Mechanial engineering

trepasers

Im in my last year of secondary school....
I am thinking of doing mechanical engineering after I leave school...
Just wondering what this course is like??

mawk

maths. That what its like. I enjoyed it overall.. But there is a lot of math.

Turbulent Bill

In Leaving Cert subject terms, mech is the alien love child of maths, applied maths, physics and engineering (naturally), usually wrapped up in project-based work.

Get the prospectuses (prospecti?) from the various colleges you're interested in, which will give lots of detail on the individual courses.

Offy

Its math and not much else. If you can handle honours maths and applied maths in the leaving you will find mechanical engineering easy.

hi_im_fil

Offy wrote: »

Its math and not much else. If you can handle honours maths and applied maths in the leaving you will find mechanical engineering easy.

I wouldn't exactly call it easy, but managable. You would want to be capable of getting a solid B imo to be comfortable with the level of maths in the course.

Most of my modules are similar physics and applied maths. A lot of group projects are also done throughout the course.

random.stranger

Not sure if I'd agree entirely with everyone else (although I did do Mechatronic Engineering).

I had two years of serious maths, after that things started getting a lot more interesting and practical (but definately not any easier!).

trepasers

Thanks every one for your replys.......I am doing pass maths...and honours physics.....I was thinkinh of doing a mechanical course in gmait???thanks for everyones help!!

Pembily

I am in 4th year in Mech Eng in GMIT!!!

I am the only person who did honours maths for my leaving cert!!!

Many of my class only did pass maths and never did physics!!!!

The maths is hard but in GMIT they do learning to learn and also mathlab to help you if you have any problems with maths!!!!

It's all practical really so you should be grand, it's semesteriesed and you have midterms so the max any final exam will be is 70%!!!

I really like it and am very happy in GMIT!! Lovely department!!

trepasers

Pembily wrote: »

I am in 4th year in Mech Eng in GMIT!!!

I am the only person who did honours maths for my leaving cert!!!

Many of my class only did pass maths and never did physics!!!!

The maths is hard but in GMIT they do learning to learn and also mathlab to help you if you have any problems with maths!!!!

It's all practical really so you should be grand, it's semesteriesed and you have midterms so the max any final exam will be is 70%!!!

I really like it and am very happy in GMIT!! Lovely department!!

Thanks for your help.........First person with positive feedback about mechanical engineering:)

Pembily

Good to know!!! And there are two main negatives working against me
1 I am the only girl
2 I am 5 years older than most of the guys so get alot of abuse!!!:)

All courses are hard but hard is relative, I love maths and can do it no bother but ask me to do geography and I get a total mental block!!

If you like maths, you are sound, if you are doing honours Physics you are a long way ahead alot of others will be in GMIT!!!

Best of luck!!

imported_guy

hi_im_fil wrote: »

I wouldn't exactly call it easy, but managable. You would want to be capable of getting a solid B imo to be comfortable with the level of maths in the course.

Most of my modules are similar physics and applied maths. A lot of group projects are also done throughout the course.

depends what kind of teachers u have im in WIT, level 8 mechanical and manufacturing eng, the only college which offers 4 yr level 8 mech engg for ordinary math students (note the 4 years, DCU and blanch etc have 5 yr lvl 8 courses for ord math)


im in 2nd year, my teachers are amazing, math/fluid dynamics/thermodynamics/mechanics/physics are the subjects i find easier and math isnt exactly "simple" though we're doing complex stuff like runga-kutta, laplace transforms, fourier series etc, but all seems easy, and the math teacher said only 1 guy failed last yr in sem 1 and no one failed 2nd sem

trepasers

Pembily wrote: »

Good to know!!! And there are two main negatives working against me
1 I am the only girl
2 I am 5 years older than most of the guys so get alot of abuse!!!:)

All courses are hard but hard is relative, I love maths and can do it no bother but ask me to do geography and I get a total mental block!!

If you like maths, you are sound, if you are doing honours Physics you are a long way ahead alot of others will be in GMIT!!!

Best of luck!!

Thanks very much for your help!!!

random.stranger

I wouldn't get too worried about the maths. I recommend you get the book "Engineering Maths" by K.A. Stroud.

Absolute life saver, a lot of stuff in it is relevant to the Leaving Cert aswell.

