Be honest, do you REALLY work like a slave for Chemical Engineering?
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Original post by 4RealBlud
You say you know a coupla chemengers. Do they "slave" it out? Do they have adequate social lives? Do they have a work-hard-play-hard type mentality? etc etc. I'm particularly interested in YOU because you're a Manc. Yes, that's right, this means your my "special one"
You say you know a coupla chemengers. Do they "slave" it out? Do they have adequate social lives? Do they have a work-hard-play-hard type mentality? etc etc. I'm particularly interested in YOU because you're a Manc. Yes, that's right, this means your my "special one"
Haha, well they seem to work adequately hard, I couldn't tell you exactly how hard of course as I'm not always with them, although they're definitely not party animals.
I must say they do spend most of their time in their rooms, the biggest complaint I get from them is the intensity of the Maths :/ (but KA Stroud's Engineering Mathematics book will help that out)
But don't worry you may be different and have no problems, the bottom line is, it is still possible to have a social life and study engineering. Some people just find juggling their work and social lives at the same time.
Original post by Leo*
Haha, well they seem to work adequately hard, I couldn't tell you exactly how hard of course as I'm not always with them, although they're definitely not party animals.
I must say they do spend most of their time in their rooms, the biggest complaint I get from them is the intensity of the Maths :/ (but KA Stroud's Engineering Mathematics book will help that out)
But don't worry you may be different and have no problems, the bottom line is, it is still possible to have a social life and study engineering. Some people just find juggling their work and social lives at the same time.
I must say they do spend most of their time in their rooms, the biggest complaint I get from them is the intensity of the Maths :/ (but KA Stroud's Engineering Mathematics book will help that out)
But don't worry you may be different and have no problems, the bottom line is, it is still possible to have a social life and study engineering. Some people just find juggling their work and social lives at the same time.
Eeshk. I do know you'll be studying like an absolute bitch in years 3 and 4, which I'll excuse because it is a "proper" course if you will. It's just that i've heard that "they spend all of their time in their rooms" all too often. I dont want to be one of those people who missed out on te best years of their life because they had their head down in the books all the time. I'm not one of those who scares out of a challenge, it's just that i've never really developed anything like a healthy study ethic in high school, so i'm scared that i may sacrifice my social life completely to make up for a decent grade. The sheer intensity frightens me a little and the high drop out rates sounds alarms in my head.
I guess, I HOPE it all comes down to how well you can manage your time. What year are you in, if you dont mind me asking?
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by 4RealBlud
I've just firmed Manchester and Insured Nottingham for Chemical Engineering and i keep getting scared and demoralised by ppl continuously saying that you slave at it day in day out. Is this REALLY true? I mean, would be THAT hard to have a good social life and at least get a 2.1? Not that i'm afraid of a challenge, but when people continuously say "it's a nightmare" and "you study like a slave", it kinda puts you off and makes you panic a little!
Sometimes you do have to work like a slave, others times it's not as bad. But as you go up the years design projects become A LOT of work.
The important part isn't to work like a slave though. It's to achieve the understanding. Once that is done, the rest follows easily. Why people tend to work like slaves is because they try to learn ineffectively, rather than grasping what's important.
I'm going on exchange to Singapore next year. Apparently the work rate of the students there is much higher than in the UK, especially in the international students from mainland China. So I'll let you know if my answer changes
Original post by Cells
surely it's not as bad as the medic students? :O
and i think the terms 'nightmare' and 'slave' are harsh
i strongly believe that not everyone thinks that way anyway
and i think the terms 'nightmare' and 'slave' are harsh
i strongly believe that not everyone thinks that way anyway
Lol, are you joking? Medics get a lot of work, but none of it, especially the early years is particularly hard work. We have 8 modules, they have 4. They get all their formulas in a formula book. Year 1 for Medicine (i'm assuming OP is talking directly post-A-level), is way harder for Engineers than Medics.
In (Chemical) Engineering, there are like 4 25 mark questions per paper, part a, and part b, sometimes just one part all 25 marks, derive an equation and then use your derivation to solve. Also, unlike in A-levels, you don't get a formula book. In year 1, I have to memorise in excess of 1000 formulas. Some of them I can probably convert from one form into the other, but it's still a lot of work.
In terms of depth of understanding, learning equations, and then applying them with large and awkward numbers, yes, Engineering is a very difficult course OP. I'd say Chemical, and other branches of Engineering are the absolute hardest course out there for the 'average' person, bar Maths. Maths is the absolute toughest.
