Engineering Careers Advice - DS offered Robotics at Bath instead of Mechanical

[CaveyWavey]

Hi,

I'm after some advice and I think there are one or two engineers on here?!

My DS applied for Mechanical Engineering and Bath is his top choice uni in terms of campus etc (he has offers from Southampton, Loughborough and Birmingham, still waiting on Bristol). Bath have come back and said that they were impressed with his application but mechanical is their most competitive course etc. They have offered Robotics instead.

I have asked him why he picked Mechanical over Aerospace and Robotics (which also interest him). He has said that he felt Mechanical was more mainstream and the other two are too niche in terms of employability, jobs available. He doesn't know what he wants to do yet but I guess it will be some form of engineering job as that's what interests him.

So my questions are..

If he studied Robotics would he be able to apply it over various types of engineering work? He is concerned that employers may view a Robotics degree as a step down from Mechanical? I have no idea!

He has looked at the modules in depth and the degree definitely interests him as much as the mechanical degree so it's future prospects he is concerned about. Which degree can be applied more broadly when looking for a job/career? Or are they just too different to compare?

Thanks in advance for any help with this. I'm completely out of my depth here

Can he have a look at the graduate prospects part of the university website and see what graduates of both have gone on to do? See which appeals more?

My DP just did mechanical at Southampton as an adult student so can speak to things there but not student life per se. The first two years are pretty much the same for all the students and it isn't impossible to switch.

For him, he had originally wanted mechanical/ naval and then we had DS and he just wanted to finish so dropped naval and exited with a BEng just in mechanical. He's not working in engineering but in energy and the skills were transferable and they valued his technical background. I'd say he's more in project mgt of technical projects which is where plenty go.

There was a few years of Covid in there but I think he found even when classes resumed less contact hours that he was expecting and it wasn't hands on.

However, he picked a good thesis on a current relevant topic with a supportive faculty member and get a job directly related to that. The hiring manager even knew her and her topic area which helped get him noticed.

Good idea, I'll make sure he looks at all the stats for graduates for each type of engineering degree. Thanks!

Thanks for giving me a little bit of an insight into studying mechanical at Southampton. I will show DS your message. He does really like the look of the course/modules there, just prefers the Bath campus. So Southampton is still an option for him. Hopefully universities are starting to get back to normal and the course will be more hands on than for your DH. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

From my experience in the industry there are a significant number of mechanical graduates on the market but there are far fewer within the electrical/ electronics areas, to the point where it has been highlighted as an area of concern for employers who need these skills (needed them yesterday really)

I would imagine the robotics degree would include mech, elec and software, though the title itself does sound niche it would provide a solid basis for an engineer in terms of integrating all those systems together (I believe employers would recognise this benefit for all engineered systems not just what you would typically think of as a robot)

Ultimately he should do what he enjoys most/ thinks he will do best in, but it’s not a bad idea to look further into the robotics degree (assuming it is accredited)
I’d also recommend looking at engineering graduate schemes and the degrees they accept

Thanks for your reply, you've given my DS a few things to think about. It's good to know that there are fewer electrical eng graduates out there which makes sense as Mechanical is so competitive/over subscribed at all universities. DS has looked at the modules in more detail and you are right, it is not as niche as the title suggests. It is an accredited degree also, so thanks for pointing that out. This is all the stuff that my DS checked when he was first looking but it feels like this is all a bit rushed and could have easily been missed this time! Not really what you want to be doing when exams are so close.

Great idea to take a look at the graduate schemes. I hadn't thought to look that far ahead but it will provide an insight into what employers are looking for.

Thanks again.

Always worth looking at the end of the process / what next https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Explore/top-robotics-engineer-companies_IO.4,21.htm

Can he go back to Bath. Ask them if they are actually refusing him a place on mechanical.

Hi, OP - I am in STEM (Russell Group) with a fairly classical orientation. I found your post intriguing, particularly because on the whole I have a very positive impression of Bath for STEM students. And yet my first reaction, knowing little about Robotics, was slightly sceptical.

Now I have read (just) a bit about it. All of the advice above is good, and I particularly agree that your DS needs to do his own reading about graduate prospects, etc. But my initial take on the field is quite positive. It seems to combine interesting elements of Mech Eng, Elec Eng and Applied CS. I was concerned that it might be a bit niche, but (again, DS must do his own reading) robots are so ubiquitous that this seems wrong. There are applications across multiple sectors. If the course modules appeal to DS I think there is good potential here. Best wishes

Hi, my DS has an offer from Bath for Robotics Engineering (he applied for that) and the course is interdisciplinary, based in the electronic engineering dept but with lots of cross over to computing and mechanical engineering. I'm pleased to hear it is obviously undersubscribed as he stands a better chance of getting in if he doesn't meet the grades!

DS has just been offered Robotics at Bath (after applying for a different Engineering degree). He will turn it down, so more chance for your DS @Cassiusclay! He was unimpressed he has had to wait so many months to hear from Bath an then get offered a different course

I would like to echo what @ramabanana said.

There are plenty of mechanical engineering graduates on the market but there is an acute shortage of electronics engineering graduates. Robotics could fill this shortfall.

