Help ds decide by 4 pm today - UCAS Clearing Manchester Civil Engineering v Loughborough Aeronautical Engineering

[blueshoes]

Ds has got his A level results this morning: Maths A Physics A Economics B.

Being a serial mind changer, he went into Clearing to change courses from Economics to do Engineering.

He got verbal/email offers this morning from Manchester MEng, Birmingham BEng, Nottingham MEng for Civil. He also got verbal offers from Loughborough BEng, QMUL MEng for Aerospace/Aeronautical and from Southampton BEng for Aerospace Electronic. He also got a verbal offer from Sheffield BEng for Mechatronic and Robotic.

Ds is mostly considering beteen Manchester MEng Civil v. Loughborough BEng Aeronautical.

He prefers Aero as an engineering course but the 'best' uni by name (I know that is subjective) is Manchester which is civil. He has no burning desire to be any particular type of engineer except that Aero sounds more interesting to him and apparently has higher pay though I am not sure about job prospects if he is not top tier.

He is considering accepting civil and either trying to swap to Aero/Mech after first year at Manchester (anyone with experience of Manchester Engr?) or swap down into BEng and do a masters in Mech or Aero in his final year at Manchester.

Would welcome people's perspectives on his strategy at Manchester, job prospects (engineering and broader) for the various courses, pay, ease/difficulty of course.

Ds has ADHD but medicated and well managed.

All perspectives are very welcome. Thank you all who responded on my previous threads. Your answers are still very much duly noted.

Can't speak to the course details, but they are very different environments. I went to Loughborough, the whole place is very sporty, the campus culture revolves around it. It's a small town, and there is a town vs gown vibe. However it's a nice campus, accom is good, easy to get out into the country, if you are sporty there's every opportunity to take part.

Manchester is a big city, there's no campus as such, there's loads of shopping and amenities.

My daughter went to Manchester and did well, but it's very much sink or swim. Not much support. Even on moving in day at the first year student halls, there was no welcome, no direction and you just had to find anywhere to park, no signposting where to go and get your keys etc. The university is right in the city, not a campus at all, although some of the accommodation is on a campus a bus ride from the university.

I would choose Loughborough if there is any indication that he might need a more supportive type of university. I went there for my masters and they do seem to look after their students more. The campus is lovely and there is plenty of accommodation on campus or a short walk away.

Loughborough is highly regarded for Engineering, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I can't speak for all engineering courses at Loughborough but when my DS was applying for a different engineering discipline to start last year the member of staff that he spoke to basically told him to apply for the BEng because it reduces the pressure on A level results and that he'd be able to swap to the MEng before the end of 2nd year if his performance was good enough on the course anyway. He actually chose somewhere else in the end but the same kind of thing applies on his current course, so I would think it is reasonably common.
I would say that Manchester and Loughborough will be very different student experiences though. It was mainly the Loughborough campus that put my DS off actually, though there were some things regarding the course that he wasn't 100% happy about too. He wanted to live in a big city so opted for somewhere where he is literally in the city centre and absolutely loves it. Manchester is definitely not a campus University in the same way as places like Loughborough, Warwick, Lancaster etc are and if your DS wants campus based student life then Loughborough would probably suit him better. It's a lovely location and has a very good reputation for engineering. I thought it had a lot of plus points and I'd have been happy enough if DS had chosen to go there but it just wasn't what he wanted. I do think that it is important that young people are happy with where they are living as far as possible as 3 or 4 years is a long time and unhappiness can definitely impact on academic performance as well as of course their general well being. I don't think either a campus or city centre set up is intrinsically better, but different things suit different people. Obviously the choice of course is the number 1 thing but if your DS has a strong preference for one or other type of University I wouldn't ignore that.

@NotMeNoNo Glad to hear about project management opportunities for engineers with APM qualifications.

@malcolmmoo thanks for your perspective. You are not wrong. MEng is, I understand, for chartered.

