Jump to content

Engineering With Foundation Year Degree


nb88

Recommended Posts

I'm interested in taking engineering at uni (civil is what im interested in) but i dont have maths at a level (im taking physics). So basically id have to go through the foundation year route...

How many of you have done this, and what did you think of it? Was your course 4 or 5 years?

Thanks.

Thinking of manchester, southampton, birmingham...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also...ucas online applications - how many of you have completed yours? I havent really got down to it yet and need to put down all my gcses, as levels etc. and my teacher started nagging at me today that the deadline is pretty soon...... so im a bit worried :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're in the same boat as me....Unlucky

Basically You pick a course and ask them if they do a foundation course with it. Its suggested you do a sandwich course which means a year in industry too. The foundation course is usually and extra year at the start of the degree "getting you up to scratch"

Ive not finished my UCAS form yet. Gonna do it tomoz cos Im a lazy f**k. Just don't tell swansea uni that :P

EDIT: Forgot to say, My brothers in Loughbourough University which is pretty good apparently. Either that or Brunel

Edited by PaRtZ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll struggle. What A's have you got or doing?

I'm taking physics, geography and ict at a2 level at the moment. I got B - geog, C - ICT, D - Phy, and D - Bio at AS, but im doing retakes to try and get them all up to Bs/As.

I put loughborough on my UCAs form (online) but the engineering with foundation year didnt come up as an option :P strange.

Why do you think i'd struggle?

And partz are you trying to do a foundation engineering?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

think carefully...if you really want to do it you will.

But..i've just started an engineering degree at imperial, london, and all engineering degrees are VERY maths orientated. If you didn't take it at a-level, ask yourself why....if you didn't like it, you most likely won't like the course either...

anyways..good luck...

adam

PS: the ucas form takes about 2 mins!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a lover of maths to be honest, you make some good points. The engineering education scheme thing i did was quite interesting though, and it looks like a good career... thats the main reason i want to choose it as a degree.

Other than that, im stumped as to what to choose to study :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

im in my 2nd year of civil engineering and basically.. its maths.. constantly. If your weak with anything to do with maths its going to show. I got a C at A-level and i have to work so much harder to understand the basic ideas. However from what ive heard from people who have done a foundation year, you basically do a lot of a level maths. Although its best to ask the individual universitys

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of engineering companies will take you on after a levels and will pay for you to do day release foundation degree which takes three years, and if you do well will let you continue to degree. By the time you have done your foundation degree, the pay you will be on because you have got experience and a qualification will be the same as a new graduate just starting, but minus the big uni debts. This is what ive done and we hardly do any maths at work here, so dont worry!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of engineering companies will take you on after a levels and will pay for you to do day release foundation degree which takes three years, and if you do well will let you continue to degree. By the time you have done your foundation degree, the pay you will be on because you have got experience and a qualification will be the same as a new graduate just starting, but minus the big uni debts. This is what ive done and we hardly do any maths at work here, so dont worry!

How did you enter to do this and do you know where i can get some more information? And what results did you get in your a levels to enter?

Cheers (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How did you enter to do this and do you know where i can get some more information? And what results did you get in your a levels to enter?

Cheers (Y)

I work for WSP Development which I found through Conexxions... I did Maths AS and got a D, Physics A level and got a D, D+T and got a C, and General Studies and got a B.

So pretty crap results really! Just be enthusiastic and they should take you on...

And if you do go with WSP Development (for more info click here) tell them Andrew Morgan told you to join cos I get £500 then (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Foundation years are cool enough, its an extra year at uni which isn't a bad thing really.

I did mine at loughborough and it basically involved A-Level maths and physics as well as chemistry.. combined with other engineeringy type modules etc. Was good stuff. Im doing materials Eng. though which doesn't really have 'maths' in it after the first year..

If your crap at maths you may well struggle in Civil Eng as Spacemunkee said its pretty equation intensive. (My bro has compleated a MEng in it at Surry ((which is incidently a better uni for civil i think)).

Just go for it though, if its what you want you can but try eh? Do the placement too, it will help you big time. 5 years+ at uni is just about the right amount of time me thinks (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Foundation years are cool enough, its an extra year at uni which isn't a bad thing really.

I did mine at loughborough and it basically involved A-Level maths and physics as well as chemistry.. combined with other engineeringy type modules etc. Was good stuff. Im doing materials Eng. though which doesn't really have 'maths' in it after the first year..

If your crap at maths you may well struggle in Civil Eng as Spacemunkee said its pretty equation intensive. (My bro has compleated a MEng in it at Surry ((which is incidently a better uni for civil i think)).

Just go for it though, if its what you want you can but try eh? Do the placement too, it will help you big time. 5 years+ at uni is just about the right amount of time me thinks :lol:

Yeah thats what im aiming for really.

What does materials engineering involve? I'm fine with some maths... but im no good at things like sin, cos etc. graphs and remembering and rearranging massive equations...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah thats what im aiming for really.

What does materials engineering involve? I'm fine with some maths... but im no good at things like sin, cos etc. graphs and remembering and rearranging massive equations...

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/prospectus/ug/fs/index.htm The foundation outline, with all the modules.

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/prospectus/ug/iptme/me/index.htm Material Eng.

I do it with management studies meaning i have even less modules which contain any heavy maths type stuff. The only real ones are the maths and the mechanics modules which you have to take 2 of in the first year or so... You should be able to cope though, you do get taught how to do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've now applied to foundation courses at:

Loughborough,

Cardiff,

Southampton,

Manchester,

Birmingham,

Brunel london.

The entry requirements seem to be pretty low for foundation courses (C's mainly) which is rather handy (Y) . Loughborough looks pretty awesome.

What are the best unis for engineering do you guys think? (that i havent applied for).

And cheers for the links deagledaddy, im aiming for something like that course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Id say pretty much all of them are good at engineering, of course it depends on the type. For civil its pretty much southampton and loughborough. Brunel is automotive really isnt it? i dont remember. I applied for Loughborough, Bath, UMIST, Imperial.. no idea what the other 2 were i applied for ummm... ... shows how much i cared about them. Oh yea brunel was another.. oh yea and warwick

Edited by Spacemunkee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Southampton all the way :) But im biased - it is a great uni, great campus, great aptmosphere, great riding too. Southampton also is held VERY highly for engineering at the moment, i have been told in the top 5 unis for engineering.

A foundation year would be good if you havent done maths, as maths is seriously needed. Ive just started my first year, and there is a lot of maths, which i suspect i will struggle with later on as it gets more complex, as i didn't do very well at maths A level.

Despite all the maths, if you are a practical person (ie like building bike, fixing stuff, bodging stuff) you will like the engineering course - the maths is basically a tool, just an intelectual one, to make sure you make it strong enough (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of the uni's you've put there I visited Loughborough, Southhampton, Brunel and Birmingham. All of them have good reputations within industry. In the end I went for Loughborough, for various reasons it just seemed better overall for what I was looking for.

We could all sit here and sing the praises of our respective uni's, but in the end it's your choice and you need to go visit all the places in your list to get a feel for them and see if they suit you. If you want any more info on Loughborough I'd be happy to point you in the right direction, as I'm sure the others will for their uni's (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...