Maths with Engineering Modules or Course Switch

Hi,

I just finished my first year of Mathematics at Uni, and have been seriously considering a course switch to Engineering. This is because, while I don't dislike the Maths course, I've been seriously considering engineering and jobs within the engineering field as a career pathway, and it seems like it may be difficult to break into without an engineering degree. Also, the course seems to delve into areas of study that interest me more than some of the pure maths.

It doesn't seem like I would be losing much by switching, as most career options (besides engineering) are open to both degrees I believe. There is the exception of some of the really number-heavy jobs, in statistics etc... but I don't see myself enjoying these kinds of jobs, especially compared to those in the engineering kind of fields. Please correct me if I am mistaken about any fields which may not be shared between the two courses.

However, I am unsure if switching is the right move in my situation having completed a year of maths with decent grades, considering about 50% of my credits from now on are optional. This means I can take about 50% of my modules from ANYWHERE in the uni i.e. the engineering department (obviously subject to a few logisitical requirements). This could mean I could take most if not all of the modules for a specific engineering sector (such as systems). This would mean I wouldn't need to switch course.

However, I am unsure how viable this is when it comes to securing a placement at a company, which is the important thing, getting my foot in the door. Would this be preferable to switching course or is switching really the better option here?

Thanks in advance.

If you're doing a maths degree, even if you take lots of engineering modules, presumably your certificate will still say maths on it? And thus you won't have an accredited engineering degree? It is going to be harder to get your foot in the door without the right qualification, which most of the time is going to be an engineering degree.

So if you want to work in technology or analytical industries you can certainly find areas a maths degree will be fine.

For engineering their are certain types of “systems engineering” opportunities which are often open to maths & physics graduates (stuff like building computational models or control systems) that said the vast majority of engineering opportunities require a proper engineering degree as you’ll need an appreciation of certain technical aspects. Even if you want to pursue analytical areas of engineering a lot of understanding of “why you are doing something” is important when trying to solve a problem.

I would recommend taking some time to figure out what you want to pursue but your options are:
- do a maths degree, apply for jobs suitable for maths graduates
- switch to an engineering MEng & resit year 1, opening up all the opportunities an engineering degree enables... including year in industry and
- do a maths BSc & an engineering MSc, opens most engineering graduate opportunities but slightly more limited then a full 4 years of engineering (but also keep open some maths doors) however this will make the funding regarding finance more difficult for your masters not being included in your undergrad funding.

Thanks for the reply. Sure, but surely this will definitely make it somewhat easier for me to sell myself as a viable candidate. For example, I should have enough credits to take every single one of the specific 'systems engineering' modules offered to the engineers (since the engineers only start to specialise in year 2).


Thank you. Systems engineering does sound quite interesting, and seems like it could lead to some work in really interesting industries, so I definitely will think on that. Is there anything you could recommend I do that would help me figure out which branch of engineering I may enjoy most? Reading uni notes, or doing certain exercises?

An engineering MSc is a very likely possibility if I continue down the Mathematics path. I feel like this may be a smarter move since I could use that year that I would have spent redoing year 1 **hopefully** getting some industry experience, which I've heard is greatly more valuable than academics. However, getting a placement may be much easier said than done, so perhaps the MEng route is just better. Not sure...

As for the funding, I've just seen the Postgraduate Masters Loan from the government, which I had no idea existed (I thought you had to pay for all MSc programmes out of pocket or get a company to pay for you). Do you happen to know any more about this, is it a direct copy of the undergrad loan for post grad or are there some major drawbacks. I can't see anything while scrolling down the webpage, but I don't understand why I never saw this before. It seems to cover at least 75% of any MSc course fees.

Thanks for the reply. Sure, but surely this will definitely make it somewhat easier for me to sell myself as a viable candidate. For example, I should have enough credits to take every single one of the specific 'systems engineering' modules offered to the engineers (since the engineers only start to specialise in year 2).


Thank you. Systems engineering does sound quite interesting, and seems like it could lead to some work in really interesting industries, so I definitely will think on that. Is there anything you could recommend I do that would help me figure out which branch of engineering I may enjoy most? Reading uni notes, or doing certain exercises?

An engineering MSc is a very likely possibility if I continue down the Mathematics path. I feel like this may be a smarter move since I could use that year that I would have spent redoing year 1 **hopefully** getting some industry experience, which I've heard is greatly more valuable than academics. However, getting a placement may be much easier said than done, so perhaps the MEng route is just better. Not sure...

As for the funding, I've just seen the Postgraduate Masters Loan from the government, which I had no idea existed (I thought you had to pay for all MSc programmes out of pocket or get a company to pay for you). Do you happen to know any more about this, is it a direct copy of the undergrad loan for post grad or are there some major drawbacks. I can't see anything while scrolling down the webpage, but I don't understand why I never saw this before. It seems to cover at least 75% of any MSc course fees.

The major drawbacks of the postgraduate loan is:
- no maintenance, its a lump sum for everything, so most likely less money total (so you’ll need to cover the shortfall, and likely have to pay tuition & rent up front...)
- it’s a separate loan, not a bolt on. So you would have 2 loans & repayments to make

Systems engineering is interesting but id note from maths you will likely be doing very specific types of work (systems engineering is very broad, so you would be likely be leaning more towards analytical model development or control systems or similar...)

As to which area of engineering, id go with what stuff appeals to you most. From a maths background id think electrical or mechanical background would be the more obvious ones to look at.

Id say if your definitely committed to engineering then id just change to an MEng but if you’re on the fence, want more time the MSc is the route to go. The MEng makes it a lot easier to go onto an engineering placement year. (And you can still list your 1 year of maths BSc on your cv).

Thanks for the reply. Sure, but surely this will definitely make it somewhat easier for me to sell myself as a viable candidate. For example, I should have enough credits to take every single one of the specific 'systems engineering' modules offered to the engineers (since the engineers only start to specialise in year 2).

Possibly, but your certificate and CV will still say maths on it, and you also won't hold an accredited engineering degree. That would be disadvantageous compared to an engineering degree, but doesn't make things impossible.

Also worth noting that, regarding systems engineering specifically, it doesn't have a uniform definition across all industries. It can vary from mainly defining requirements to modelling. With a maths degree, mathematical modelling and simulation jobs will be most open to you.

Ooo ok, tbh thats not too bad, especially since I thought there was no loan available.



Great thank you.

I'm not sure if I'm "committed" to engineering, it is just a serious potential career pathway that I don't want closed off to me after completing my 3 years of study, if that's what I decide I want to do. Is there anything that you'd recommend I do that, if I enjoy/don't enjoy, would suggest that eng is right/wrong for me.

As for sector, I know things like biomedical/electrical interest me, such as advanced robotic prosthetics, but I'm really not sure how to test whether I would actually enjoy work in this field. For example, I always used to think that AI and machine learning was really cool (it is, but it's only when I got to uni and got to see higher level machine learning code that I realised it might not be for me). How do I gain similar exposure to engineering fields before enrolling in the course to see whether its for me or not?