Universities...

[firg]

Hello everybody,

I will be going to university in 2005 (just in time to miss the top up fee's! yay! ) and was wondering of you could give me some advise on what you've heard about good and bad universities, and any horror stories you have for ones I should avoid.

I am intending to do Aerospace Engineering or maybe just Mechanical Engineering w/ Aerospace.

I was at Kingston today, and it seems like quite a nice Uni. Anyone going/gone there?

The others i was thinking about at the moment were:

Nottingham (only does Mech! Doh!), Loughborough, Brunel, Manchester, Surrey and (as above) Kingston.

So, any thoughts on Uni/the course i'm doing?

(plus, any advise about Uni in general would be nice (i.e. loans, accommodation, your experiences))

cheers,

Teh Cabbage Man
____________________
Ex-'96 Bandit 600S -> '99 Bandit 600 -> K7 V-Strom 650

[RooRoo]

*ignores this post due to not wanting to lose girlfriend to university in 2005*

[Sacarius]

I have heard Kingston is a reputable university, that is all I have heard, nothing about the courses which will be important.
____________________
The way your heart sounds makes all the difference. It's what decides if you'll endure the pain that we all feel. The way your heart beats makes all the difference in learning to live. Spread before you is your soul. So forever hold the dreams within our hearts. Through nature's inflexible grace I'm learning to live.

[Mr C]

I did Aerospace at Hatfield

sorry University of Hertfordshire (graduated in 1992)


good course overall, shite place


Loughborough is much the same only the course is meant to be better
____________________
187.3bhp = 201mph

[Sacarius]

[Frost]

check out the uni league tables. despite what people say i think they are a fair representation of the quality of the university.

If your thinking about aerospace engineering, you may want to consider the airforce or see if you can get some form of sposership from them

[Tenthghost]

got a prospectus for kingston some time ago looking to go in 2006 i think it will have to be international business. Is kingston in the heart of london or the outskirts and is it generally speaking a nice place ?
____________________
DONT FEAR THE GHOST IS HERE
Contacts :
Tenthghost@hotmail.com

[RooRoo]

[Sacarius]

[Visitor Q]

[DukeRed]

I was going to aerospace this year and the best ones i found where.

Bristol, Warwick, Brunel's quite good for it and a few others but can't remember them now.

Jan
____________________
Enjoy Life There's Plenty of Time to be Dead
https://www.janoner.com

[Annabella]

Check out, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff (not as good for eng. though) and maybe York... They are the leading universities at the moment for engineering, I think.

Also, as well as the course, make sure you like the city you are going to, if you like your location it will make life an awful lot more enjoyable at uni.
____________________
Avast! Pirates ahoy!
I did Cadwell!
www.bikepics.com/members/bella

[Phoenix]

I know someone who does engineering at Loughborough, he likes it there I think, reckons it's a good Uni.

[Davo]

[mchaggis]

I'm doing automotive engineering at Loughborough, the same department as the Aero eng. The course is mainly the same for the first year, and has several shared modules in the second too. It seems like a lot of work, but well worth doing. It can be fun, even if some of the Chinese lecturers can't speak or write proper English. I don't know much about the mech. eng course, but I suppose it must be good enough.

The proportions of males/ females is pretty crap though. Still as far as campuses go, do an open day to Loughborough, compared to Hertfordshire, Loughborough uni's a palace...

That and the fact that Hertfordshire doesn't teach turbomachinery (jet engines), added to not having networked rooms rather put me off. Plus, it was 3 hrs journey rather than 45 minutes, but that's unimportant here. Loughborough is climbing the league tables pretty quickly too, in the top ten uni's overall now, 7 or 8 or something I think. Also one of the top (top 3 or so I think) universities for employment after too.

Originally I applied to do aero. eng. at Loughborough, but my maths wasn't good enough (I was too lazy) so I did auto. eng. instead. I applied for a bursary from the RAF, which was definately worth going for if you're serious about joining them. The competition was, um, fierce. They give about 40 undergraduate bursaries a year, and there were about 60 people in each selection group. Having said that, they are short of engineers, and are much more willing to sponsor you for that than if you had some aspirations to be a pilot. (Still, you're about as lucky as it comes if you manage to get one is the impression I get.) Oh, and if you want to apply to go to uni in October 2005, you want to be going to your local RAF careers office/ liason officer and talking to them about it and getting them to put you forward as a candidate. You really do have to be keen, helps to have been to a private school and done CCF (air cadets) for 5 years . Only trouble is now, I'm not particularly fussed about joining them since I'm not doing aero.

