Engineering at Uni of Glasgow

1.

How many contact hours do students receive?

2.

Are you guaranteed uni accommodation for the entirety of your degree?

3.

How is the social life over there?

4.

Is it easy to switch from a BEng to an MEng?

5.

Do you know if the course has a placement year?

1.

In first semester we had a lot of contact hours, with around 17-20 hours made up of lectures, tutorials and labs each week. In second semester it was slightly less, around 14-17 hours per week. It is worth noting that outside of these contact hours many lecturers offered office hours, either online or in person, and the university also provides math drop-ins for engineering students which are very useful.

2.

You are guaranteed uni accommodation for the first year of your undergraduate, providing you do not live within a 1 hour commutable distance. After first year there is no guarantee, but if rooms are available you may be able to get one, but the vast majority of people go into private rentals or private student halls for their second year and beyond, which is the same at almost all Scottish Universities. You can view the universities full undergraduate accommodation guarantee here: University of Glasgow - Undergraduate study - Undergraduate accommodation - Admissions policy - Undergraduate admissions policy

3.

The social life in Glasgow is honestly amazing. There is so much to do in and around the West End, with loads of great bars, cafes etc, and really easy transport links to the city centre via bus and subway. The uni is also really close to the Botanic Gardens and Kelvingrove Park, which are really popular spots to enjoy the sun in summertime. On campus, we have two student unions, the QMU and the GUU. The GUU is more popular, and has two weekly club nights, pub quizzes and open mics, a kitchen, pool room and cafe, as well as hosting various society events such as ceilidhs, or special events like St Paddy's day or the end of exam celebrations. The uni has hundreds of societies and over 50 sports clubs, so there's loads of things to get involved with and meet people. Engineering specific, there are quite a few really good engineering related societies such as UG Racing (our Formula Student team), FemEng, GUES (our general engineering society who organise Eng Ball and other events), Handprints (biomedical focused) and Engineers Without Borders. I've honestly met so many incredible people at Glasgow and love the variety and liveliness of the social scene.

4.

I've been assured by staff from the open day to the end of my first year that it is extremely easy to switch between BEng and MEng. The way it was explained to me is basically everyone follows the same course until the end of 3rd year, at which point, depending on your grades, you will be able to choose which route you want to take to finish your degree, BEng or MEng. I've also been told it is fairly easy to switch your engineering discipline i.e mechanical or aero, up until the end of first year.

5.

As far as I'm aware the course doesn't have a placement year, but you do an individual project in your 5th year which I think you can do in industry, From the website: 'In year 5 individual project work forms a major component of the MEng programme, which has a strong industrial bias.' I have a friend doing biomedical who has gone to Switzerland to do his project there for the next 6-9 months, but I'm not 100% sure about the full process/ what is or isn't possible. I would recommend getting in touch with the engineering department if you want to find out more about industry/ placement options. A lot of people I know choose to do summer internships in industry from 3rd year onwards to gain that extra experience!