Undenominated Engineering

timeforheroes01

Alright lads.. so yeah i'm in leaving cert(sorry for invadin' your forum :P) and i'm fairly sure about engineering in nuig. Stuck between a few different courses like Energy Systems Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering and Structural so I was think about doin' the undenominated one. Just wondering if ye could help me out with your experiences or whatever. Bit apprehensive about the undenominated too cos the timetable looks completly mental, like lectures at 8 at night and stuff? or am i way off haha? Thanks lads

the-island-man

Hi,
I'm a final year electronic & computer Engineering undergraduate. I came straight into it as a denomiated student. First of all I have a few mates who done undenominated, appeared they were doing a few hours extra than I was doing in first year and found it to be good to find out how they liked the different courses. If your thinking of doing any type of engineering you better get used of the hours, it is basically a full time job. I don't think there's been one semester before this year that I've had less than about 30 hours of classes a week between labs and lectures. In my view for some people this is more of a pro than a con. Sure sometimes it gets to you a bit when you see arts students doing 10 hour weeks but when I think about it I would be bored stiff if I only had 10 hours a week.
With regards the course, they try to teach you as much as they can about computer hardware and computer software development as possible.
At the end of four years you can either go into the computer hardware sector where you would be designing & building circuits and more than lightly testing circuits or you can go into the I.T sector and develop software or you can go into the embedded devices sector which is basically a mix of building and testing hardware and developing software to run on that hardware.
In my opinion if you are more interested in building hardware circuits than developing software I would do electronic engineering rather than electronic & computer engineering. They do extra electronic based subjects in the final two years than our course does. This is a big advantage.
Half of first year modules are an introduction to engineering fundamentals and programming while the other half is basically a recap of subjects that are thought in the Leaving cert that need to be known such as Maths, Applied maths, physics and chemistry.
The god thing about going into engineering in galway around now is that by 2012 there will be a new engineering building built that will have state of the art facilities!

timeforheroes01

Ok grand thanks alot!! Haha I wouldn't mind 30 hours plus a week if there wasn't massive gaps betwwen lectures and stuff but sure i'll try find out more about the timetable anyways

f1dan

I'm went straight into civil and if I had the chance i'd probably do undenominated instead. You get a flavour of every course and can make up your mind at the end of the year. All the first year timetables are fairly similar so you don't fall very far behind, if at all. I'd definitely recommend it.

friendface

I've just graduated from Civil Engineering and I started out doing undenominated in first year. You do end up with a lot of hours and a few more exams but to be honest, the extra exams are not difficult. You get to experience what the different engineering courses are like and the lecture material in these introductory courses is not difficult. We had lectures in Civil, mechanical, electrical and industrial engineering. I really enjoyed the mechanical introductory course as part of it involved building a model car using a few basic supplies and a €10 budget. Twas great craic and at the end of the year we all raced our model cars in one of the lecture theaters. Only difference between the civil course and the undenominated course was that we did not take the module in surveying meaning that it was a compulsory module for us in 2nd year. Anyone who did straight civil engineering took surveying in first year and had a choice between 3 subjects in second year (French, German or Numerical Analysis). Undenominated students were exempt from these subjects in second year as we had to take surveying. So it does not increase your workload in 2nd year.

I found that doing undenominated engineering was a great way of making friends also. We had a lot of group projects throughout the year and that was a great way of meeting people. You also get to know people across all the engineering disciplines instead of just civils. I'd definitely recommend it anyway.

timeforheroes01

friendface wrote: »

I've just graduated from Civil Engineering and I started out doing undenominated in first year. You do end up with a lot of hours and a few more exams but to be honest, the extra exams are not difficult. You get to experience what the different engineering courses are like and the lecture material in these introductory courses is not difficult. We had lectures in Civil, mechanical, electrical and industrial engineering. I really enjoyed the mechanical introductory course as part of it involved building a model car using a few basic supplies and a €10 budget. Twas great craic and at the end of the year we all raced our model cars in one of the lecture theaters. Only difference between the civil course and the undenominated course was that we did not take the module in surveying meaning that it was a compulsory module for us in 2nd year. Anyone who did straight civil engineering took surveying in first year and had a choice between 3 subjects in second year (French, German or Numerical Analysis). Undenominated students were exempt from these subjects in second year as we had to take surveying. So it does not increase your workload in 2nd year.

