The Student Room Group

Engineering or a finance degree

Hi, I am 22 years old and currently finishing an electrician apprenticeship, i have decided that i would like to study further and take my career seriously. I am torn between two possible degrees, either electrical/electronic engineering or a financial/business degree.

I have a couple of problems regarding uni and their requirements.. i have no A-levels with only bare Cs in both math and English, never took school seriously even though i was capable.

Just looking for advice or help on how i can over come this.

Thanks

Niall
Original post by Nialljackson
Hi, I am 22 years old and currently finishing an electrician apprenticeship, i have decided that i would like to study further and take my career seriously. I am torn between two possible degrees, either electrical/electronic engineering or a financial/business degree.

I have a couple of problems regarding uni and their requirements.. i have no A-levels with only bare Cs in both math and English, never took school seriously even though i was capable.

Just looking for advice or help on how i can over come this.

Thanks

Niall

In regards to the A levels, I think a C&G level 3 does give you UCAS points and, the fact that you have worked in an electrical industry will be a valuable experience to demonstrate your ability in Electrical and electronic. As for business and finance, you have less ammunition in terms of qualifications and experience.

What industry and job do you want to go into that is an important thing to bear in mind. Do you like the electrical work?
Which part of the UK do you live in and which university is on your shortlist?
You can go into the finance sector with an engineering degree. You cannot go into engineering roles with a finance degree. That may be worth bearing in mind.

As far as admissions go, for engineering you would probably need to look at courses with a foundation year. Normally you need A-level Maths and Physics for entry into engineering courses. Note these requirements are not arbitrary, and they are in place due to the fact you will be using A-level Maths (and beyond) throughout the course, every single day, and the A-level Physics material will be directly built on to develop more mathematically sophisticated understandings of those topics. So you should be aware that an engineering degree involves a huge amount of mathematical and scientific work and you should be prepared for this; it is not a practical/vocational course as such.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by artful_lounger
You can go into the finance sector with an engineering degree. You cannot go into engineering roles with a finance degree. That may be worth bearing in mind.

As far as admissions go, for engineering you would probably need to look at courses with a foundation year. Normally you need A-level Maths and Physics for entry into engineering courses. Note these requirements are not arbitrary, and they are in place due to the fact you will be using A-level Maths (and beyond) throughout the course, every single day, and the A-level Physics material will be directly built on to develop more mathematically sophisticated understandings of those topics. So you should be aware that an engineering degree involves a huge amount of mathematical and scientific work and you should be prepared for this; it is not a practical/vocational course as such.

PRSOM
--
OP, the flexibility of engineering is a real benefit to choosing that route, but the benefit of a finance/business degree is speed to do the degree.

Realistically to do engineering you'll need to improve your GCSE maths & science skills, then get some sort of level 3 qualification (I suspect your looking at a couple years minimum worth of preparation just to put in a university application), then a 3/4 year degree.

I suspect (but do not know) you could find a less analytical business foundation program or access course that will get you into university faster, and a business degree is 3 years standard.

I suspect it also depends what area of business & finance you are interested in specifically, as some areas you'll need the heavy maths courses and jobs are super competitive and other areas are pretty standard grad schemes.
Original post by Sha-ney-ney
In regards to the A levels, I think a C&G level 3 does give you UCAS points and, the fact that you have worked in an electrical industry will be a valuable experience to demonstrate your ability in Electrical and electronic. As for business and finance, you have less ammunition in terms of qualifications and experience.

What industry and job do you want to go into that is an important thing to bear in mind. Do you like the electrical work?
Which part of the UK do you live in and which university is on your shortlist?

Thanks for the reply, I do enjoy the electrical work and I live in the northeast sothe uni I would try for would be Sheffield.
Original post by artful_lounger
You can go into the finance sector with an engineering degree. You cannot go into engineering roles with a finance degree. That may be worth bearing in mind.

