a couple of questions on masters

im currently studying civil engineering at the university of southampton. i am on the masters course (4 years) as oppose to the bachelors (3 years).

however, i could leave after the third year to study elsewhere to do my masters year at another university.. i have a couple of questions on this.

do my current university have to be told that im applying elsewhere?
does the act of applying elsewhere void my current place and mean i have to reapply here too?

also at the moment my degree is 20% 2nd year marks, 40% 3rd year marks and 40% 4th year marks. meaning i could get below a 1st in my 4th year and still get a 1st overall.
my question in relation to this is if i go to another uni, will my masters be graded on its own, or still in this weighting against my other 2 years?

thanks.

Reply 1

MagicNMedicine

No the act of applying elsewhere shouldn't void your current place, with these 'integrated masters' courses which I presume you are on as you say its a 4 year option, the usual rule is you are guaranteed a place at your existing institution if you achieve a certain score (eg a 2:1) in your first three years. I expect that you are doing an MEng where you get awarded BEng if you leave at the end of 3 years and MEng at the end of 4. I expect you would need to tell your uni you are applying elsewhere as you would need an academic reference. As regards the weighting scheme of marks, I am just making an educated guess, but I would imagine if you leave Southampton after year 3 and do year 4 at another university, then you will get given a score from Southampton and a score from your other university just based on that masters year, eg your CV may say something like BEng (Soton): 2:1, MEng (SomewhereElse) 1st. If you stay at Southampton you will just get one grade for MEng and you put it down on your CV as an MEng. But you would need to check with the institution to which you are going.

One thing to watch for is that although an MEng is usually sufficient level to get you chartered, in industry it's not regarded as high as an MSc. So if they will accept you off 3 years at Southampton, only an MSc programme rather than an MEng then this may be good although the level could be a steep learning curve.

I will allow engineering students to give you better advice as I was an economist myself, however I lived with a house of engineers and a lot of my friends did Civ Eng and Eng Geology so I've heard a lot of their chat.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Articles for you

What is a university lecture like?

What university is really like

Personal statement FAQs

How to write your personal statement in an evening