Recently i've been pondering the idea of going to uni and getting myself a degree.
Engineering has me tempted (mechanical/automotive)

I'll be 30 by the time I start the course (assuming they accept me)

Anybody had any experience as a mature student or in engineering? (guessing plenty of people on this board are engineers)

wish I was in the position to do it.

I had my chance and wasted it

Yeah, I messed up first time round due to lazyness, was more interested in having a good time.
I'm far more stable now and think it might be a good idea while I can afford to do it.

I left 6th form and went straight to university in London to do a degree in Geography. Basically spent 3 years drinking, partying etc. Lectures where "light" 8 hrs a week the first year, 6 hrs the second year and 4 hrs a week in the final year. Got a 2:2, graduated and got a job in a completely different line of work (construction).

Now, with 13 years experience in the building industry, I have applied to my local university to do a degree in Building Project Management. It's one day a week, and they reckon it'll take between 3-5 years depending on experience!

Fees for my course are £1,350 a year, so I'm hoping it'll only take me 3!

Just waiting for my application to be processed!

When I was at uni, I only ever did enough work not to get thrown out. This time, I'm doing it for myself and I can see the benefit of getting the qualification at the end of it, so I'm hoping I'll be more motivated!

Good luck whatever you decide to do!



Cheers

Mike

Do it. Its hard work, but good fun. Ex-warwick student, 4 yr MEng.

Mech eng is a lot of maths, you will need a-level maths as a precursor, however a lot of unis do a foundation maths course alonside first year engineering to get you up to the required level.

David

yep same story, I had places at Reading and Hull.

Yeah will have to do a foundation year I think, all I have is gcse's.
Off to an open day at sussex uni on the 11th oct to chat with tutors etc.

engineering degrees are a hard slog but rewarding if you set your mind to them and actually apply yourself to project work.

i'm studying motorsport engineering at huddersfield uni. don't be wowed by it and want to go there, it's just mechanical engineering with some token modules tagged on.

i finished my second year with 82% average and now i'm on placement in the 'real world', find myself bored to tears because there's so little actual thinking involved in my placement. i'm sure other departments would be more rewarding but i'm not in any of them.

if you have engineering experience, i'd say a sandwich degree is wasted on you as all you're really setting yourself up for is a year working for a living for less money than the guy who empties the bins. i guess if you lined yourself up with a known good placement though, it would be rewarding and a decent step on a ladder in the direction you want to go. don't be swayed by the university placement people though. they'll recommend whoever sponsors the uni far more than anything that'll actually teach you anything. me? bitter? of course not.....

anyway, i'd say if you can afford to do it, get yourself enrolled. as a mature student, i'd imagine nearly all your fees will be paid for you and apply for any bursaries you can. the time requirements of an evening are high though if you plan to do well. if it's just for the piece of paper, you don't need quite so much effort but it still helps.

if you've skipped all that above, what, i'm saying is DO IT!
tom

I spent 4 years from school doing an MEng in Electronic and Electrical Eng. It was a bit of a slog but well worth it and ultimately rewarding. I don't know where my interest in building a car comes from with this background.

In terms of any advice, I guess it depends why you want to do it. If it's just for the hell of it or to prove to yourself that you can - then just go for it.

If you have a particular career in mind then it may be worth phoning a few companies in that line of work and asking where they recruit from and what qualifications they look for - just to avoid spending years studying the wrong thing. You never know what this kind of discussion could lead to either.

My brother jacked his job with the council in when he was 29 and went to Newcastle Uni to do a degree. He spent 7 years there and didn't want to leave even though he came away with a Phd!

