Cambridge Design 2024 offer-holders

I applied for design engineering at bristol and when i went to the open day they said it would be reaccredited, it just wasnt yet as its a new course cuz they swapped over from the old one.

Thank you! I'd love to know where else you applied for? Did u end up getting an offer for Bristol?

Yeah I did! I also applied to bath, imperial & loughborough and I've firmed imperial so I just need to get the grades now 🙂

I just talked a bit about some work experience & what I learnt, I mentioned some projects (dt related), I talked about competitions I've done (maths & physics) and I also talked about my EPQ because it was related to design engineering!

I just talked a bit about some work experience & what I learnt, I mentioned some projects (dt related), I talked about competitions I've done (maths & physics) and I also talked about my EPQ because it was related to design engineering!

hey guys, @QueenSensational @dcvbhuyhn @kjhgbhn @jellbell @Muttley79 @Sarah112358* and everyone!
I'm not particularly interested in applying to this Cambridge course, but definitely some of other courses you guys have mentioned, and you people seem to know what you're talking about!
My interest is based around design engineering, a few of the courses im looking is
Design Eng at Imperial, Design Engineering at Bristol (they've replaced Engineering Design), Integrated Design Engineering at Bath. I'm also planning to apply for maybe a couple mechanical eng or civil eng.
My A-levels are Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and I just sat my AS-Level Further Maths which im waiting results for (could be as bad as a C) and probably won't be continuing with that in Year 13.
I did DT at GCSE, but not at A-level.
I have lots of questions, i would appreciate any answers. warning it's quite wordy
ONE.
Since I don't do DT a-level, I need to build up some projects for a portfolio. Any ideas of what I should do? Particularly for Imperial and Bath which I know some of u people applied for, what did your portfolio consist of? I'm scared any projects I do won't be to the standard of those doing DT/art, i know people tend to use coursework projects they've spent months on, and I only have so much time. How many of these projects things should I be doing? Again, I'm not sure how I would be able to build up a 10-page portfolio (do they ask for 10 pages?) all by myself.
I'm not so much of an arty person (in terms of being able to do crazy drawings etc), so I'm aiming for any of my projects to be more engineering, physics and design based rather than arty (but will still be aesthetically pleasing ofc). That being said, I'm deffo struggling on finding something to make that could focus on all these aspects, whilst making it actually realistic to make. Would it be enough to just design some things, not actually make? If u guys could tell me any examples of actual products you've made/designed it would be extremely helpful.
TWO.
Personal statements - what should I talk about? While I'm planning to do those projects mentioned above, I haven't actually done them yet. I guess I will talk about them of course when I do. Other than that, should I talk about any books, shows, podcasts? HOW do i make my statement fit for both mechanical and design eng, I can write about design but I'm not sure how I can display by technical and physics knowledge for mechanical. Would design eng courses also want that physicsy knowledge? I'm scared of making my statement TOO designy, or TOO physicsy, but also if i do a mix of both, what if they view my statement as too 'general'? Sigh.
In terms of 'inspiration' or WHY I want to do these courses, I have no clue how not to make myself sound like an idiot, saying stuff like "i've always liked to design things". Is there also anything u guys said to introduce/open ur statement, I feel like first sentences are really important. please let me know. #help. It might be worth me mentioning just now that for my year they've switched up the personal statement style into those 3 questions, although i dont think it's too big of a worry.
THREE.
Did anyone also apply for any apprenticeships? I know dyson has a really appealing apprenticeship. Imperial's course is also through Dyson School of Engineering so not sure how linked they are, if at all.
FOUR.
This is more specific course based - Bristol. Bristol is honestly one of my top top options, I'd love to go there, for Design OR Mech eng OR civil. I just really love the sound/ look, the uni in general, the course structures really appeal to me.
The Engineering Design course was swapped to a Design engineering course for 2025 applicants, which is fine yeah whatever. Since its new, the course is not yet accredited. I'm not sure how much that matters, in terms of how employers would see it etc. I don't have a great understanding of accreditations and stuff myself, so im confused.
I imagine it would be accredited in the future? Most of Bristol's other courses are accredited and stuff, and its a brilliant known uni anyway. If it gets accredited while im studying (eg, 3rd year), or AFTER I graduate would it mean that my degree IS then accredited. Seriously i don't even know how much this stuff matters.
FIVE.
Im not sure how much everyone here will be able to help with this one, because I haven't seen anyone else mention mechanical eng. Basically I'm battling between doing mechanical and design eng. Let me start by saying the ultimate goal would be a design engineering job, or one where i could design things.
The reason why mechanical is also an option for me is because i feel like theres a much larger scope, and i mean like within INDUSTRIES. Please correct me if im wrong, or any alternate views. If i do mechanical, I could go into a design engineering job after that. This design engineering job might be within the car industry, aero, wherever! Would going directly along the design eng route give me this too? (I assume not, or atleast less than via mech).
I don't want to feel that i'm missing out the opportunity in doing mech eng, because undeniably it is quite impressive, and if i can become a design engineer along further down that same line, then why not?
Only thing is that obviously mech would be a lot more intense physics. I'd like to know everyone's opinions/ views.
SIX.
Would a design engineer end up doing a more product design type of job, rather than engineering? Is there a difference? This also relates to my above question about mech eng and stuff, because would employers rather hire a mechanical engineer to do their engineering design job?
SEVEN.
Last one - might be silly. How does qualifications further down the line work for design eng? I mean like for mechanical, civil i know u can become Charted eventually. Is there also this sort of thing for Design eng, as i know its a fairly newer subject. Im very uneducated on this matter.
Thank you!
Terribly sorry for the literally essay i've written. I truly would appreciate ANY help/advice/info regarding any of these questions.
I'd also love to know what all of you are doing now, did u end up actually doing this course? are u enjoying it? future plans?
Thank you sosososos much )))

