Civil vs Energy vs Theoretical Physics

myfatherrsson

Right Im basically caught between the 3 courses, Civil Engineering, Energy Engineering and Theoretical physics! I love applied maths! Favourite subject best thing Iv ever done! I love maths and physics as well and know Id love to do any of these courses! I guess my question is at the end of the day what is the fundamental difference between Civil and Energy, and also between Engineering in general and TP!!

Iv read almost all the recent threads about TP in Trinity Im just lookin for more specific answers to my questions I havnt read one yet about Engineering vs TP!

I kind of have an idea that Engineering is physics and appl maths and applying them to create and build and construct, whereas TP and the like is going into researching new innovations in physics and spearheading the quest for further knowledge of the universe!

What kind of person is more likely suited to any of these course? I mean my biggest fear is going into TP but comin out and finding a very limited world of opportunity and employment ahead of me! I wouldnt mind emmigrating or any o that I just dont want to be a lab rat pencil pusher for the rest o my life!! Plus what would the money be lik then?? Engineering would guarantee me a substantial qualification at least but I know it wouldnt do what TP does for me at all! Id still love it but not to the same degree!!

Any advice or opinions would be much appreciated!! Id love to hear from people who found themselves in a similar predicament regardin these courses in particular!! Thanks!!

Podge_irl

myfatherrsson wrote: »

What kind of person is more likely suited to any of these course? I mean my biggest fear is going into TP but comin out and finding a very limited world of opportunity and employment ahead of me! I wouldnt mind emmigrating or any o that I just dont want to be a lab rat pencil pusher for the rest o my life!! Plus what would the money be lik then?? Engineering would guarantee me a substantial qualification at least but I know it wouldnt do what TP does for me at all! Id still love it but not to the same degree!!

TP will most definitely not leave you with a limited choice of careers, however further research aside it won't give you specific training for anything. TP grads (and maths and science grads in general) are sought after due to their mathematical ability and problem solving experience. You would be able to go into finance, consultancy, management etc. if you so wished. The majority of TP graduates from Trinity tend to either go into further research or into some element of the banking sector.

TP is not like engineering in that it wont give you one clearly obvious career route (which can be both helpful and annoying). If you wished to go into engineering afterwards you would be more then capable, but you would almost definitely need a year or so of specialized teaching I would imagine - but you would have the basic maths and physics necessary (and then some).

As regards further research, you could do research either in physics (so "lab rat" work) or in maths/TP which is obviously not lab-based. I doubt you will really know if that interests you until you are several years into the course, if even then. I'm in a postgrad at the moment and I'm still not sure if I want to go on to a PhD.

However, the gist of it is that you will not be restricting yourself by doing TP, there will be a host of options available to you afterwards, some more obvious then others. However a lot of them will require you applying methodologies and skills you've learnt to completely new fields so you won't be walking into anything with great ease, but many, many people do it every year.

mathew

Currently a second year student in Engineering.
I looked into TP also when I was in 6th year.

Went for the Engineering for a few reasons.
1. Job prospects seemed better.

2. It involved much more real life application of what was being learnt. Everything we learn can be applied to everyday situations.

3. Practical work - There is much more enphasis on pratical lab work such as projects. Yes theyre a bit of pain when it comes to deadlines (what isnt), but theyre great fun and a great way to learn and share ideas.

4. The type of learning and problems. There is huge enphasis on working things out for yourself. I know thats how college is, you dont get nursed all the way through to your degree but I felt the challenge of learning a concept and applying it new and unusual problems, which you've never seen before, would be great.

I suppose I am slightly biased towards engineering as I have been studying it for a year now and dont have the same experience with TP.

I feel I definatly made the right choice based on what I enjoy learning about, and the type of learning I enjoy.
I love the course, I enjoy going in to college every day.

The hours in engineering are long, but well worth it. Theres great craic in the class group, everyone gets on well.

I'd advise going in to the open day where you can talk to a few students from each of the courses and and get a much better feel for each of them.

For more information on Engineering, you can have a look at www.tcd.ie/engineering

Boston

If the type of engineering you're focused on is Civil engineering they why trinity? The one major advantage / disadvantage trinity has over other universities is the two years common. After the two years there is no guarantee you'll be allowed to do civil engineering (It will depend on your exam results) . If you're dead set on doing civil engineering from the start the two years common can be very frustrating.

