Why are engineering degree courses suddenly all wanting AAA

[CatM1nt]

Looking at next years entry and I’m sure some were AAB previously when we looked.

Discoveruni website is a good resource to see graduate outcomes and achievements, may be useful for shortlisting

That discover uni website is great. Thanks. My son is about to go to a Polyversity type to do engineering. He got rubbish results and just scraped is 80 point tarrif offer. He was very lazy during lockdown and none of this was unexpected.

The discover uni comparisons indicate that there is little difference between his uni and the Russell groups in terms of pay and employment 5 years offer. Some seem to have lower numbers in employment, others higher but not by much. Pay seems slightly higher by a grand or so, but nothing major.

If he doesn't get his As, there are other options and it won't be the end of the world. Tbh if he gets ABB there's a v high chance he would get in an RG uni via clearing anyway.

Engineering, whichever route he takes offers a pretty solid career route with great pay. He'll be fine.

DD2 is working with a friend who graduated in mechanical engineering from Swansea last year - slightly lower grades and a good reputation. I believe Coventry is good for automotive engineering - a lot of car industry round the midlands.

@Bryonyshcmyony

I remember applying to Exeter in 1987 and needing AAB to do English. Same with St Andrews

I was at a very underperforming comp

Now that's harsh if you want an example of unfair offers. I know those are strong English departments, but even so!

There can't have been many people making those grades in the 80s regardless of school background. I was late 90s but even then AAB was the level in my (very academically strong) private school that got a leavers award! And everyone was talking about grade inflation even in the late 90s.

I don't remember being surprised by it (got into Cambridge anyway )

English has always been a bit crazy :) But then my Cambridge offer was AAB (although I doubt they offered to many people who weren't predicted AAA+, certainly I didn't know anyone with less than AAA on my course. It was nice knowing I could have a bad day in one subject. The A A A* offers now must be scary.

@hellsbells99

DD2 is working with a friend who graduated in mechanical engineering from Swansea last year - slightly lower grades and a good reputation. I believe Coventry is good for automotive engineering - a lot of car industry round the midlands.

Swansea university is fab! and their engineering and computer science departments are state of the art . They have invested thousands in their STEM departments in the last 5yrs or so and like you said, they don’t ask for the slightly over the top grades top Unis do. They are making quite a name for themselves in engineering. What you said about Coventry is also true.

@Trake don't necessarily agree with everything op has said but why did you spend upwards of £9000 pa if there are no obvious advantages of going to a private school ? Bit disingenuous to imply there are none.
We live in a relatively poor town in the NW. Our local private school is by no means Eton but the students there go without nothing. It's a whole different world sadly. Please don't conflate the achievements of those very fortunate students with those attending relatively disadvantaged state schools. Sure your son sought out voluntary work in a charity shop but let's be honest it was purely to bump up his CV

[quote Effybriest]@Trake don't necessarily agree with everything op has said but why did you spend upwards of £9000 pa if there are no obvious advantages of going to a private school ? Bit disingenuous to imply there are none.
We live in a relatively poor town in the NW. Our local private school is by no means Eton but the students there go without nothing. It's a whole different world sadly. Please don't conflate the achievements of those very fortunate students with those attending relatively disadvantaged state schools. Sure your son sought out voluntary work in a charity shop but let's be honest it was purely to bump up his CV [/quote]
The advantages are academic

Show me a teen who is working in a charity shop as a volunteer for any other reason than bumping up cv/D of e!

[quote Effybriest]@Trake don't necessarily agree with everything op has said but why did you spend upwards of £9000 pa if there are no obvious advantages of going to a private school ? Bit disingenuous to imply there are none.
We live in a relatively poor town in the NW. Our local private school is by no means Eton but the students there go without nothing. It's a whole different world sadly. Please don't conflate the achievements of those very fortunate students with those attending relatively disadvantaged state schools. Sure your son sought out voluntary work in a charity shop but let's be honest it was purely to bump up his CV [/quote]
I think you need to read more carefully. I haven’t implied that at all, The smaller class sizes are very attractive and so are the excellent facilities but OP seems not to recognise her own dc’s privileges in the context of her thread. Whilst it’s not private schooling (she still hasn’t said what type of school her dc goes to). Her dc has a lot going for them and she should focus on that instead of her imagined connections and wonderful work experiences she thinks everyone private school child has.
Private school students work hard as well! I mentioned my DS doing voluntary work precisely because it was the only way he could get work experience! That was in response to OP harping on about ‘connections’ and ‘work experience’ implying my DS would have free access to fantastic work opportunities through those connections.

