Mechanical Engineering Uni Choices

I've thought about doing mechanical engineering lately, however I have not taken A-Level Physics (And deeply regret it now, as at the time I 'wanted to go into medicine', but had very little clue about what it entailed including the bad working hours ect).

I am predicted A*AA in Chem, Bio and Maths respectively.

I won't meet the requirements for Oxbridge/Imperial obviously, but have been looking at Bristol, Loughborough, Shefield (and possibly Warwick and Nottingham, however these both say that physics is prefered so risky choices).

What other courses from other universities would you recommend?

Bath, Bristol, and Southampton are the Tier down from Imperial/ Cambridge for Mechanical Engineering.

Third tier down would be universities like, Nottingham, Birmingham, Loughborough.... etc

Hey!
Yay for considering mechanical engineering!
I am currently studying mechanical engineering at UoB and I know the requirements have changed so I believe physics is no longer needed so that may be worth a look? I know that some places have changed them fairly recently to not require physics but Bristol and Shefield are the others I knew of
But I reckon its definitely good to apply to Warwick and Nottingham and if you can prove you have a strong interest in the engineering side of life they may not be too bothered if it is just preferred not required
Your predicted grades are also impressive so that will definitely help you! Also first year at most universities is just bringing everyone up to the same level anyway so there's no need to worry about not having taken physics in case you would be behind!
Also with your courses and predicted grades I feel like there are many courses you could consider so I would just make sure it is something you know you would be interested in and wouldn't just find boring!
I hope this was helpful
~ Amy

Thank you, I will check out Birmingham.
I'd like to ask, what are the contact hours/ timetable like for the course at Birmingham.
Also, for the major design projects (E.g. End of 3rd/ 4th year project), what are examples of some of the projects carried out?

Thanks for all your replies

After going to a couple open days (At Bristol and Bath, and signed up for Warwick), I have found that I would really enjoy studying mechanical engineering.
However, as stated before, I don't do A-Level Physics so I will obviously be more limited as to where I can apply to. The best unis I've found that I meet the requirements would be:
- Bristol
- Nottingham
- Warwick
- Shefield
- Birmingham
If anyone could give some advice as to how good these universities are academically.

I am also thinking about applying to some universities for chemical engineering as I currently really enjoy chemistry and see this as a way of combining this with the more engineering side (And possibly go into the pharmaceutical industry ect, and I would still be able to apply to mechanical engineering grad schemes that allow all eng grads - although possibly at a disadvanatge). I did also enjoy chemical engineering at Bath and have emailed them before where they have said I could send in a 2nd personal statement for ChemE, and have seen online Imperial also do this (These are the 2 unis Im looking at for ChemE).
I was wondering whether going for chemical engineering would be a better option as I would hopefully get into a higher ranked uni (As they all require chem instead of physics) and I wouldnt be in as much of a disadvantage as others, as it is a new subject for everyone.

Sorry for the long essay,
Many thanks

They're all good universities for mechanical engineering. There really isn't any difference between Oxbridge and anything else in the top 20-30 for mechanical engineering, with a few universities even lower down which are highly respected too.

Okay
On a side note, when applying to mechanical engineering grad schemes (e.g. in automotive or defence), if the scheme allows chemical engineering graduates, if they apply will they be at a disadvantage compared to someone who has studied mech eng

Okay
On a side note, when applying to mechanical engineering grad schemes (e.g. in automotive or defence), if the scheme allows chemical engineering graduates, if they apply will they be at a disadvantage compared to someone who has studied mech eng

If it's a mechanical engineering graduate scheme it probably won't be open to chemical engineering graduates - hence the name. If a company recruits both disciplines (in large enough numbers) there will probably be a separate scheme for each one.

As Smack said, it's unlikely to happen.

That said, I've been in a similar situation and they just expected me to solve a relevant technical problem at interview, however I completely bombed answering that question because I just hadn't been exposed to the content they were looking for, and that was for an aerospace applicant for a mechanical internship so I could only imagine how difficult it could be as a ChemE student.

Oh okay, thanks.
Anyway I thought aerospace was very similar to mechanical, but I guess as these grad jobs are so competitive they can be picky (Especially if the ChemE grad doesn't know half the stuff relating to the job).
And looking around, alot of companies that hire ChemE grads also hire MechE aswell, but probably for a different job (e.g. All the oil and gas companies, GSK ect).

Yes, aero is similar to mechanical and normally it would be a non-issue, but there are still gaps which is my point, and if you're going as far away from mech as chemical then the size of those gaps are going to increase considerably.

There's a need for mech engineers in pretty much every engineering industry, there's not as much need for chemical engineers outside of directly related industries.

Yeah
On an unrelated note, what made you go for aerospace instead of mechanical engineering. I thought that you could still go into aerospace with a mechanical engineering degree?

Okay
On a side note, when applying to mechanical engineering grad schemes (e.g. in automotive or defence), if the scheme allows chemical engineering graduates, if they apply will they be at a disadvantage compared to someone who has studied mech eng

Are you also looking at Automotive Engineering? Bath and Oxford Brookes are both good for that - options for Formula Student too.

Yeah I've looked at Bath but they require physics.
I'm kind of sceptical of going to Oxford Brookes as it's so low on rankings, even though I know they aren't that important.
Anyway thank you for your message

Brookes are a target uni for Engineering - every F1 team employs their graduates. I don't think rankings really work in Engineering ... many students with top grades go there.