Each university which offers civil engineering courses will have areas which they and strong at, and areas which they are weak at. Make sure that trinity is strong in the particular areas of civil engineering you're interested in.

bright

TP FTW

myfatherrsson

Boston wrote: »

If the type of engineering you're focused on is Civil engineering they why trinity? .

Sorry I probably should have mentioned that the Engineerin courses Im lookin at will be in UCC since Im from Cork but they dont have TP there so thats why Im lookin at it in Trinity!

Thanks a million as well im takin all this into account! I have the exact same post on the UCC page to get ppls perspectives on it there!!

myfatherrsson

Podge_irl wrote: »

TP is not like engineering in that it wont give you one clearly obvious career route (which can be both helpful and annoying). If you wished to go into engineering afterwards you would be more then capable, but you would almost definitely need a year or so of specialized teaching I would imagine - but you would have the basic maths and physics necessary (and then some).

As regards further research, you could do research either in physics (so "lab rat" work) or in maths/TP which is obviously not lab-based. I doubt you will really know if that interests you until you are several years into the course, if even then. I'm in a postgrad at the moment and I'm still not sure if I want to go on to a PhD.

Thats great news at least I know the Eng door isnt closed on me if I choose TP! Also can I ask what would be the maths/TP work that is not lab-based? Just to get an idea lik! Thanks!!

Fallen Seraph

Mathsoc wiki


Have a viddy here. You should be able to get some idea of what goes on outside the labs.

I'm not sure what first year TPs do from the maths dept these days; probably all the algebra and analysis, and definately the mechanics. They do all the 1st year physics courses too.

antiselfdual

yay someone other than me mentioning the wiki, maybe eventually someone other than me will edit it...

tps do these courses atm

I don't think TP will restrict your employment more than engineering at all, I'd think it might possibly even give a broader range of possible options (if less obvious maybe), however my dad did civil engineering in college and is now in corporate banking, so there you go, it doesn't really matter... do whatever seems the most interesting I guess...

Podge_irl

myfatherrsson wrote: »

Thats great news at least I know the Eng door isnt closed on me if I choose TP! Also can I ask what would be the maths/TP work that is not lab-based? Just to get an idea lik! Thanks!!

Well research in TP is more or less done with a pen and paper. Obviously there is more to it then that, there is computational theoretical physics and such things, and large experiments like CERN have a huge number of theoretical physicists involved in them (though not directly controlling it - that would be experimentalists and engineers). Its ultimately in the name though - its theoretical so you are focusing on the theory. When you do maths homeworks, then move onto assignments in college, then move onto maybe short research topics you begin to move into research. Its just like a homework problem except no one knows the answer!

Podge_irl

antiselfdual wrote: »

yay someone other than me mentioning the wiki, maybe eventually someone other than me will edit it...

tps do these courses atm

Whoa, that really is way fewer courses then it used to be. The physics lectures don't seem to have increased by an equivalent amount either.

godtabh

Engineering (any form of it)gives you the tools to solve many many real life situations that have nothing to do with engineering.

I've friends working in insurand, banking and all sorts.

I thank its also huge bonus about engineering which rarely gets touched on ames the social side of it. Being able to work with with many many different people of diffserent back grounds is a key skill that alot of other disciplines are lacking

PurpleFistMixer

Podge_irl wrote: »

Whoa, that really is way fewer courses then it used to be. The physics lectures don't seem to have increased by an equivalent amount either.

I went into TP expecting mad crazy hours, in the 30s, but we only have 20-something. Maybe they've rejigged the course in recent years.

antiselfdual

They dropped first year methods as an individual course completely and stopped TPs having to do computing as of 2006-07, the idea being to stop people failing/dropping out in huge numbers... In my year the methods course was supposed to have been split between the algebra and analysis courses. It's slightly different now again in that there's no abstract algebra for TPs. I don't think they've figured out what they should be doing with the course really...