Good luck to all the state school kids doing voluntary work for purely altruistic reasons lol! How dare they use it to bump up their CV!

@Trake you pays your money, you get that one step above the 90 odd percent of us that can't afford private education. Your kids don't have to mix with the plebs and risk having their education disrupted by unruly oiks let's be honest . The only exposure my son has had to a private schooling was using their swimming facilities. In the sports complex the wealth of opportunities available to these kids was enviable, visits by well known authors, a cricket holiday course with Andy Flintoff overseeing, ex pupils/local businessmen coming in to discuss career opportunities. What stands out is the care and supervision these children benefit from. My oldest son received very little assistance with his UCAS form, minimal advice regarding careers apart from the expectation that he would go to uni regardless of his wishes, basically left to flounder. Maybe I'm being a bit idealistic but I can well imagine that one of his peers at a private school would not just be a number...

Finally! Your gripe is with private schooling itself rather than anything to do with the OP. Thanks for clarifying that at last.

Not sure what the 'list' is that you have been looking at for entry requirements, which doesn't also link to the relevant university / course web page to look at the course content, but both the UCAS and whatuni search tools do. On the former, you can filter by the tariff point equivalent under 'entry requirements' (AAB = 136). On the latter, you can filter by A level grades.

digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/results/providers?studyYear=2022

www.whatuni.com/degree-courses/search?q=engineering-

I don't know whether anyone has also mentioned that some uni's offer a lower grade requirement for putting them "firm". Grades required can slip from AAA to AAB if you put them down as first choice.

Final word on private school bashing. Both my girls highly selective private schools, and their boyfriends too, have historically always performed at 70%+ A's/A*'s. It is not something just confined to this year.

Yes but that is just for their schools

Over all, grade inflation in private schools this year has been much more significant than in state schools.

@MarleneDietrichsSmile

Yes but that is just for their schools

Over all, grade inflation in private schools this year has been much more significant than in state schools.

It depends on how you look at the numbers. You can look at "point" or "percentage". Point wise, there is a bigger gap, but that's due to the percentage of a percentage being a bigger number.

Percentage wise, they have actually risen at pretty much the same rate. State schools 20% to 39%, Indies 44% to 70%, so by this measure state schools have risen more, almost doubling, but the gap has widened, because the indies were ahead already.

schoolsweek.co.uk/a-levels-2021-results-private-schools-state/

Here is a link

Thanks for that. Very interesting.

schoolsweek.co.uk/a-levels-2021-results-private-schools-state/

the headline is misleading? The jump in A grades at private schools (2019 - 2021) is not as large as some other categories such as comprehensives.

Engineering teacher here, have you thought about going the apprentice route? You can study at degree level and earn at the same time. One of my students did this through Rolls Royce and is now earning double my wage I had to work for 15 years to get my wage! Many engineering roles look for experience over qualifications. What type of engineering are you thinking of? If you are unsure I would highly recommend anything in CAD/CAM, renewable energy, Artificial Intelligence, these are developing areas with a serious lack of qualified/experienced people in our country. You need to think about job security, don't go for areas that are saturated with people. Good luck xx

Mechanical engineering at Coventry Univ is also professionally accredited. Friend's DS went there through clearing and had a great time. Walked straight into a well paid role with Jaguar Land Rover having done a placement there.

My DS sounds very similar to yours - both his Grandad's are engineers and his Dad works in an engineering field. My DS completely discounted going to Uni because he knew he wan't going to get the grades (he actually ended up with two As and a C). He's a highly practical person. He's doing an apprenticeship now which will get him the degree for nothing and he'll be on £40k after his 3 years. Try for a degree apprenticeship if you can - it's a great alternative.

OP - long story short, but if it's any consolation to you, my DS applied post-results this year for Mech Eng with AAC (Maths, Physics, Chem). He got unconditional offers from both Exeter and Cardiff. For non-RG unis he considered and visited (well ... looked at from the outside ... it was last December!) both Swansea and Guildford. Both of which seemed great, especially Swansea which we have heard nothing but good about (for Engineering at least). I really don't think there's reason to despair.

.. I forgot to add ... this was from a relatively low-achieving state school, so I guess that may or may not have 'helped' his application ...

DS1 is going into second year in engineering at a RG uni this year. He was accepted with ABC!