I found that doing undenominated engineering was a great way of making friends also. We had a lot of group projects throughout the year and that was a great way of meeting people. You also get to know people across all the engineering disciplines instead of just civils. I'd definitely recommend it anyway.

Cool sounds goods alright! Thanks for the help!!

Doctor_Socks

I'm a recent graduate of Electronic and Computer Engineering in nuig. I'm doing a postgrad at the moment. The course is a very good course, the course numbers are usually very small so you get to know most of your class very well, (always handy to know everyone in the room when something isn't goin well so ya can say 'F**k this, bar anyone?' ). The department are very friendly aswell and you get to know most of your lecturers pretty fast which can be a good thing.

The workload can be quite hard in the course, I know the vast majority of people in my class almost went crazy with the workload, especially in the later years. It is worth it though as you can work in quite a few different areas after you graduate and if you ever want to take off for a year to another country your degree will be able to get you a job in pretty much any country.

The undenominated engineering gives a very small glimpse of the electronics side of engineering. The undenominated engineers that started in my class in 2nd year only had experience in one electronics module compared to experience in a few civil modules.

witnessmenow

Oh no Doctor Socks, Its happened... you've become their bitch!


When the engineering building going to be finished? Cause at the moment I would rate the facilities quite lowly for engineering in NUIG, especially for those in Nuns island (Mecahnical, Bio-medical, industrial and whatever they are calling the electronic courses these days)

I'm just out of Electronic and computer engineering. I think the course was ok, i thought if used the time allocated to software quite badly, eg not enough focus on linux (and trust me im about as big a windows fan as your likely to meet!)

I dont regret doing the course though, i just feel it could be improved

joeKel73

I did undenominated too. The hours are heavy alright (40ish) and I remember late evening labs on Tuedays (8 or 9pm)... but it'll be the same group of you going from lecture to lecture so it's usually good craic. You do all the common subjects, and also almost all the specific subjects for each course. The variety of subjects keeps it interesting. I went into Civil after and we did the 1st year Civil surveying course in second year, so you're at no disadvantage behind the core civil class.

Almost everyone ends up going for what they were leaning towards initially at the end of it... I'd still recommend it though.

timeforheroes01

foto joe wrote: »

I did undenominated too. The hours are heavy alright (40ish) and I remember late evening labs on Tuedays (8 or 9pm)... but it'll be the same group of you going from lecture to lecture so it's usually good craic. You do all the common subjects, and also almost all the specific subjects for each course. The variety of subjects keeps it interesting. I went into Civil after and we did the 1st year Civil surveying course in second year, so you're at no disadvantage behind the core civil class.

Almost everyone ends up going for what they were leaning towards initially at the end of it... I'd still recommend it though.

Cool sounds good.. What's the story with choosing your course in 2nd year like is there only a specific number of places in each course so you mightn't be able to get into the course you want to or anything??

friendface

timeforheroes01 wrote: »

Cool sounds good.. What's the story with choosing your course in 2nd year like is there only a specific number of places in each course so you mightn't be able to get into the course you want to or anything??

At the end of first year you choose your top 3 engineering course choices. Generally, all students are offered their first choice. I think students are always offered their first choice but the university have to cover themselves by saying this isn't guaranteed in case of the unlikely event of nearly all students picking the same course.

We were told that it is highly unlikely that we would not get offered our first choice anyway.

Good luck with your course, whatever you decide to do!

cormike

I did Undenominated Engineering also. Theres one thing you have to watch out for though. Its not as undenominated as you would think. On the first day your have to choose between a module in civil engineering and Biology so thats something to mull over before you enroll in the course. Id say its definitely a great course if you know you want to go into engineering but you´re sure what type. There is a shameful amount of hours in first year but you can shave a few of them off if youre smart about it :cool: