Choosing a Uni

[Swimmum1206]

DS is in Y12 and been thinking about University. He knows he wants to go and he knows he wants to study either Mechanical Engineering or Automotive Engineering. He's taking Maths, Chemistry and Physics at A level and predicted good grades.

However, he really doesn't know where he wants to go. We live within walking distance of Hertfordshire Uni, but it's far too close to home for him! He's always been interested in Loughborough due to the swimming (he's a high level competitive swimmer), but other than that he really doesn't know where else to look.

How does anyone actually choose where to go for open days? He's just been to the UCAS fair at Excel and apparently it wasn't any help to him. He's also looked online at various websites, but isn't getting much from that.

When I went to Uni, I just knew I wanted to go to Manchester and chose a course from there!!

Any advice will be gratefully received!

Mech often goes hand in hand with auto and aero and the first year of study is mostly common to all.

Investigate which unis will allow you to swap courses as your interests develop.

Also to become chartered the degree will need to be accredited with the appropriate professional body e.g. IMECHE. And you should opt for the Integrated Masters, which is a 4-year taught course, 5 if you opt for a year in industry.
You can usually opt to graduate with a Bachelors after 3 years if not going down the professional engineer route.

Some suggestions to look into:
Bath
Loughborough
Sheffield
Leeds
Imperial
Cambridge
Bristol
Southampton
Durham
Exeter
Oxford Brookes (motorsport)
And no doubt some Scottish unis, but I'm not familiar with them.

@Swimmum1206
The advice from @Swimmum1206 is very good.

I might swerve auto engineering because it’s narrow. Jobs are not necessarily easy to get. Mechanical is much broader and the 4 year MEng allows for interests to be followed in y3/4. It’s a better bet.

Imperial and Durham and Cambridge are elite but without FM, probably not sensible choices. Therefore he needs to be aware many mechanical engineers have FM at elite universities. Plenty of others are in reach though!! Sheffield is a bit easier to get into (AAB) and absolutely brilliant for engineering. So look at which universities tend to recruit students with FM and discount them. Look at who’s happy with maths and physics.

I would add in Southampton, Newcastle, Surrey and Manchester. Many universities have swimming clubs.

If he’s not certain to get AAB for MEng, look at BEng. Usually lower offers and he can swap to MEng if he’s good enough. Very many universities offer great mechanical engineering courses but start with the universities mentioned if his A level predictions match up. If not, there are others which were the old polytechnics (now post 92 like Hertfordshire). They usually have lower offers but grads are employable.

This is from a few years back now but a good friend of mines DD went to Loughborough. At school she was extremely sporty but found that she wasn't good enough to compete at Loughborough as the level was too high.

If your DS wants to compete for the uni, Loughborough might not be the best choice.

@NetballHoop
I agree with that. Maybe better to look for swimming clubs. Sheffield has Ponds Forge for example. City of Leeds in Leeds?

uni comparison websites can be a good place to start. We used https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings
Some of them you can choose by area/ranking/grades required/campus/non campus etc. Have a bit it a browse and make a list.

It is a two part process. Google top universities for mechanical engineering and make a list of them. The link Cherry supplied is a good start. If you just want to help him start just look at a 3 year mech eng degree, so type into google the university name followed by H300 which is the UCAS code for mech eng 3 year degree.

Then you have to work out which unis he can apply to grades wise. You have said good grades but what is he predicted at the moment or working towards? Loughborough would be AAB and Dh went there and did a mech eng degree in the early 90s. We have recently visited Loughborough uni for our year 12 child but for a different degree. It is a fantastic uni, massive campus, great feeling of belonging with halls of residence sports teams either playing or supporting and incredible facilities for sport.

I would suggest an excel sheet and tabs for each uni. Lots of videos on YouTube from the uni itself and students about the uni or the course. It all depends what he feels comfortable with, campus or city. Depending on the uni list he may not want to be hundreds of miles from home, cost of accommodation may be a factor, he may rule in or out London or Scottish unis. When he narrows it down he can then plan any visits. Most open days take place when the students are not there which can give a very different feel to the place especially campus unis. But he can go over the summer holidays to visit the towns/cities/campuses and have a walk round.

Also ask questions here too about anything specific for specific unis. Good luck.

Does he know what he wants to do after university @Swimmum1206? If he definitely wants to get into motorsport, then the place to go is Oxford Brookes as @redspottedmug mentioned – forget the fact that it's not an RG university, its automotive options are the best in the UK for a specific reason.

If he's less sure, then I agree with everything @TizerorFizz has said. Manchester is very good for engineering, I gather, though I guess your DS might not want to go the same university as his mum! One of DS's friends who swam at national level went to Sheffield to use Ponds Forge, which is the national training centre.

If you're going to study league tables, look at subject-specific ones, the general ones don't really tell you anything very useful, and nothing about a particular course.

Bath is great for Engineering and swimming. Lots of GB swimmers train there and they have a fab Olympic pool. Definitely worth a look!

I would say to do some research and go to some open days to get a feel for what sort of University he likes. Lots of good advice on The Student Room too. Good luck!

I know nothing about subjects other than Psychology and Law but my two chose their unis by looking at the various league tables and deciding whether that wanted campus or city uni. They both knew they wanted to be no further than 2 hours away and from that drew up a list of unis to go to open days for.

Dc is looking at engineering and after a careers talk by an engineer he's also considering a degree apprenticeship as an alternative. Think will apply for uni and apprenticeship and see what offers are on the table but is currently swayed towards the apprenticeship route.

@Redminionpenguin There are nowhere near enough degree apprenticeships to go round. Great of you can get one but sometimes they are not MEng degrees. BEng limits professional status unless there’s are masters taken afterwards. Always check the small print and what “engineer” actually means regarding CEng qualification.

Also, be careful about auto sport engineering. Yes, a lot of big names are in Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire but there’s not jobs for everyone. In addition, the Motorsport companies employ other engineers with a mechanical background who also specialise in disciplines the companies want.

Look out for degrees offering placement years. So valuable for future career

Quite true @TizerorFizz, the difference is that F1 teams have direct input into the course content at Oxford Brookes, so they know that graduates who have taken those modules will have the specific knowledge/skills they want from Day One.

Of course you're absolutely right that they employ graduates from elsewhere too, but Brookes is still a very good option if you are convinced motorsport is what you want to get into.

@StJulian2023 Placement years can be good but you have to find one. This also makes MEng 5 years. It’s hugely debatable whether it’s worth it. Most engineers are perfectly capable of getting a job without this. If you could do MEng but opt for BEng with placement, you are limiting your progress to CEng.

@Capreedan The DS should look at MEng if he can. BEng is less desirable but if anyone is good enough, they can transfer to MEng.

Majority do placement year where I work 🤷‍♀️ destinations stats are excellent. But yes, 5 years is a long time I guess

@StJulian2023
BEng it’s more common. Less so on MEng. Placement doesn’t help with getting chartered. MEng does that. Plus a grad engineer job of course.

Makes sense 👍

Just to add, some unis offer a Foundation year to prep before joining the degree course, which can be an excellent option for students with lower grades. Also they might offer BEng, but allow continuation to MEng if a student achieves a good grade average.

Placement years are a good option but it is competitive to get one.

I posted a similar thread on here a year ago and got some good advice. My son is keen on automotive engineering . He liked the Loughborough automotive course but it is separate from mechanical engineering. He has chosen Bath as his firm as the first two years are general mechanical then he can choose to specialise or not. He was worried about committing to automotive at Loughborough and then being unable to swap . He did like the university though.
The swimming pool at Bath is 50m and is right on campus.