Lack of work experience (engineering)

Hi,

I'm planning on applying for engineering science this fall, and am worried that my lack of work experience may hurt my chances of getting an offer. It seems that engineering is one of those subjects where work experience really helps - and it also gives a topic of conversation in interviews.

I've read many books on engineering and have decent GCSE grades (10 A*, 1 A), and will hopefully be predicted 42+ points at IB, but I don't know how much this will offset my lack of work experience. Do many people get offers without having done work prior to applying for the course? Will they ask why I haven't had any work experience?

Thanks

Reply 1

Deanna19

Dude you don't need experience in engineering to get into an engineering course.

I got into uni straight after school and I didn't and I know the majority of my class had no prior experience. The only way we have experience in engineering is by having done the first year of our course and getting jobs in the industry in our summer break which is what I did.

Reply 2

Cirsium

I can't speak with authority on Deanna, but certainly the unofficial-but-oft-repeated Biology stance is that in sciences it is incredibly difficult to get work experience unless you have parents in the field. For anyone from a state school or just a school without 'contacts' it's virtually nigh-on-impossible. Because of this, WE is useful to YOU to help you get an idea of what it is you'd really like to do but there's no point in judging applicants on whether, or how much, they have done this. I'd check with the dept, but really I wouldn't worry too much.

Reply 3

Good bloke

I can confirm that you have no need to worry as Oxford's engineering course is full of people with no pre-application experience in the field. They are more interested in your mathematics ability, and the first year is more maths than anything else.