Clano

im a fourth year in WIT doin beng Hons in mechanical & manufacturing engineering
I absolutly love this course and i would seriously recommend it to you. i am one of the few who did honours maths and now it seems the ones who did pass are passing me out
at wit it starts as if everyone has a basic maths knowledge and builds from there. there is also a work experience element in 3rd year where i got to work as a manufacturing eng in Intel this was one of the greatest experiences of my life. others worked in companies such as Teva, servier and boston scientific.
Overall this course has a brilliant mix of hands on and theory!
any course you choose im sure youll love as engineering is such an interesting subject

trepasers

Clano wrote: »

im a fourth year in WIT doin beng Hons in mechanical & manufacturing engineering
I absolutly love this course and i would seriously recommend it to you. i am one of the few who did honours maths and now it seems the ones who did pass are passing me out
at wit it starts as if everyone has a basic maths knowledge and builds from there. there is also a work experience element in 3rd year where i got to work as a manufacturing eng in Intel this was one of the greatest experiences of my life. others worked in companies such as Teva, servier and boston scientific.
Overall this course has a brilliant mix of hands on and theory!
any course you choose im sure youll love as engineering is such an interesting subject

Thanks for your help.....Just wondering what extra things do you do with mechanical and manafacturing engineering as a opposed to just mechanical engineering??
Thanks

Clano

oh jesus puttin me on the spot here i should no:eek: ha
An example of the manufacturing element would be factory output as in maximising efficiency of factory lines etc and also different strategies adopted by different organisations.
The mechanical element would be more about forces and "mechanical" elements such as forces on joints etc also looking at car engines was a factor.
I found it very useful to have the manufacturing part as a vast majority of mechanical engineers end up in manufacturing enviroments.
I even have a brother with a mechanical eng degree from ucd working as a manufacturing eng and he recommended my course to me as he said having the manufacturing element was a major advantage

trepasers

Thanks very much for your help!!:D

Clano

no problemo as i said im sure you will love whatever course you decide to do as it is such an intersting and enjoyable subject

mawk

most mech courses actually contain manufacture as well. Though in cit 3rd year you could do a full year of man instead of mech. Its more geared to factory work, Fabrication, quality etc.

Basically more stats, less calc.

Granny Lover

Great course to do. I am a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student love it. there is allot of math in the course and allot for design problem solving. Look into what is in each course from college to college as it varies. allot of people go to I.T's rather than University as there is a little less math in I.T's and more practical work. because of the extra experience you get in I.T's doing practical work it makes it a bit easier to get a job

pljudge321

If you can go into an omnibus engineering course where you get to pick your specialisation after 1/2 years. I entered engineering intending to do mechanical and ended up in electrical/electronic.

Clano

pljudge321 wrote: »

If you can go into an omnibus engineering course where you get to pick your specialisation after 1/2 years. I entered engineering intending to do mechanical and ended up in electrical/electronic.

That happened my brother in UCD he entered the undinomiated Engineering course intending to do mechanical but didnt get the marks or something and was very disapointed to have to settle for electrical. If your sure you want to do mechanical maybe another course probably an IT course would be better

Turbulent Bill

Clano wrote: »

That happened my brother in UCD he entered the undinomiated Engineering course intending to do mechanical but didnt get the marks or something and was very disapointed to have to settle for electrical. If your sure you want to do mechanical maybe another course probably an IT course would be better

I'm not sure about this, but I think most undenominated courses don't have restricted numbers for the different streams - UCD seems to be the exception. In TCD there was an open choice after 2nd year, with classes made up purely on demand, but this was a few years ago now. Best idea is to check with individual colleges on their policies.

IMHO omnibus courses are an excellent idea, as you always need some experience in different fields. The average 17/18 year old starting engineering has had very little exposure to the different streams anyway, so it's a good to try them all before you specialise.

pljudge321

UCD has no restrictions on numbers into any of the streams anymore. Also the cao entry into UCD engineering will have only two options, Omnibus or Structural w/ Architecture. Also ouch at your brother being forced to do electrical, its a degree you really have to love to do well in.

Clano

pljudge321 wrote: »

UCD has no restrictions on numbers into any of the streams anymore. Also the cao entry into UCD engineering will have only two options, Omnibus or Structural w/ Architecture. Also ouch at your brother being forced to do electrical, its a degree you really have to love to do well in.

Yeah this would of been a few years ago alright.
Yeah he wasnt too impressed hard anough doing something you enjoy let alone that but i think it grew on him!