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[DBaldwin]

im looking to go to university in september on what will be 1 year foundation course (even tho i should get DDD in my diploma!!) and then either 3 or 4 year course wheather i get on the MENG or not. anyway, for those of you who have been to uni, how big a debt did you come out with? according to my calculations i will be running up a bill of around £35k once iv graduated and thats before i add in costs such as food, consumables etc!! i dont think i will be afford to ever go out!

does my debt prediction seem accurate? what debt did you guys come out with?

course fees now are around £1500 for the 1 year foundation course and £3290 (about) per year for the degree course (and that will rise) which will either be 4 or 5 years long (one year will be in work).

is it worth going to uni? do the benefits outweigh the negatives, the HUGE debt. i have always been good with money and in the past have never bought anything untill i had gone out, worked and earnt the money, never wanting to have a debt but it seems i will never be able to earn the money required to cover my university costs. i could be workign 7 days a week during the holidays and working in all my free time at uni and i would be no where near covering the costs.


so my question is, how big was your debt when you left? do you think uni was worth it? how did you manage your debt? (what work did you do)

sorry for the really long post but researching all these costs have got me all worried and wondering weather its all worth it
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[DGorman]

I got in before the top up fees came in, did a 4 year MEng and came out with somewhere just above 20k debt. I don't know an exact number, because it doesn't hugely affect me, i just pay a tiny amount of it back and it barely dents my salary. I only worked one summer, christmas and easter while I was at uni, the rest I just worked into overdraft or took from the Student Loan Company.
I'd definitely go to uni if you
a) Aren't socially inept
b) Actually want to do your course and work in that field
c) Go to a proper uni and do a proper course
If you meet all those criteria, its the best thing you'll ever do bar none

[Kart4fun]

a 35k dept at low interest will seem like small change in 2015 and compared to other "loans" (mortgage, etc) it will be a minor concern.
If you want to work professionally in the Engineering world, then you will need (and hugely benefit) from a degree... preferably followed by an MBA !
But apart from all that... the experience you can have at uni is worth the 35k even if you fail !!

[DBaldwin]

cheers do the info guys

DGorman- where did you do your MENG and what was it in? if you don't mind me asking what job are you doing now?

Kart4Fun- please excuse my ignorance but what is an MBA?
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living the dream!

[DGorman]

I did Mechanical Engineering at Bath, now working at Ricardo (www.ricardo.com) doing engine design, testing and development.
What courses are you looking at?

[DBaldwin]

bloomin ek! ricardo! good on ya

iv recieved offers from the 3 places i applied for so i will hope to be doing an Engineering foundation year at Oxford brookes and following on from that a BENG in motorsport engineering or if im good enough (gunna work my nuts off!) do the MENG in motorsport engineering at Oxford brookes. Iv looked around Coventry, Brooklands, Bath (im at lackham at the moment so their linked with Bath) Oxford Brookes and Bicester and Oxford Brookes seems by far the best.

im having to do the foundation year as the national diploma that im doing at the moment doesn't do further maths for technicians which is needed to go straight onto the BENG/MENG. so having to do the extra year but will hopefully learn lots of new stuff

is there anything you would recommend me doing/ not doing when it comes to getting into the engineering world? im now in my second year of working for a race team running clubs F3 cars and a Morgan in Gt cup aswell as other cars where i am learning loads. im also hoping to get a week or so's experience working for someone who does a lot of composite work. is there anything else i need to get experience in that will help me in the future? im also going to do my HGV test this summer
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[Kart4fun]

MBA = Masters in Business Administration
= the key to management roles.

Its pretty much a prerequisite if you want to go "professional" beyond the shop floor.

[DGorman]

Not sure I agree with Kart4Fun re: doing an MBA. No-one I know in any sector of Engineering, including management, has done one. Clearly it won't harm your CV though

Sounds like you've got the enthusiasm for the industry which is partly what employers look for. Gaining experience in a number of environments wouldn't go amiss, design office, passenger car industry, composite work etc etc. If you can just do a few weeks/summer placement you'll learn loads and it'll make you much more attractive to employers

It all depends where you want to go. I'd not get too hooked up on the word motorsport being in the degree title, although saying that the Brookes course seems to have generally got people where they wanted. What course are you looking at in Bath?