@stripedpillowcase and @Mrsavocet appreciate your thoughts on the student experience and environment at LB v. Manchester. Ds is neutral and not hung up about city v campus. Coming from London, he was initially attracted to the novelty of a campus but he would also enjoy the attractions of a city like Manchester. If there are vintage shops, he is in! The sporty vibe at LB is great but in his case not an advantage as he is not a sporty rugger sort.

@almostwelsh it is worrying about the sink or swim aspect of Manchester. I hope he does not struggle with his ADHD. He took so long to tell us of his issues he literally got diagnosed only 10 days before his first A level paper. Medication for him is key and he is arranging to get repeat prescriptions from his GP so as to manage the condition consistently.

Think long term. My DS is at one of the Unis mentioned doing Civil (he loves it). He says there are around 90 students on the Civil course, with 300 on the aero course- just at his uni. He thinks the Aeros engineers will have a harder time finding employment after uni just due to the sheer numbers of them.

Re the comment on Employment - a lot of aero jobs are in the defence sector which successive governments realise needs to be kept in the UK both for security and because of working with the military.

Great to hear that your DS has some good engineering options, and did well in his A-levels - congrats to him.

Re the Further Maths, I mentioned a while ago about getting the books and studying this - has DS done any studying?
Might be a useful indicator re his interest in Aero/Mechanical rather than just liking the sound of them.
He will be starting on the back foot compared to many (not all) having not studied FM. If he has the motivation and work ethic to pick this up so he can quickly catch up, then he should be fine.

This is a good point. Good if you're happy to work in the defence sector, bad if you're not. My brother was in the aeronautical industry for his whole working life (avionics specifically) but he didn't want to work on any military applications and left a few companies for ethical reasons. He was never out of work but it did limit his options.

Op, what have you/your DS decided?

Ds has accepted Civil MEng at Manchester 😁

Whilst I was agonising for him between LB and Manchester, he was picking out accommodation at Manchester He seems settled with his choice.

I reported back what you all said. He is cool and thanks you all. Me too! Thanks @AlohaRose for asking and all of you again for the support and intelligence. Mn is such a great resource.

@MrsAvocet and @TreesOfGreen99 I would have liked ds to join the defence sector. He is happy to work in that sector, I think, but I appreciate the ethical concerns some people like MrsAvocet, your brother have. It is good to know your brother was never out of work in avionics.

@TreesOfGreen99 Ds has got the OCR F Maths textbook and has promised me he will be studying between now and the start of uni. I suspect there will have to be some nagging on my part. He was too busy prepping for Clearing on Results Day and his holiday job to crack open the pages but hopefully once his accommodation is settled will have the headspace to start prepping for uni.

@thebigyearahead great to hear your ds loves Civil. I am excited for ds to be doing it. Interesting about the differential in numbers between students doing Aero v Civil. From stalking the unis ahead of clearing, Aero seems to be one of the most popular courses and is the course in all the unis, along with Mechanical, that is the least likely to go into clearing. That probably explains the bigger intake.

Congratulations @blueshoes DS, I hope he has a wonderful time in Manchester and enjoys his course.
Thanks for updating!

I’m not going to respond to the anti-defence post, except to say that we have people close to us who are in the military and I’m relieved that some of the brightest and smartest engineers are working to keep them (and by extension, us) safe.

Congrats to him @blueshoes
Manchester is a great place to be student. All the best people go there. 😉

DS showed great initiative, OP. That’s a good sign in itself! Best wishes to him

Great! I don’t think there was a ‘wrong’ choice here - he’s made a good solid rational decision.

Congratulations, hope he enjoys it.

Congratulations @blueshoes‘ son.
I’m a civil engineer, via a circuitous route. I’ve loved my career, and the industry is constantly changing to adopt new tech and address new challenges. Good luck!

Appreciate the well wishes and support for ds's decision. You lot are a fantastic bunch ❤

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads nice to hear from another happy civil engineer. Lots for ds to get stuck into with the new tech and challenges.

Late to the party @blueshoes but well done to DS and great choice with Manchester. Hope he has a great time (and I speak as a Lboro mum haha – I am sure he will love Manchester, it is a great uni with many many opportunities). Best wishes to him.