PurpleFistMixer

We've to do a computing module, just to learn how to use Unix and LaTeX and possibly Java, afaik. It's just not been timetabled yet.

antiselfdual

061 doesn't really count, we never had to do it for some reason (I think because it wasn't timetabled for ages, and then we just assumed we didn't have to, and noone told us anything), but I doubt the 10 year old description on the maths website is accurate at all... I remember last year's first years complaining about being taught Excel (not too sure how that worked on Unix), so you'll be lucky to get to Java... The actual computing course TPs did was 161 which is a full course about C programming and suchlike...

mathew

On the Engineering, it seems it will be more difficult to be accredited with Engineers Ireland (the professional body responsible for approving all engineering courses in the country) after 2012. A 5 year, level 9 course will be required, which Trinty will be providing. Not sure of the details, cost, fees paid by state etc..

Saw this in the current prospectus. Its on page 116 if you have the book
Its also available here. Page 116 of the prospectus is page 118 of the pdf.

Podge_irl

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I went into TP expecting mad crazy hours, in the 30s, but we only have 20-something. Maybe they've rejigged the course in recent years.

I had 31 hours in first year (including one day of 7 hours straight and another day of 5 hours straight). The course seems to have been adjusted since, which is not necessarily a bad thing as I did several things in first year that I have never used since. We did 061 as well, which was basically an introduction to Unix and involved some basic C programming (along with 161) as well as using LaTex.

Boston

mathew wrote: »

On the Engineering, it seems it will be more difficult to be accredited with Engineers Ireland (the professional body responsible for approving all engineering courses in the country) after 2012. A 5 year, level 9 course will be required, which Trinty will be providing. Not sure of the details, cost, fees paid by state etc..

Saw this in the current prospectus. Its on page 116 if you have the book
Its also available here. Page 116 of the prospectus is page 118 of the pdf.

The government hasn't said it will be paying for year 5. The new system will involve the introduction of a 3/5 course whereby you can get an ordinary degree after 3 years. I predict the free fees policy will apply to the first 3 years and you'd be expected to pay for the rest. I also predict that it will mean an end to the 2 years common.

mathew

Boston wrote: »

The government hasn't said it will be paying for year 5. The new system will involve the introduction of a 3/5 course whereby you can get an ordinary degree after 3 years. I predict the free fees policy will apply to the first 3 years and you'd be expected to pay for the rest. I also predict that it will mean an end to the 2 years common.

They pay for a 6/7year medicine degree... It'd be pretty crap to have to spend €14000ish to get a quailification thats recognised by Engineers Ireland.

Boston

Yep.

Jonathan

Boston wrote: »

The government hasn't said it will be paying for year 5. The new system will involve the introduction of a 3/5 course whereby you can get an ordinary degree after 3 years. I predict the free fees policy will apply to the first 3 years and you'd be expected to pay for the rest. I also predict that it will mean an end to the 2 years common.

For the same reason that the demand for the 3+2 course in UCD is quite low.

You are finished your UG degree after 3 years. End of free fees.

Jonathan

mathew wrote: »

Saw this in the current prospectus. Its on page 116 if you have the book.
Its also available here. Page 116 of the prospectus is page 118 of the pdf.

Saw this in the prospectus after i linked you to it on gtalk :P

Flashman

Boston wrote: »

After the two years there is no guarantee you'll be allowed to do civil engineering (It will depend on your exam results) .

This is actually not true. The general 2nd yr class will be asked to choose their streams, and the classes in 3rd year will be sized accordingly, regardless of exam results.
Basically, if you do engineering in TCD, you can specialise in whichever area you want.

Boston

Flashman wrote: »

This is actually not true. The general 2nd yr class will be asked to choose their streams, and the classes in 3rd year will be sized accordingly, regardless of exam results.
Basically, if you do engineering in TCD, you can specialise in whichever area you want.

Up to last year you where correct. A quota system is to be introduced this year. You are no longer guaranteed the specialisation you want.

Jonathan

Flashman wrote: »

This is actually not true. The general 2nd yr class will be asked to choose their streams, and the classes in 3rd year will be sized accordingly, regardless of exam results.
Basically, if you do engineering in TCD, you can specialise in whichever area you want.

For the time being.

They were trying to bring this in last year but our class reps got them defered.
It may well be in place by the time the OP is in college.

Boston

From what I recall your year where the last to be lead to believe you would get which ever stream you wanted, since the decision to introduce a quota system was only made late. It would be very dodgy for them to try and force someone into a stream under does circumstances.