I tried an electrical/mechanical HNC course at Manchester Uni when i was about 37 but found it bored me to bits so didn't get far before I jacked it in

Steve

I did exactly what you're thinking of at almost exactly the same age....... it's worth having a degree certainly and I did a BEng Hons in Automotive Engineering because I thought it would be most likely to keep me interested but to be honest you'll find it's lots of maths, properties of materials, bending theory, FEA etc etc with a bit of interesting but very basic stuff tacked on top. The HSE have ensured you're not realy allowed anywhere near anything practical any more and if you've built a Locost of some description you probably already know more than they're going to tell you Oh and don't think of coming out with anything less than a 2:1 or you wont get a job doing anything related to your degree.......

Apart from that it's great lol

Obviously it does depend on which University you go to as to how interesting it actually is so you do need to choose carefully. Sadly good engineering jobs are getting to be like rocking horse poo in Britain and being 30+ and newly graduated doesn't endear you to employers either so I'd have a think about the subject as well.

Sorry to be a bit negative - perhaps surprisingly though I've never regreted doing it for a second so I'd have to say you should definitely give it a go

David...I assume all of the maths you mention is applied, mechanics type stuff......Not just "heres a load of numbers, give me another number as a solution" :p ???


I kinda regret not going to uni, and perhaps in a couple of years time I will be able to afford it....

Its hard to not be attracted by the social life, which is all the wrong reason to be going!

[Edited on 17/9/08 by tegwin]

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Originally posted by tegwin
David...I assume all of the maths you mention is applied, mechanics type stuff......Not just "heres a load of numbers, give me another number as a solution" :p ???

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I recommend it. I was at Imperial (BSc Physics) and a close friend was on the MEng Aeronautical Engineering course.

He followed that with an MEng in Automotive Engineering at Cranfield and is now the Chief Engineer, Vehicle Engineering for an F1 team.

There's a lot of maths (although obviously nothing like physics but mature students are so much more focused, and well, mature, that they usually excel.

Go for it.

Nick

even if it comes to nothing , youll never regret it .

you only get out what you put in , and if your doing automotive , make sure you live in the workshop .

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Originally posted by flak monkey

quote:

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Originally posted by tegwin
David...I assume all of the maths you mention is applied, mechanics type stuff......Not just "heres a load of numbers, give me another number as a solution" :p ???

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Yeah its all technical/applied and relevant.

My first year was thermodynamics, materials, pure maths, mechanics maths, electronics, design and computer tech, and some programming. All of which boils down to 99% maths

Spent my last year doing formula student, build a bike engined race car, and race it (at silverstone). All good fun.

The HSE didnt have a lot of say about keeping us out of the workshops. Depends what you are interested in. If I wasnt in lectures I was down on machines or in the welding bay.

It does matter very much which uni you got to for an engineering degree though. Warwick, Brunel, Imperial, Bath, Loughborough all have good engineering links. Me being biased toward Warwick heavily of course. They have just finished building (or are close to finishing) a new manufacturing research facility, which is really fantastic and worth going and having a look at!

David

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I'm not a mature student but am 3/5s of the way through a Systems Engineering Meng degree at Loughborough having just finished a placement year.

Some very valid points have been made above. I know a couple of mature students and they do tend to be somewhat more focused than the usual filthy student type so I'd say, if you have the chance, do it! Also uni is a greta place to get involved in extra-curicular activities that you otherwise wouldn't have to opportunity to do and often are far more hands on than the degree ever will be. For example David mentioned Formula Student which I sometimes regret not having a go at. Not only engineeringy type things though, lots of other clubs and soc's are available at most unis, often being fairly well subsidised too. Eg. sailing/mountaineering/gliding to name but a few...

