bath?

The person you quoted hasn't logged onto this website in almost a year, it's unlikely he'll ever reply.

Have you thought about Imperial?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have, but from what I've heard, if you're at Imperial, all you d is just study, having almost no social life at all :/ Mainly because there are a lot of people (for example from Asia) who go there just to study and nothing else. I don't know what to believe to be honest. Does anyone know what it's like to do engineering at Imperial?

I have, but from what I've heard, if you're at Imperial, all you d is just study, having almost no social life at all :/ Mainly because there are a lot of people (for example from Asia) who go there just to study and nothing else. I don't know what to believe to be honest. Does anyone know what it's like to do engineering at Imperial?

No, I'm at Imperial going into my second year and I went out plenty of times. Not so much as people in Leeds but I had enough free time to have fun. You do have to work hard and it is a little bit of a nerdy atmosphere but I wouldn't rule out Engineering at Imperial. The international Asians do tend to stick with their own kind or work a lot but there are exceptions, too. Imperial is among the top in the country for Engineering so I wouldn't rule it out that quickly, especially as you have the grades.

Thanks I will definitely reconsider it. According to my tutor, Imperial is very different from other unis, but he never mentions how it is different. So yeah, so far I have little information to go on, which is a shame

It's in South Kensington, arguably the nicest area of London. You will potentially get to live in the most expensive postcode in London for a comparatively cheap price but you do get much more student loan compared to the rest of the country. Imperial is very different in that everyone likes science in some way or another and therefore, as I mentioned, there is a bit of a nerdy atmosphere and you are expected to work hard. Also, it is more of a campus uni than any of the other London unis. The bursary is also really good if your household earns below 60k a year. Do ask me if you have any questions about life at Imperial.

What degree are you doing, if you don't mind me asking?The 4 unis I'm thinking of for Mech Eng are UCL, Brunel, Queen Mary and City University (City in case A2s go badly). So I guess there's no harm in putting Imperial down as well.If, hypothetically, I had offers , I'd put UCL and Brunel (insurance). Then having heard only bad things about UCL's Mech eng, I'd put Brunel and Queen Mary. But I feel that that way I would be kind of wasting the hard work I put into an A* in maths, so I might give imperial a shot, and see how it goes....

I study Maths. What are your predicted grades and attained grades? Apart from UCL they are quite low universities considering you seem to be a high achiever. Imperial also has many links to the industry (Rolls-Royce, McLaren etc) which will undoubtably help for your employment.

Posted from TSR Mobile