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Imperial vs Manchester vs Degree apprenticeship

I need to start this by saying I don't have a particular preference to engineering or physics as a degree and know I'd most likely enjoy both. I have 3 offers. A Physics offer from Imperial and Manchester, as well as an engineering degree apprenticeship offer from the Dyson Institute, and I am super confused as to what's best for me. Although the physics course seems to best taught at Manchester, UoM doesn't have the reputation of Imperial and I wanted to know if it would be easier to get a better job with an Imperial degree rather than a UoM one. On the other hand Manchester seems to be so much better for a social life and Imperial has a rep for being a pretty boring place. On the other other hand Dyson seems like a very interesting opportunity as I'd be graduating with 4 years of work experience as well as no debt and I'd likely have the opportunity to take up a job at Dyson, however with the degree apprenticeship being pretty unknown should I want to leave Dyson would it limit my other options later down the line? (A side question is how much having work experience from Dyson may help applications for masters courses in engineering at Universities such as Imperial or Oxbridge etc?)

Any thoughts or further info on any of the options would be greatly appreciated :smile:
Original post by MakMak445
I need to start this by saying I don't have a particular preference to engineering or physics as a degree and know I'd most likely enjoy both. I have 3 offers. A Physics offer from Imperial and Manchester, as well as an engineering degree apprenticeship offer from the Dyson Institute, and I am super confused as to what's best for me. Although the physics course seems to best taught at Manchester, UoM doesn't have the reputation of Imperial and I wanted to know if it would be easier to get a better job with an Imperial degree rather than a UoM one. On the other hand Manchester seems to be so much better for a social life and Imperial has a rep for being a pretty boring place. On the other other hand Dyson seems like a very interesting opportunity as I'd be graduating with 4 years of work experience as well as no debt and I'd likely have the opportunity to take up a job at Dyson, however with the degree apprenticeship being pretty unknown should I want to leave Dyson would it limit my other options later down the line? (A side question is how much having work experience from Dyson may help applications for masters courses in engineering at Universities such as Imperial or Oxbridge etc?)

Any thoughts or further info on any of the options would be greatly appreciated :smile:

Whatever is most important to you. If you're strapped for cash, take the apprenticeship. It might limit you though.

If you're not strapped for cash, either Imperial or UoM depending on whether you care about prestige or social life more
Omg congrats on an Imperial offer!
Note that going into an engineering role from a physics degree is not that straightforward. It's certainly possible to work in the engineering sector with a physics background, but you will be more on the modelling/data side than engineering design side of things. So think about what you actually want to do long term. You're trying to compare two fundamentally different things - it's very different to comparing an engineering degree apprenticeship with an engineering degree.

I'd note that you have basically nothing to lose by starting the degree apprenticeship now and if you decide it's not for you, leaving after a year or two. As you can still then just apply to a regular degree programme through UCAS and it shouldn't even affect your SFE funding entitlement. The reverse is less likely to be true. So if in doubt I'd suggest just starting the degree apprenticeship and seeing how you do with that.
Go to Imperial, you will not regret it in years to come.
Reply 5
'Imperial has no social life' is a myth. There are loads of very very fun people. Me included :cool:
Reply 6
Original post by MakMak445
I need to start this by saying I don't have a particular preference to engineering or physics as a degree and know I'd most likely enjoy both. I have 3 offers. A Physics offer from Imperial and Manchester, as well as an engineering degree apprenticeship offer from the Dyson Institute, and I am super confused as to what's best for me. Although the physics course seems to best taught at Manchester, UoM doesn't have the reputation of Imperial and I wanted to know if it would be easier to get a better job with an Imperial degree rather than a UoM one. On the other hand Manchester seems to be so much better for a social life and Imperial has a rep for being a pretty boring place. On the other other hand Dyson seems like a very interesting opportunity as I'd be graduating with 4 years of work experience as well as no debt and I'd likely have the opportunity to take up a job at Dyson, however with the degree apprenticeship being pretty unknown should I want to leave Dyson would it limit my other options later down the line? (A side question is how much having work experience from Dyson may help applications for masters courses in engineering at Universities such as Imperial or Oxbridge etc?)

Any thoughts or further info on any of the options would be greatly appreciated :smile:


Funnily enough, I'm in a similar position - I have an offer of Engineering at Dyson Institute, or Electrical Engineering at Imperial. In your case, I'd say it just boils down to whether you want to be an engineer or whether you want to study physics.

If you want to be an engineer, then the Dyson course has its foundations in the Warwick engineering course, which is well regarded, and there's a lot to be said for having four years experience at a top engineering firm on your CV - in the field of engineering, that is probably going to serve you better than a Physics degree would.

If you want to study physics, or be a physicist, then naturally the university route is going to be most suitable for you, otherwise you're going to miss things that the Dyson program, by it's very nature, won't offer.

I'd say there aren't really any wrong options here, all of your choices are really strong, and it's really down to where you see your interests/early career going.

(Personally, I think I'm probably going to go with Dyson as I find the practical experience to be really valuable, and I did a year at Cambridge's engineering course and found it overly theoretical.)
Reply 7
Original post by justlearning1469
Whatever is most important to you. If you're strapped for cash, take the apprenticeship. It might limit you though.

If you're not strapped for cash, either Imperial or UoM depending on whether you care about prestige or social life more


Limit me in terms of you think I’d be limited to engineering or limited in the sense that it may hinder my long term career progress even if I went into engineering?
Reply 8
I am trying to decide between Dyson and Imperial too. I am down for design engineering at Imperial which is more creative and would probably suit me better.

...But is Dyson too good of an opportunity to turn down?
Reply 9
I rejected my universities and accepted an aerospace degree at Airbus.

inform me of your decision.
Reply 10
how is it going at airbus? would they pay for your masters if you would like to complete it. many say that with degree apprenticeships at rolls Royce/airbus are boring and what you do is learn how wings work and input numbers into a computer. please let me know if this is the case for you and please let me know if the experience tyou have gained and the experience so far is good even though its not been long. do you still go to the uni to study and do airbus provide accommodation and do you still have a good social life? so many questions but for me to make an informed decision soon I need to know. thank you so much, and if any other people are doing a degree apprentship if you could also comment, it would be highly appreciated.
Original post by Sadman123
I rejected my universities and accepted an aerospace degree at Airbus.

inform me of your decision.
Reply 11
Original post by Djdb2007
how is it going at airbus? would they pay for your masters if you would like to complete it. many say that with degree apprenticeships at rolls Royce/airbus are boring and what you do is learn how wings work and input numbers into a computer. please let me know if this is the case for you and please let me know if the experience tyou have gained and the experience so far is good even though its not been long. do you still go to the uni to study and do airbus provide accommodation and do you still have a good social life? so many questions but for me to make an informed decision soon I need to know. thank you so much, and if any other people are doing a degree apprentship if you could also comment, it would be highly appreciated.

I'm not a very social person, but from what I've seen, people have their fun going to bars and clubs. I'll give you more info as time passes

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