OP, that doesn't mean you can't have fun. But to answer your Q, short and snappy, if you want a first, you need to work hard and keep on top of your work. I haven't really, and i've been a party animal and missed lots of lectures. But if I put in 10 hour days from now until the end of exam, every single day, i'll get a 2.1.
Make of that what you will. If I had gone out like I did, but actually worked in term 1, and over Christmas, i'd have got a first. So it's not impossible. I just took Year 1 quite easy. Thankfully, it's only worth 7% of the entire degree.
Original post by 4RealBlud
Eeshk. I do know you'll be studying like an absolute bitch in years 3 and 4, which I'll excuse because it is a "proper" course if you will. It's just that i've heard that "they spend all of their time in their rooms" all too often. I dont want to be one of those people who missed out on te best years of their life because they had their head down in the books all the time. I'm not one of those who scares out of a challenge, it's just that i've never really developed anything like a healthy study ethic in high school, so i'm scared that i may sacrifice my social life completely to make up for a decent grade. The sheer intensity frightens me a little and the high drop out rates sounds alarms in my head.
I guess, I HOPE it all comes down to how well you can manage your time. What year are you in, if you dont mind me asking?
I guess, I HOPE it all comes down to how well you can manage your time. What year are you in, if you dont mind me asking?
I'm currently only a first year and I know how you feel about the "bad work ethic" I was exactly the same, but it's surprising how quickly that changes.
On my first day, we all had a speech from our head of school who told us to look around at one another and said "one in five of you will not make it to second year" drop out rates are relatively high, but personally I feel that is due to not truly understanding the course when applying, so don't worry too much about it, if you're committed you'll do fine.
As far as social life is concerned, we had a maths exam during freshers week, no joke, how bad is that! So we had that to worry about. And we're in Uni almost 9-5 everyday except Wednesdays and no reading weeks (This is for EEE though, ChemEng may differ)
Although all that a side, there are some people on my course that are out almost every thursday to sunday and are getting good grades, I personally can't do this and spend a fair amount of time studying, although a lot of this is down to the individual in question
I have a friend studying MEng at Manchester, and she finds it really tough - however, she still manages to go out about 3 times a week. The workload really isn't that terrible, so she tells me (and she's one of my best friends), it's more the understanding of the concepts.
I think the phrases like "work like a slave" might just be engineers trying to big up their own course
Not that it needs it :P It's already a respected course.
I think the phrases like "work like a slave" might just be engineers trying to big up their own course
Not that it needs it :P It's already a respected course.Original post by -Someone-Like-You-
Lol, are you joking? Medics get a lot of work, but none of it, especially the early years is particularly hard work. We have 8 modules, they have 4. They get all their formulas in a formula book. Year 1 for Medicine (i'm assuming OP is talking directly post-A-level), is way harder for Engineers than Medics.
In (Chemical) Engineering, there are like 4 25 mark questions per paper, part a, and part b, sometimes just one part all 25 marks, derive an equation and then use your derivation to solve. Also, unlike in A-levels, you don't get a formula book. In year 1, I have to memorise in excess of 1000 formulas. Some of them I can probably convert from one form into the other, but it's still a lot of work.
In terms of depth of understanding, learning equations, and then applying them with large and awkward numbers, yes, Engineering is a very difficult course OP. I'd say Chemical, and other branches of Engineering are the absolute hardest course out there for the 'average' person, bar Maths. Maths is the absolute toughest.
OP, that doesn't mean you can't have fun. But to answer your Q, short and snappy, if you want a first, you need to work hard and keep on top of your work. I haven't really, and i've been a party animal and missed lots of lectures. But if I put in 10 hour days from now until the end of exam, every single day, i'll get a 2.1.
Make of that what you will. If I had gone out like I did, but actually worked in term 1, and over Christmas, i'd have got a first. So it's not impossible. I just took Year 1 quite easy. Thankfully, it's only worth 7% of the entire degree.
In (Chemical) Engineering, there are like 4 25 mark questions per paper, part a, and part b, sometimes just one part all 25 marks, derive an equation and then use your derivation to solve. Also, unlike in A-levels, you don't get a formula book. In year 1, I have to memorise in excess of 1000 formulas. Some of them I can probably convert from one form into the other, but it's still a lot of work.
In terms of depth of understanding, learning equations, and then applying them with large and awkward numbers, yes, Engineering is a very difficult course OP. I'd say Chemical, and other branches of Engineering are the absolute hardest course out there for the 'average' person, bar Maths. Maths is the absolute toughest.