@TollgateDebs thanks for the link, we will take a look.

@Oblomov23 that is a good point but I have checked with DS and sadly it does say that they can’t offer him a place for Mechanical.

@poetryandwine thanks for taking a look for me, very kind of you. It’s very helpful to have someone with your experience giving their take on the degree. DS has gone away to read through all of the modules thoroughly and to do some more research on graduate prospects as at the end of the day he’s the only one that can decide. It’s looking quite positive, it has just thrown him off as he hadn’t really looked at Robotics in great detail until now and there’s a lot more topics covered than he realized. I suppose he first started looking when he had only just started A- Levels and their interests change and grow over time. So I think this predicament isn’t as terrible as he first thought!

@Cassiusclay Well done to your DS for being offered a place. That’s a good point about the course being undersubscribed and grades. I’m also thinking smaller class sizes!

@toomuchlaundry I totally understand why your DS would feel that way. It is very annoying that this has happened so close to the exams. Has your DS decided where he is firming and insuring?

@JocelynBurnell Thanks for that, another positive for that field of engineering. Good to hear that from another person as well. He does really like the look of the modules so he just needs to weigh up if he loves mechanical more or same, but just different!

Your dd has a lot to think about. Such a shame it was his fave. But I feel quite differently about unis that do this. I think it's a cheap nasty trick. Why do unis even do this? It's just nasty. You apply for course a. The one you want. Then they come back, basically saying: we are oversubscribed for this course, we don't really want you, you're not quite good enough, but instead we are going to cheerily offer you course b. and hope that you accept. I'd tell them to fxxk the fxxk off. It's just disgraceful.

Am I missing the point. It's hard to put a positive spin on this, cheerily to your dc, isn't it?

I'm sorry OP.

Ive spoken to my husband who’s a mechanical engineer and a senior manager. If your son would like to become a mechanical engineer he advises against the robotics degree. He believes employers prefer subject specific degrees e.g mechanical engineering, electrical engineering.

@Oblomov23 I agree, it does seem unfair of uni’s to do this, especially so close to the deadline and exams. A straight forward rejection would probably have been easier to deal with. You just accept it and move on. DS obviously didn’t make the first cut of offers so it feels like they are cherry picking the next best candidates (knowing the student is really hoping to get an offer from Bath) and offering places on their less popular courses to fill the places so that they don’t go into clearing? I’m hoping it’s not that and that they really liked his PS so are giving him another option to study at Bath. Only the staff that work in admissions can answer that! It just causes unnecessary confusion for them when they should be focusing on exams at this stage. All I can do is help him gather up every bit of info possible so that he can make a good decision for himself.

@Oblomov23 have to say my DS feels a bit like you. He feels Bath have been quite arrogant, making him wait so long (all other offers came within 2 weeks of him submitting his application in December) and then offering him something else

@h3ll0o Thank you, that is really useful to know. I have relayed this to DS and have told him to have a really good think about why he applied for Mechanical engineering in the first place and to look more thoroughly at career paths for both.

But I feel quite differently about unis that do this. I think it's a cheap nasty trick. Why do unis even do this? It's just nasty. You apply for course a. The one you want. Then they come back, basically saying: we are oversubscribed for this course, we don't really want you, you're not quite good enough, but instead we are going to cheerily offer you course b. and hope that you accept. I'd tell them to fxxk the fxxk off. It's just disgraceful.

I agree. As your ds managed to get offers from offers Southampton, Loughborough and Birmingham n his chosen subject, I'd definitely encourage him to choose one of those!

These comments are definitely fair. I must admit we make substitute offers occasionally, although they are closer in content than Mech Eng and Robotics. Also, we get virtually all decisions out within two weeks, so we aren’t keeping anyone’s hopes up for ages before doing this.

We think it’s a way of saying ‘We want you in our School, but you originally applied for our most competitive course and sadly, the standard there is exceptionally high this year. But we have other courses where we can make offers more in line with our published standards and we are happy to do that for you.’

We do get a number of acceptances this way. Do PPs have the same problem with my School’s approach?

No, I don't think there is an inherent problem with substitute offers. As you say, some students take them up. If they are timely and clearly explained they are a good thing. People often seem confused about why they have an alternative offer so maybe UCAS could be set up better to deal with this.

This is a very immature attitude.

Bath have come back and said that they were impressed with his application but mechanical is their most competitive course etc. They have offered Robotics instead.

Bath were unable to make an offer for Mechanical as it is their most competitive course. Instead of an outright rejection, they have offered Robotics instead.

Best case scenario, he is also interested in Robotics and accepts the offer.

Worst case scenario, he is not interested and rejects the offer. At least, he knows that his application was competitive but that the course he applied for was heavily oversubscribed.

I think it's a cheap nasty trick. Why do unis even do this? It's just nasty.
Why such emotive language towards the practice of offering an alternative degree for the student to consider rather than no offer at all? As PPs have said, it is then up to the student to choose what they prefer between their offers.

I think the issue is more that you wait months for a response and then get offered something else

wait months for a response and then get offered something else
The end result after those months could have been a rejection rather than an alternative offer. It is not a ‘trick’ just a slow admissions process