As far as admissions go, for engineering you would probably need to look at courses with a foundation year. Normally you need A-level Maths and Physics for entry into engineering courses. Note these requirements are not arbitrary, and they are in place due to the fact you will be using A-level Maths (and beyond) throughout the course, every single day, and the A-level Physics material will be directly built on to develop more mathematically sophisticated understandings of those topics. So you should be aware that an engineering degree involves a huge amount of mathematical and scientific work and you should be prepared for this; it is not a practical/vocational course as such.

Thank you for the reply, would your advice be to sit in both A-level Maths and Physics? would it be far too much to ask for if I haven't got A-level experience?
Original post by mnot
PRSOM
--
OP, the flexibility of engineering is a real benefit to choosing that route, but the benefit of a finance/business degree is speed to do the degree.

Realistically to do engineering you'll need to improve your GCSE maths & science skills, then get some sort of level 3 qualification (I suspect your looking at a couple years minimum worth of preparation just to put in a university application), then a 3/4 year degree.

I suspect (but do not know) you could find a less analytical business foundation program or access course that will get you into university faster, and a business degree is 3 years standard.

I suspect it also depends what area of business & finance you are interested in specifically, as some areas you'll need the heavy maths courses and jobs are super competitive and other areas are pretty standard grad schemes.

Thank you for the reply, would you suggest improving them to A-level? sitting A-levels could add a possible 2 years, then a degree with a year in industry 4 years, if I was to go down that route I could be 28 at the end, would my job prospects decrease? could age play a part?
Original post by Nialljackson
Thank you for the reply, would you suggest improving them to A-level? sitting A-levels could add a possible 2 years, then a degree with a year in industry 4 years, if I was to go down that route I could be 28 at the end, would my job prospects decrease? could age play a part?

I think you’ll need to take 3 A-levels including maths & physics (which will take 2 years full time), but you’ll probably need to spend a bit of time bringing your GCSE maths & science level significantly higher (ideally 8 or 9) before starting A-levels. Given your age you’ll also likely need to self-fund this I think.

I don’t think age will effect you landing a graduate job tbh, its one illegal to do so & secondly managers just want the best candidate irrespective of age.

A grad job in engineering starts at roughly £28k although normally you can get decent salary increases in your first 5 years.
Original post by Nialljackson
Thanks for the reply, I do enjoy the electrical work and I live in the northeast sothe uni I would try for would be Sheffield.

Teeside university has a lot of useful courses, Its in the North East but I can't judge how close Middlesbrough is to you. They have a lot of online courses that will be a logical step up like an HNC in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. This would mean you don't have to give up your job https://www.tees.ac.uk/undergraduate_courses/engineering_&_construction/hnc_electrical_and_electronic_engineering.cfm

They also do degrees https://www.tees.ac.uk/undergraduate_courses/engineering_&_construction/hnc_electrical_and_electronic_engineering.cfm
They also do a range of part-time courses running over the summer to help get to speed with stuff. They are around £50 a pop.
https://www.tees.ac.uk/parttime_courses/Engineering_&_Construction/certificate_engineering_principles_su.cfm
https://www.tees.ac.uk/parttime_courses/Mathematics/certificate_mathematics_(basic).cfm
https://www.tees.ac.uk/parttime_courses/Mathematics/certificate_mathematics_(intermediate).cfm

Good luck on your journey.
Original post by Nialljackson
Thank you for the reply, would your advice be to sit in both A-level Maths and Physics? would it be far too much to ask for if I haven't got A-level experience?


You could explore the foundation year route, but if you aren't very confident in your science and maths skills then that might not be the best option. I think taking your time make sure you get a solid foundation in maths and the sciences, from GCSE up, is the best option to make sure you can cope with the degree and do your best on it. You may also find you don't enjoy that kind of work, and decide to explore other degree options as well (although one would hope you will enjoy doing that maths and science work if you are considering an engineering course :smile: ).
Reply 10
Business degree will be easier.

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