I'd fully recommend an MEng by the way, alot of the companies I looked at didnt consider MEngs below a 2:1 and didnt consider BEngs at all!

[vizard]

Obviously DGorman knows far more than me, but I noticed you're considering brookes.....I'm a first year on their BEng motorsport engineering course, so any questions you have, fire away mate!!

oh and FYI, oxford is mega-bucks. it is rather ridiculous!halls work out at around £100 a week (very ish-depends where you are), but student finance this year works out at £75 a week!Without another source of funds, you are 25 quid out of pocket per week, without eating, drinking (v important), or well...you get the idea.
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[DBaldwin]

DGorman- i was looking at the foudation degree (motorsport engineering) at lakcham which then leads on to hons bsc at bath but its not really what im looking for. the course at brookes seems to be focused a lot more at engineering and a much "better", worthwhile degree. because of my diploma that im doing now i have to do a foundation year whatever im doing

vizard- your going to regret saying that as your going to get a lot of q's coming your way yea, we'd figured that out about the costs

whats your timetable like? is it a pretty full timetable or do you have a lot of free time on your hands? is it really hard work or are you coping fine? what did you do before going on to the course? how much practical do you get/ if any? have you joined in with the formula student and if so, is it worth it? also is there anything else you think i need to know before joining the course?

any info is helpful, cheers for the replies
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[Kart4fun]

[vizard]

Hi Dave

Timetable-as first years go, engineering is generally considered one of the 'harder' courses, we do actually have some lectures haha.At brookes, engineering is at Wheatley campus along with business and such-like, most of the business people i've spoken to have only 8hours of leccys a week, we have that on a monday!! Mondays and tuesdays are quite hectic, towards the end of the week it calms down. Lab days are usually done on friday, there are so many of us there are lots of sets for labs.eg. i am in run 1 set 5, so i follow a completely different timetable of fridays to someone in say set 2. There are practical sessions for the main modules, which is something vaguely related to the subject, mostly v boring, for which you submit a report afterwards.
You will be given 4 days of "autolab" which is effectively playing with car bits. The level of interest for people varies hugely here, some havent seen a spanner before, some (like me) havent played with cars/engines before (minor things), and of course others have worked on cars since they were 4 and are falling asleep all the time!

In terms of work, most modules really are ok, it depends on what you find difficult though. Just so you know, the diploma people seem to struggle slightly more with the maths/mechanics side of things, perhaps its worth doing an extra maths course or something? On the diploma note, I know a couple of people with DDD in diplomas, and they are given 2k a year! worth looking into! The three bigger modules are Maths, Mechanics and Thermo-fluids, but we also do graphics, materials and a management module in semester 1/electronics in semester 2.

Formula student, was accepted into the team then offered roles to which as a first year I would be absolutely no use whatsoever, So basically no I don't do it. To say Brookes is one of the better teams, it seems very disorganised and disjointed, I understand they are quite far behind atm. There is alot of hierarchy within the team, 1st years struggle to get any kind of proper look-in, which is fair enough really, just keep it in mind.

Can't really think of much else Dave, hope all that helps mate, good luck!

oh while I think about it, make sure you remember a pen-some consider it essential
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[rushy]

thanks dave! asked all the questions i wanted to find out haha.

While your at it andrew, did you go through 6 form? if you did, what sort of grades/points are needed?

Also, i cant seem to find a Meng course at bath DGorman? are you aware if it is still being ran?
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[DBaldwin]

yea there is a course at bath. just google MENG engineering bath.

where are you goin to uni then jamie?
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[DGorman]

MEng Mechanical Engineering I did, definitely still runs. Its the main engineering course at Bath (and the rest of the UK, for that matter). I'm pretty sure entry criteria for it is AAA at A level in Phys, Math and something else

Vizard you had it hard times! We had 2 or 3 hours of lectures a day (of which I probably attended 25%) and about 6-8 hours of tutorials/practicals a week and that was it!

At Bath, if you consider it, Formula Student is 3rd and 4th year only. Freshers aren't trusted because, as everyone knows, Freshers know d*ck about sh*t. It's also pretty much entirely done in spare time rather than as work. Saying that, I would recommend it 100%. It ranks among the best things I've ever done in terms of friends, knowledge, experience and memories gained

Dave, I don't know much about the Bsc at Bath, but if it's not the MEng at Bath I probably wouldn't recommend it.