Mechanical engineering difficulty?

Hi,
im looking at doing mechanical engineering at somewhere like surrey or Southampton. I was just wondering how hard the degree was. I'm quite a hard worker, I got A*AB (maths, physics and DT respectively). I found the maths at a-level pretty easy, the physics was slightly more challenging.
was just wondering can you take weekends off or do you have to solidly work week days and weekends? Really wouldn't like the latter.
i also don't drink, would this help me do better at my degree?
Also what are the labs like for mech eng? Are they similar to physics labs at uni or less "intense"?
thanks.

Reply 1

SillyEddy

I am studying at neither Surrey nor Southampton, but the course content across the board is fairly similar.

Regarding work... I honestly did not do much work during the midweek and very little at weekends. The only exceptions were for coursework and similar projects which were due on a near weekly basis for me (it was fine though, my university liked to give out a lot of small projects for certain modules instead of few massive ones). I only really started revising in the weeks leading up to the exams and I was able to get a 2:1 for my first year (A 2:1 is like a grade "B" and a First is like a grade "A". Typically a first is 70% and a 2:1 is 60% and so on). In the second year I will press on a bit more, but you just go at the pace which suits you. I don't see the point in finding work to do, I just make sure I'm on top of all my work and that keeps things relaxed. A benefit of university is that you'll typically get marks back every few weeks, so you know exactly where you're up to. That is my favourite bit about the assessments because I tell what my grade currently is and what I need to do on any given week.

Just remember that the first year is typically either not counted, or not worth masses towards your final degree. It might be worth 10% or so at some universities. For me, the first year is not worth anything towards the degree. Thus, you really shouldn't worry about it. The first year is usually to get everyone to the right standard. Some people say "the first year only exists to get you into the second year", and that's fairly accurate.

Not drinking is really not a benefit and not a negative thing either. The problem is not drinking, it's excessive drinking and the knock-on effects it has. For instance, being hungover during lectures or missing assessments because you're asleep. In moderation, it's absolutely fine. Even if you decide not to drink, it's important to try and remain social... There are times when you just cannot wait to get a piece of coursework or an essay over and done with and you need something to look forward to. Likewise, joining a society is a great idea... I go away on some weekends with my society, so it's a nice way to cap off a project. You need rewards, even if it's not alcohol related, find something to do with your time.

The labs are quite different to what you do in physics. You'll do thermofluid and solid mechanic labs in the first year. You'll investigate things such as the effect of a venturi or how a bridge operates. The labs are far larger (they're the entire room, usually a basement of a building) and you'll just go through the investigation as a group. We then made a presentation based on this and presented our findings to a lecturer and were then asked questions about the experiment and facts about the lab. Your mileage may vary on that one though.

Reply 2

Bluerenaissance

Well i go to leicester and the maths in first year is a bit of c1 and c2 to begin with then jumps to c4, but like you said if you found a level maths easy the maths wont get challenging until second year. The physics at my uni was pretty easy to begin with but rapidly gets harder as you go along but the way notes are set up make all the stuff easy to learn. Also CAD is a hugely underestimated by most 1st years and 2nd years, make sure you do well in the easy modules like CAD and business/management(if you have those modules). Don't forget if you want to do a placement the first year grades are very important and generally important if you intend on working for bug engineerings firms like BP,Land Rovers. My first interview resulted in me having to explain why i slacked off in CAD and maths and scrapped a 2:1 but if you get a 2:1 generally your fine, a 1st gets you to pick and choses grad schemes and negotiate better salaries e.g. my friend has a 1st in chem eng and has a starting salary at £34k.

Most student on engineering slack off at the beginning ( first few weeks recap A2 maths and physics) and get big shocks on phases test. But yh just work hard all year, including first year if you want to do a placement.

Reply 3

SomeSlyGuy

SillyEddy you mentioned a presentation. How does one become braver for these events? In secondary I nearly destroyed my English grade by being a coward in presentations and avoiding them like an extinction event. I don't want to repeat this mistake in university. How many people were in your presentation?

Reply 4

SillyEddy

Original post by SomeSlyGuy

It's perhaps not a format shared between all universities, but for us, it was 2 people presenting to 2 members of staff (my tutor, a lecturer, and a teaching assistant). We would produce an A3 page between the two of us explaining the experiment, method, results, processing of results and questions about the experiment.

The worst bit was being asked questions about the experiment as they may ask questions not directly taught, but surrounding theory which you'd be expected to know or infer from the results. Even though, it's not terrible, but it's hard to blag a solid mechanics experiment to your tutor when he is the senior lecturer of solid mechanics!

Confidence was never really an issue for me or a lot of people. They want you to be able to get ideas across as a professional, so that's really why we did it in that format. You quickly learn to be able to make convincing arguments and back up results. If someone in industry asked you "why are you right?" you need to gain the confidence to say "I am, because of these facts...".

Get used to talking to people and really that's it. I don't see it as any sort of confidence issue, it's just a bit of work to get done and presented and it lasts for 10-15 minutes or so. The staff are nice and so we just have a bit of a chat afterwards about all sorts. You'll be meeting dozens of new students and making new friends at uni, so one lecturer and his assistant is really not an issue. They're usually very good at helping. Having a job or whatever is great for boosting confidence. My GCSE creative writing reading wasn't superb, but now it's a non issue - It's nothing to be afraid of.

Mechanical engineering difficulty?

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