General engineering courses in UK universities

[11plusNewbie]

Hello,
Could anyone recommend some general engineering courses ? I know that Cambridge has one. but hardly a safe bet so looking for other options. Chosen a levels are maths, physics, chemistry and a MFL. Chemistry is the least preferred of the 4, but I think it's due to not putting enough work on it, which is in remedial.
Sounds interested in mechanical engineering, but hasn't got a full grasp of the various sub-disciplines. thanks.

Look at Tomorrow's Engineers

Engineering graduates are highly employable, which means there is a lot of choice. Have you looked on UCAS?

Other unis offering general engineering are Durham, Warwick and Exeter. My DS applied to those along with Cambridge. Interestingly, Warwick gave him an AAB offer which was lower than the others but seemed a good course.

Sheffield, as well as all those mentioned

How about Civil engineering? The technical side of architecture (kind of).

Don't know about general engineering, but when mention engineering, I would think about Imperial college, Southampton is also very good.

@jeanne16 thank you 1 is DS there already ? or starting in sept?

@spotcheck yes looked at UCASE and unis own website. finding it difficult to get my head round it, I didn't study in the UK, and not engineering either. I will look at tomorrow's engineer.

thank you everyone for helpful comments/additions

I'd just check the top 10 courses in the UK, any of them would be likely fine. Then visit the universities as they all have a very different feel. Most general engineering courses let you specialise in later years (I did!) which means you don't need to be totally set on one at the start.

I know that Cambridge has one. but hardly a safe bet so looking for other options. Chosen a levels are maths, physics, chemistry and a MFL.

Cambridge pretty much requires Further Maths if the school offers it (and if not then at least the AS I think), so definitely a good idea to look elsewhere if it's not being taken.

I think jeannes DS was the same cohort as my DD, so graduated last summer. DDs other UCAS choices were all for Electrical & Electronic eng. not General though, as she knew that was what she wanted to specialise in (shes thoroughly enjoying working in electronics design now). The other unis included Southampton, Manchester and Sheffield which are all very good for various branches of engineering. Bristol is too but she wasn't taken with it at the Open day. Loughborough is also a good solid uni for engineering courses, usually with slightly lower offers than some of the others. Do you have any idea of predicted grades for your DC?

I just noticed this is under Secondary Education - you may get a few more responses if you ask MNHQ to move it to the Higher Education board.

Also, I meant to add - I think some unis have a common first year for most of their engineering students (maybe not chemical) before specialising, even if they don't do 'general engineering' as such. That sort of course might also be appropriate for someone who is undecided on the specific field.

@ErrolTheDragon that would be very helpful, we will look at it closely
@Isonthecase thanks did you do/start a 4 year course or a 3 year course ? I think the 4 year course have potentially more room for delayed specialisation.

Birmingham is one example of a shared first year. They seem to have a big emphasis on a multi-disciplinary approach. It looks as though students can specify one branch from the outset or just 'engineering' if they're unsure.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/engineering/courses/undergraduate.aspx

@ErrolTheDragon thanks so much, feeling slightly overwhelmed with the breath of choice, but hopefully once we get into the swing of it, it will feel less dauting.

I think it does make sense to have multi-disciplinary approach

Engineering is such a broad field, with need for so many types that both multi disciplinary and highly specialised engineers makes sense! And alongside that there's a huge range of good courses from those needing very hard maths to more practical ones, all sorts of A level/B tec requirements.

So while that can make it a bit overwhelming, it means there should be something for anyone who wants to enter the field!

I did a 3 year course, couldn't get my head around the idea of paying to do a master's when most major employers will cover the cost of at least the required modules to get CEng and pay you for working at the same time. I found work experience most helpful for specialising, alongside courses from places like headstart and RAEng.

The MEng is an integrated masters so it's a 4 year undergraduate degree, one loan. The thing that's definitely worth avoiding (imo) is doing a bachelors and then a separate masters (probably an MSc) which is an additional postgraduate loan.

Afaik most MEng courses let their students stop at the BEng stage so you aren't necessarily committing to doing all 4 years.

Depending on the engineering discipline it's also worth looking at apprenticeships. Mine is in civil engineering and my company paid for my HND, NVQ, and entry fees for the ICE. They also sponsor to degree level should you wish to go that far