OP, that doesn't mean you can't have fun. But to answer your Q, short and snappy, if you want a first, you need to work hard and keep on top of your work. I haven't really, and i've been a party animal and missed lots of lectures. But if I put in 10 hour days from now until the end of exam, every single day, i'll get a 2.1.
Make of that what you will. If I had gone out like I did, but actually worked in term 1, and over Christmas, i'd have got a first. So it's not impossible. I just took Year 1 quite easy. Thankfully, it's only worth 7% of the entire degree.
Wow, wow, wow, wow. Please tell me that 1000 formulas is a bare tooth lie! Also, having like 5 hours of lectures a day on week days, 10 hours a day does sound like you'd come out a zombie at the end of the academic year. Just saying.
Original post by 4RealBlud
Wow, wow, wow, wow. Please tell me that 1000 formulas is a bare tooth lie! Also, having like 5 hours of lectures a day on week days, 10 hours a day does sound like you'd come out a zombie at the end of the academic year. Just saying.
I'd say the 1000 formulas is quite realistic, if you're learning absolutely every single thing. For example, Bernoulli's equation can be re-arranged in about 6 different ways to apply, but i'd rather learn all 6 than just the one and fiddle about it in the exam. Also, in Thermodynamics, some people will learn Delta U + Delta Ep + Delta Ek = Q - W; and then re-arrange it in terms of H, etc. I'd rather learn that, and then any other related equations to find individual things, in this case; H = U + PV.
So different people learn in different ways. Personally, i'd rather go through all the notes and formulas, and try and memorise them all. 'Memorising', even 1000 formulas, is the easy bit though. Learning how to apply them, is the hard bit. That's what requires time and effort.
As for the last bit of your post, I don't have lectures anymore. And even when I did, in term 1 they were just 4 hours a day, and in term 2, just 2 hours a day, though there was labs too. So it's just 10 hours of revision a day. For 30 days or so. Which I agree is a lot. But imagine I started working from September rather than 4 days before April, and spread out the work load. Imagine how easy it would be to put in 300 hours then?
Btw, i'm not at Manchester. I'm a first year C.E elsewhere, so I replied to the title, not the Manchester bit.
Original post by -Someone-Like-You-
...In year 1, I have to memorise in excess of 1000 formulas. Some of them I can probably convert from one form into the other, but it's still a lot of work....
Over 1000 formulas? Please tell me you're exaggerating? I can barely remember the 4 SUVAT equations
Original post by zoeaw
Over 1000 formulas? Please tell me you're exaggerating? I can barely remember the 4 SUVAT equations
Did you read the rest of my post aha?
Just imagine learning EVERY single little thing. I'd say A-levels have like 300+. Maybe even more. Imagine adding up all the formulas in C1, C2, C3, C4, M1, M2, the FP modules, S1, S2 Phys 1-6, Chemistry 1-6, you're looking at a LOT of equations. Obviously they range from F=ma & moles=mass/Mr to the 4piEpsilon thingy majiggy with 8.85x10^-12 in it.So it's not 1000 formulas of amazingly hard work. And if you understand how to use them, how to answer the questions, then practice makes perfect. If you can do all the past papers, you can pass all the uni exams. That's the best thing about it.
Maybe i'm making it sound really frightening because I didn't put in the work I should have over term 1, and Christmas. But it's definitely by no means easy.
Original post by Cells
i haven't started uni yet but i'll be majoring in chem eng. hmm from what i've heard, medicine students are the ones who suffer most. well that's just what my lecturer said anyway. this is all purely hearsay, so i guess it really depends on our own personal opinion (once we start of course) unless there's a strong correlation between the opinions of current/past chem eng students and what we'll think of it =/
I was told that pure Chem makes Medicine look trivial
Original post by -Someone-Like-You-
Did you read the rest of my post aha? Just imagine learning EVERY single little thing. I'd say A-levels have like 300+. Maybe even more. Imagine adding up all the formulas in C1, C2, C3, C4, M1, M2, the FP modules, S1, S2 Phys 1-6, Chemistry 1-6, you're looking at a LOT of equations. Obviously they range from F=ma & moles=mass/Mr to the 4piEpsilon thingy majiggy with 8.85x10^-12 in it.
So it's not 1000 formulas of amazingly hard work. And if you understand how to use them, how to answer the questions, then practice makes perfect. If you can do all the past papers, you can pass all the uni exams. That's the best thing about it.
Maybe i'm making it sound really frightening because I didn't put in the work I should have over term 1, and Christmas. But it's definitely by no means easy.
