Which colleges are recommended for engineering students

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I thought that the Engineering department decided the quotas for each class of degree and the colleges only provide supervisions? Surely it wouldn't make sense to award degrees by comparing students at one college because they could all be exceptional and some be given a worse grade than they deserve, or they might be below average and have inflated grades!

Thank you. Are thre any stats available re the quotas?

Reply 41

RyanW97

Original post by DJP112

It depends what you're expecting. If you're set on doing Aero and nothing else, then it probably isn't for you. In the first couple of years, only an eighth of the course is pure Aero. There'll be other stuff that you'd learn on an Aero course anyway like the maths and materials, but there's a big chunk of stuff that you'll drop after 2 years and never think about again. I found everything on the course really interesting, even the stuff I'm dropping next year.

It's also worth thinking about the teaching style. Cambridge supervisions are really helpful for getting through the content but also help you to think on your feet, something that's really valuable in things like interviews.

The workload is pretty heavy, which can be daunting, especially if you particularly dislike one subject (seems to be electronics for most people) but is very structured, which I think makes it manageable. Give me a shout if you've got any more questions.

Thank you! It's good to hear from someone who's on the course and, to be honest, I think I would enjoy studying a broad range of topics but I do hope to really focus on fluids in later years, which seems viable. I think the supervision system is one of the best things about the university because you should always be able to get the help you need!

With regards to the workload, how many hours would you say you work for on average per week? Do you have enough free time to go out as well as study? Also, I've seen that the department try to split the class of degree awarded as 30% first, 50% II.i and 20% II.ii or below but the data I found suggests that closer to 30% get a II.ii or below... Do you feel it is the case that these students don't work as hard or that the course is so difficult that it is a struggle to even get a II.i?

Reply 42

RyanW97

Original post by 210555

Thank you. Are thre any stats available re the quotas?

The data is somewhere on whatdotheyknow because a freedom of information request was made. The department says they try to give out roughly 30 : 50 : 20, first : II.i : II.ii or below. However, the data for the most up to date years suggests this is closer to 30 : 40 : 30.

Reply 43

DJP112

Original post by RyanW97

With regards to the workload, how many hours would you say you work for on average per week? Do you have enough free time to go out as well as study? Also, I've seen that the department try to split the class of degree awarded as 30% first, 50% II.i and 20% II.ii or below but the data I found suggests that closer to 30% get a II.ii or below... Do you feel it is the case that these students don't work as hard or that the course is so difficult that it is a struggle to even get a II.i?

There's no hard and fast answer for that really, but you definitely have free time, I probably go out every other week (down a bit from last year), but do things with my mates most evenings.

There's a huge disparity in the spread of classifications, even among different faculties, so it's very hard to generalise about how difficult a course is. At the end of the day the people who get into Cambridge are all going to be in the top few percent of everyone at A Level and some of those people are going to end up with a lower grade, but in the perspective of all universities they're still in the top few percent.

Reply 44

Doones

Original post by 210555

Thank you. Are thre any stats available re the quotas?

There are no fixed classification quotas at department (or college level). The number of students getting a First, or whatever, varies from year to year.

Original post by RyanW97

Link please?

According to the analysis linked below for 2015 Final Year (the year that counts)
1st 28.2%
2.1 47.6%
other 24.2% (2.2, etc)

http://bernardrivers.com/exam-analysis/

Screen Shot 2016-04-22 at 11.50.37.jpg

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 45

samb1234

Original post by jneill

There are no fixed classification quotas at department (or college level). The number of students getting a First, or whatever, varies from year to year.

Link please?

According to the analysis linked below for 2015 Final Year (the year that counts)
1st 28.2%
2.1 47.6%
other 24.2% (2.2, etc)

http://bernardrivers.com/exam-analysis/

Screen Shot 2016-04-22 at 11.50.37.jpg

There are guidelines for what percentage of people should get what grade in some subjects - for example in part 1a nat sci the marks for each exam are scaled such that roughly 25% get firsts, and then the overall score (across all your subjects) is also scaled such that approx 25% get firsts.