Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Discussion and advice on University Education

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by SteveDH »

Basically how much difference to you average employer does having an engineering degree from Cambridge make compared to getting it from another good uni?
ta
Steve
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by Guest55 »

Worth looking at degrees with a year in industry at the moment.
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by Tinkers »

Guest55 wrote:Worth looking at degrees with a year in industry at the moment.

Would agree. Certainly my employer would certainly consider experience more important than an Oxbridge degree, as long as they have a decent degree from a decent university.

Sometimes you can even be lucky enough to be offered employment after graduation. Certainly one summer student I had working for me last summer will not have to go through our graduate application and assessment. If she wants a job she will be given one.
SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by SteveDH »

some uni's prefer you to just have summer placements as aposed to a year out, what are your thoughts regarding that.

interestingly Southampton I think, is planning to do something where your year in industry counts towards your degree, but because of this they'll want you to pay fees for that year, although at present you can get your usual paid year out there..
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by Tinkers »

Pros and cons to both.
A complete year out may indeed mean you still have to pay tuition fees for that year, (not sure on that one), but you get a full year, potentially a bit more, to really get involved and work on a longer project or several. Some companies will ensure you get a varied experience during the year.

Summer placements offer less experience time and this may restrict the sort of work you could do in that time, but potentially you could try a different company every summer and get a different range of experience. It could also help with deciding what areas/industries appeal.

Of course potentially you could do a year out, but have a placement during the other summer breaks.

All experience is good, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time. I spent 6 months blending marine lubricants, :roll: but I learnt to be methodical and precise during that time.

I don't know if anywhere still does them but I did what is called a thin sandwich course. Instead of taking a year out I actually did 3 placements of 6 months each. I ended up working for one of the companies after I graduated, and another wanted to offer me a job (thankfully not the marine lubes job).

Another important thing is to do a masters course. These days you need that to get chartered, unless you want to make things more difficult for yourself later. (There are other routes, but since the changes have been made since I became chartered I'm not sure what it involves these days.)
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by Guest55 »

In the year out usually you pay a nominal course fee (£1000 ish) and you do get paid ...
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by KB »

The Cambridge course does require a significant amount of hands on experience as part of the course - its not just academic - and it is one of the courses where tutors see the benefit of a 'gap' year where it has been spent gaining experience (there are several formal schemes for this as well ).
So it doesn't have to be a choice between Cambridge or getting work experience.

Imperial is regarded as highly as Cambridge and there are other Universities that rank very highly for different specialisms.

It is also important to get a 2.1 for applying to Masters or graduate entry places and this is harder to achieve at Cambridge than most other places, so worth thinking about.

The days of waving your Oxbridge degree and being dragged in by a plethora of employers are sadly (?) gone so I would advise a potential student to look at the whole package and think about where they personally will best succeed rather the being swayed by the kudos of Cambridge.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by hermanmunster »

Guest55 wrote:In the year out usually you pay a nominal course fee (£1000 ish) and you do get paid ...

From 2014 the fee payable for the year out will be 15% of the annual fee at English Univeristies. Scottis Universities haven't decided yet. The fee can be added to the loan from 2014 (used not to be)
SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Re: Cambridge engineering degree vs other good uni

Post by SteveDH »

KB wrote:The Cambridge course does require a significant amount of hands on experience as part of the course - its not just academic - and it is one of the courses where tutors see the benefit of a 'gap' year where it has been spent gaining experience (there are several formal schemes for this as well ).
So it doesn't have to be a choice between Cambridge or getting work experience.
For Cambridge I note that quite a few colleges almost require you to have a gap year.

Interestingly another university (can't remember which one) stated on their open day that they prefer an industrial placement after your 2nd year rather then a gap year as by then you'd have learnt enough to make your placement useful.
Post Reply