Just imagine learning EVERY single little thing. I'd say A-levels have like 300+. Maybe even more. Imagine adding up all the formulas in C1, C2, C3, C4, M1, M2, the FP modules, S1, S2 Phys 1-6, Chemistry 1-6, you're looking at a LOT of equations. Obviously they range from F=ma & moles=mass/Mr to the 4piEpsilon thingy majiggy with 8.85x10^-12 in it.So it's not 1000 formulas of amazingly hard work. And if you understand how to use them, how to answer the questions, then practice makes perfect. If you can do all the past papers, you can pass all the uni exams. That's the best thing about it.
Maybe i'm making it sound really frightening because I didn't put in the work I should have over term 1, and Christmas. But it's definitely by no means easy.
Yeah, I posted that before I saw your other post sorry xD
The formulae for physics are all on the formula sheet :P I take it you don't get one of those at university...
How many exams would you typically have? Would it be like a couple of exams per module or exams + design work and stuff?
Alsoo, what uni do you go to?
Yes it's a very difficult course but the workload does vary on a week-by-week basis. Sometimes it's not too bad, other times it's excruciating.
My university is just under 50% Engineering students and I wouldn't say ChemEng being the toughest is "common knowledge". Although it's pretty pointless to try and identify a toughest discipline, if you had to most people here would say EEE because of the high workload and unintuitive course content.
As for Engineering vs. Medicine, well they are completely different courses but I would say from my personal experience at this uni that the Medics don't seem to do as much work compared to the engineers. Engineering has ridiculous amounts of coursework, it's hard enough keeping on track with lectures/problem sheets without all the lab reports, design projects, programming work and other stuff they throw at you. Not that Medicine isn't very difficult, but it's definitely the engineers here that are notorious for a die-hard work attitude.
We get sheets with select formulae during exams on our course, our lecturers just don't view memorising lots of formulae as that useful an exercise. "Converting" formulae is a vital part of solving problems; for example, memorising every possible permutation of Bernoulli's Equation would just be ridiculous. The point is that you understand how each equation is applied and know how manipulate them to fit your given problem.
Original post by 4RealBlud
, it's common knowledge among engineers that Chemeng is the toughest. The head of the department at Manc said it's probably harder than medicine as well.
, it's common knowledge among engineers that Chemeng is the toughest. The head of the department at Manc said it's probably harder than medicine as well.My university is just under 50% Engineering students and I wouldn't say ChemEng being the toughest is "common knowledge". Although it's pretty pointless to try and identify a toughest discipline, if you had to most people here would say EEE because of the high workload and unintuitive course content.
As for Engineering vs. Medicine, well they are completely different courses but I would say from my personal experience at this uni that the Medics don't seem to do as much work compared to the engineers. Engineering has ridiculous amounts of coursework, it's hard enough keeping on track with lectures/problem sheets without all the lab reports, design projects, programming work and other stuff they throw at you. Not that Medicine isn't very difficult, but it's definitely the engineers here that are notorious for a die-hard work attitude.
Original post by -Someone-Like-You-
In (Chemical) Engineering, there are like 4 25 mark questions per paper, part a, and part b, sometimes just one part all 25 marks, derive an equation and then use your derivation to solve. Also, unlike in A-levels, you don't get a formula book. In year 1, I have to memorise in excess of 1000 formulas. Some of them I can probably convert from one form into the other, but it's still a lot of work.
We get sheets with select formulae during exams on our course, our lecturers just don't view memorising lots of formulae as that useful an exercise. "Converting" formulae is a vital part of solving problems; for example, memorising every possible permutation of Bernoulli's Equation would just be ridiculous. The point is that you understand how each equation is applied and know how manipulate them to fit your given problem.
(edited 12 years ago)
Don't worry, the chemical engineers I used to work with had plenty of time for drinking and debauchery during their degrees.
The people who say they had no time to do any socialising during their degrees were either not that bright, doing it wrong e.g. memorising every single formula that has ever been used when, unless they are empirical or experimentally based, can be derived from first principles, or are trying to overcompensate for poor social skills. The later group will probably find themselves unemployed, too, given that social skills are just as important - in fact probably more so, overall - than technical skills when it comes to jobs time, as confirmed by anyone who's been to an assessment centre.
The people who say they had no time to do any socialising during their degrees were either not that bright, doing it wrong e.g. memorising every single formula that has ever been used when, unless they are empirical or experimentally based, can be derived from first principles, or are trying to overcompensate for poor social skills. The later group will probably find themselves unemployed, too, given that social skills are just as important - in fact probably more so, overall - than technical skills when it comes to jobs time, as confirmed by anyone who's been to an assessment centre.
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