Glasgow uni switch from BEng to MEng

[yoyo1234]

If you have an offer to do a bachelor of Engineering but want to do a masters of Engineering is it difficult to switch on the course? Sorry if used wrong initials at start of post.

Integrated masters are treated as undergraduate and SAAS will fund the 5 years for a Scottish student.

Not sure how the switch from 4 to 5 year course works for funding, I suspect you would just put through as a change of course, but worth checking.

From the SFE Student Finance Zone on TSR:

As a general rule, a Tuition Fee Loan is available for the full length of your first course, plus one extra year if needed...
www.thestudentroom.co.uk/student-finance/course-age-and-previous-study

Also, as far as I can see, the only mention of a maximum number of years funding on the government.uk site is 16 years for those claiming for part time study.

@yoyo1234
Is this a similar position to the Law course at Edinburgh? Limited numbers due to overseas of disadvantaged candidates being preferred? There is another thread about this.

Normally moving to MEng is straightforward, if good enough, after y1. Y1 is shared anyway.

Depends on grades achieved in first two years. There is normally a lot of movement between BEng and MEng in both directions. And always has been. Not remotely connected to the Edinburgh Law issue @TizerorFizz mentioned. One of my DC was at Glasgow on a B/MEng degree, and moved from M to BEng. Useless looking at any SFE info for fees - Scotland has a separate fee awarding body, SAAS. And MEng is an undergraduate degree in Scotland for fee purposes.

Also just to clarify further, it does depend on grades in the first two years, as opposed to just Year 1, as the BEng is a 4 year degree in Scotland and the first 2 years are the pre-Honours years.

When I graduated from Glasgow uni in the 90s, my degree paperwork stated it was a Master of Arts. It was the standard 4 year Honours course. I always just list it as B.A on my CV as I had too many people questioning it. Have I undersold myself?

@Soopermum1 you are underselling yourself. Your degree is your degree.

A Master of Arts (MA) is the name some of the ancient universities use for an undergraduate arts/humanities degree in Scotland. It is equivalent to a conventional undergraduate degree. It is not the same as an 5 year integrated masters where an additional year is spent at masters level.

This might explain better -
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/student-life/academic/degree-structure/degree-names

Yes, you can put it on your cv as MA (Hons) and most employers understand what it means.

@SoilTiller
So you know exactly what students are offered this MEng at Glasgow then? You know that’s it’s definitely not filled with other categories of students that prevent the OP’s DS not getting a place but being offered the BEng course? How?

My DS started on the BEng at another uni , it was possible to switch either way until the end of first semester of Third year. I think you just needed to be heading for a 2:1. (if you fall below a 2:2 in any of your year 4 units you fail, the lowest MENG pass grade is 2:2) With the change of course there isn't an issue with student finance as you change onto a course which is a year longer and therefore you can access a year extra finance. An MEng is an undergraduate degree. My DS found he was spending his 4th year in classes that were a mix of MSc and MEng students. The difference was the funding and that the MSc students did a project over the summer months while the MEng students finished in June. Many graduate jobs ask for either an MEng or MSc at a 2:1 or above.

@mushroom MEng students get professionally qualified much more quickly. Hence BEng is the slow route. It’s a two tier system.

DS would only wish to go if he can upgrade to MEng. In some ways application is very influenced by competition for funded places to Scottish students. He avoided applying to certain Unis due to it. I also do wonder if underlying funding issue is linked with the Bachelors rather than Masters offer. I think he is good academically and could cope with masters.

I think he is good academically and could cope with masters.

If he's got a Cambridge offer then I should think so, presumably he's predicted A stars including FM. They only offer the MEng anyway, just a few finish after 3 years with a bachelors instead for whatever reason.

@yoyo1234
What other offers has he got? Are you Scottish? If you are prepared to pay for Cambridge, why not another top English university?

DS is scottish. He has Bath, Cambridge, Glasgow. Cambridge appears to be far cheaper for accommodation. DS loves Imperial but I'm worried about cost there.

I have been very much educated by this thread!

There’s also the option of doing a separate masters. I did a BSc Civil Engineering then a MSc Structural Engineering. The uni I did my undergrad at didn’t offer MEng but was great for practical hands on learning…I then did my MSc at Dundee a) to have proof that I could handle the in depth technical theory cause I wanted a job in a consultancy type of company, and b) to give me the route into chartership.

There’s also the option of doing a separate masters.

Yes, but as mentioned it's much more expensive, two loans to service.

..sorry, forgot the OPs DS is Scottish - don't know how it works for them!

@yoyo1234
Why only 3? I would have thought using the 5 options would have been sensible.

Yes Imperial has higher living costs but your loan is higher too. It’s world class. I would have looked at Strathclyde, Manchester, Bristol and Sheffield too. Living out at Cambridge is expensive if required.

These days, with integrated masters, most students who are very bright get onto these courses. Other than the way the best universities in Scotland work their finances around paying students, it seems very odd he’s been offered the BEng when Cambridge have accepted him.

Living out at Cambridge is expensive if required.

But it very rarely is required for undergrads. There's just a few colleges which only provide 3 years college accommodation, they're the exception. (College accommodation may include rooms in college houses or flats but not a normal commercial rent). Actually, dd chose to live out in her 4th year because of covid, 5 pals in a small house, iirc it wasn't more expensive than I've heard of elsewhere.

@TizerorFizz

Sorry, when I said "he has" I was referring to where he has offers from. He also applied to Bristol and Imperial. He looked around and loved Imperial. He has had exams and an interview (again really enjoyed!) for Imperial. I think Imperial is a first choice contender for him (if he gets an offer).

I wanted him to choose more Scottish Unis (not Edinburgh or St. Andrews). He researched and chose which ones ro apply. He gas not really chased up Glasgow (they've emailed him a lot) as he very soon had an offer from Bath for MEng.

My DD started on the BEng at Glasgow, as other posters have said, the BEng & MEng students follow the same course until 3rd year. If your grades are good you can progress to MEng for 4th and 5th year, if your grades are low you do the BEng and graduate after 4 years. It made no difference whether you started as an MEng or BEng student. She joined as a BEng as that way she had an unconditional offer after 5th year and could enjoy her 6th year. She graduated with a first class MEng.

Youngest is doing engineering at Strathclyde, entered the course at bachelors but has changed to masters at the end of 1st year due to grades.

they chose Strathclyde over Glasgow due to how modern the uni is, the central situation , ease of transport and other students opinion on Strathclyde.

@HeadNorth that's brilliant 👏 . Well done to your daughter.