In Loughborough, if you want really good accomodation (Halls of Residence), you pay through the nose for it. You want decent accomodation you probably still pay over the odds. The private landlords rip you off something rotten too. There're plenty of clubs and pubs in town, and I think possibly more than 10 bars/ pubs on campus itself Food was plentiful, I put on a stone in 3 months with 3 cooked meals a day (each one with two courses). Well, there were copious quantities of beer in there somewhere too..

Still, when I'm not fretting about resits and doing work, the uni is a great place to be, and I didn't even mention the networked rooms, ie T1 lan to every halls room... Online gaming became fun again .

Basically, to Loughborough and Aero/ auto/ mech eng. I am biased of course. Hope my experience/ insight is any use.

[jay12329]

My brother has just graduated form surrey where he did mechanical engineering. He really enjoyed it, loved the uni. Even got to shake hands with the duke of kent at graduation!
My dad graduated form the same place 30 years ago and some of the staff he had are still there!
J

[Bendy]

[carvell]

I had an interview at Surrey, got a pretty low offer from them too (that's good).

It's quite a nice place, the people at the uni were friendly, just a general all round 'average' place.

My firm choice is Bath (not bath spa, bath), for Electronic Engineering, the courses they run seem to be good, the uni is nice, the city of bath itself is also very nice.

Take Bath into consideration when you're looking around.

Accommodation is alright prices at Bath, £74 a week for a modern en-suite room.

As far as the student loan is concerned, for me it's pretty crap. The maximum I got from them is £3,070. When you have to pay tutition fees of £1,150 (yours will be more) combined with accomodation and clothes etc, this won't last long at all.

Either borrow some money from your parents, get out a loan with a bank, or try and get a bursary from a company or the armed forces. Obviously if you get a bursary from them you have a contract to join the armed forces or that company when you graduate. I am close to getting a £4,000 bursary from the Royal Navy - few more tests to pass and I'll be there.
____________________
Yamaha TDM 850

[firg]

cheers everyone, thanks for the food for thought.

/me goes to ponder...

Cabbage
____________________
Ex-'96 Bandit 600S -> '99 Bandit 600 -> K7 V-Strom 650

[yz450]

i hear leicester uni is quite good as well, i'm working at the fraser noble building at the moment, and from what some of the fit students have said its a good place to study, bit of a shit hole at the moment but were doing it all up floor by floor!
____________________
feel the power!!!!

[cagiva gezzer]

I'm at Bangor uni as we have fluffy sheep.
____________________
"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[firg]

I went to Surrey on Wed, and I really like it!

It's my favourite (sp?) one right now, and after i go to Brunel on Sat, I will have seen them all and can make my choice. Anyone here been to Surrey (aka Guilford)?

cheers,

Teh Cabbage Man
____________________
Ex-'96 Bandit 600S -> '99 Bandit 600 -> K7 V-Strom 650

[Mr C]

Hatfield was a dump when I was there but it sounds like it's got even worse
____________________
187.3bhp = 201mph

[bikerchic17]

I go to Kingston Uni and really like it there. Not a huge number of clubs to go out to, but as someone said it's close enough to london to go out to. Halls is good but being so close to London is also quite expensive - thank god for student loans!! Have a friend who is doing aerospace engineering and he seems to really like the course.

Hope this helps a bit!

k x
____________________
Kayleigh - from the Celtic word meaning graceful. Dainty and artistic, she has a wonderful imagination. She is completely feminine.

[Jinx]

Any uni in or near London is going to be more expensive for living costs. Bristol and Plymouth Uni's - excellent night life, cost of living not too bad. I understand the engineering course in Plymouth is quite good.

Nottingham apparently the gender ratio is something like 5 females to 1 male!

I would recomend getting the rough guide to universities as they (generally) tell it like it REALLY is!
____________________
Sticks and stones may break my bones but leather and chains excite me!