Hi!

im doing a degree apprenticeship with siemens now . I would highly recommend applying to the dyson institute programme as it seems to combine everything you're looking for as they offer the opportunity to start broad and specialise into streams such as mechanical, electromechanical etc which can all be useful when applying for design engineering jobs. back when i was applying for des eng then i snuck into imperial des eng exhibitions to see their projects and the whereabouts and talk to their students. i recommend such an adventure. from my research on cambridge's design course, it seems a bit artsy fartsy and architectural compared to the more technical des eng course at imperial. there is also a website imperials deseng course published specifically for a personal statement as not many unis offer it which is gonna make you jump with joy https://www.imperial.ac.uk/design-engineering/study/meng/application-information-and-faq/personal-statements/.
one last thing, ABSOLUTEEEELY apply for degree apprenticeships. you can apply for an unlimited amount outside of ucas and theres absolutely no harm in earning whilst you learn hands-on.

Hi!
No, you absolutely do not need to apply for architecture everywhere else, for reference, I applied to:
Design - ( Cambridge )
Design Engineering - ( Imperial )
Engineering and Architectural Design - ( UCL )
Integrated Design Engineering - ( Bath )
Product Design - ( Edinburgh )
I used what was esentially the same portfolio for all of my applications, just removing or adding in some bits depending on how many slides each uni wanted to see. I had a bit of everything on a powerpoint, product design and sustainability stuff for Imperial, Architecture and more fine art based stuff for UCL, and a mix of both for Cambridge.
One thing I think you should consider is what you're writing about on your personal statement, because these courses seem to be focusing on slightly different things.
Seeing that you plan to apply to both Cambridge and Imperial, you should decide which one you prefer because its really risky to choose both when responding to your offers as they might send out very similar grade requirements. (people might say you should obviously go Cambridge but I was initially just focused on design engineering at Imperial, and the course still looks really really interesting ).
On top of this, since this is the first year the Cambridge course is running, you can make you decision after asking people about how they like the course.

Hey guys! Congratulations on the offer!
As this is a new/ unique course I think it would be nice if we could all get to know our areas of interest/ motivations for choosing this course. We are the first set of students for it after all.
What A Levels do you do?
Which route are you considering taking from the degree?
Do you have an art background?
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Thank you so much for the insight! May I ask what A levels you took? I take A levels in Maths, Chemistry, Biology, and Economics (A*A*A*A* predicted) and am really interested in studying design at Cambridge. I do art in my free time, but I am concerned my subject combination isn't competitive enough. Any other insight or tips would be helpful as well !

Hey! I got in for murray Edwards
1. Math, Further Math, Physics, Economics
2. Leaning towards architecture but I really do enjoy engineering.
3. Don't really have an art background except I did gcse art haha
Has anyone heard about accreditation for this course?