Good luck with it,
Andy

I did an MSc as a mature student, finished at about 35. I was already married, had a class full of women (they were rather all wasted on me), whom I got along with just fine thank you... Beg borrow, or steal to further yourself in uni or college. Statistically, you will earn more than the rest of the population, and uni's are great places for clubs (I was in bands, ran the jazz, folk, and blues club with another guy, played ice hockey for next to nothing, and drank a lot of free beer). Treat it like a job, do the work, and you will pass. Simple really.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm wanting to discourage anyone from doing a degree at whatever age because I'm not - on the contrary I tend to think you're missing out if you don't! However as flakmonkey says it's really rather important where you go as to how much you enjoy doing the degree. It's worth bearing in mind as well that it's much easier to get into the good places with loads of relevant GCSEs and A levels and to be in your late teens rather than at 30 years old with handful of O levels you got 15 years ago and a swimming certificate for the 100m breaststroke

A few other things to bear in mind are that some 18/19 year olds can be a right pain in the arse, Engineering can be really boring if you don't like maths and finally don't underestimate how expensive going to university is - it's 7 years now since I graduated and 5% of my take home pay is still going to the incompetent muppets at the Student Loan Company

[Edited on 18/9/08 by D Beddows]

University is great. The mature students all worked harder than those of us straight out of school as they had made a concious decision to go rather than just going with the flow.

Go for it!

I did my Bsc (Economics) straight after finishing school and am about to start the second year of my Part-Time MBA. I turn 29 next month. If you can afford to go full-time (perhaps with a part-time job) then do it. Trying to work full time and study is really tough. Of course it's do-able but tough. I am not looking forward to starting back.

BUT, you've got to do what you've got to do. The Masters should open a lot of doors for me and hence will hopefully result in a significant pay-back for all the sacrifice. Any degree in a meaningful subject will likely have a similar impact. Plus, IMHO you just do not use your brain as much doing anything else as when you are learning and that can be very rewarding indeed.

Ensure your expectations are realistic. I had an ex-builder turned mature student (Chemistry) starting out in the Industry on my team. Turned out his expectations of a 'challenging' job weren't matched with the reality of Industry. He'd have been better doing something else, but I'm unsure what, neither was he. He took advantage of voluntary redundancy and is now travelling the world. Last I heard he'd set up a diving business in Thailand.
Me, well, I did the BSc. and PhD thing at an early age and used the qualification to post-doc around the world for many years (Australasia/USA/Europe). I'm now where my colleague was, facing redundancy, heading off around the world. OK, I'm older and cynical, but my opinion is go and ENJOY University - it's a great experience. Just don't blinker youreslf that it'll somehow change/make future employment 'better'. It will, however, change your life, probably not as you may expect.

[Edited on 18/9/08 by motorcycle_mayhem]

I went to Uni at the age of 26, and graduated at 30. One of the best things I did. Great experience, and very different to my "attempts" at 18 (where I was disinterested and failed two first years).

You'll find that having lived in the real world gives you a distinct advantage in terms of prioritising your work and treating it like a job.

I did an OU Masters degree at 45-ish. Party for kudos (I didn't have an ordinary degree) and partly to keep my brain awake.

A lot of hard work - 15 or so hours a week on top of my regular job - and quite a lot of money, but I'm very glad I did it.

The MSc also helped me to find another job after I was made redundant - I was a level higher than most other applicants.

I went to Plymouth, to do a Marine and Composites degree. Well worth it IMHO. Great fun, but hard work and expensive. But now, I am working in a job I love, for more money than I thought possible! The best bit was, you help build a locost as part of the engineering structures lab sessions! Do it - you will only regret it at exam time!

Yeaaaahhhh!!!!!

Just popped home at lunchtime, checked the post and I got into uni!

Woo hooo!

Starts on Sunday though!

Better buy a pencil case and some crayons.

Mike

Thanks for the feedback chaps
Got a year to think on it and the open day to chat with tutors coming up.

I've tried racking my brains to come up with a viable business idea to invest my savings in.
But nothing has jumped put for me, and I don't fancy being stuck in maintenance work for the rest of my working life lol

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Originally posted by Guinness
I left 6th form and went straight to university in London to do a degree in Geography. Basically spent 3 years drinking, partying etc. Lectures where "light" 8 hrs a week the first year, 6 hrs the second year and 4 hrs a week in the final year. Got a 2:2, graduated and got a job in a completely different line of work (construction).

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