College Courses...Engineering?

41542

Hi i'm currently doing the leaving cert and dcg, maths, physics and biology would be my favourite subjects especially dcg. I was thinking of doing engineering in college - Process&Chemical? Would this involve a lot of drawing does anyone know? Since i've been looking up engineering courses they fail to mention it in most! And not doing chemistry for my leaving -is that a big loss going into that type of engineering? Don't know should I go follow the engineering path or settle for something more Architectural or Construction like?
Thanks

ScummyMan

Have you considered Product Design? I'm not too knowledgeable on it personally but I have a friend who wants to do it, and he says the course content is pretty similar to the DCG project. As far as I know the computer programme they use is SolidWorks aswell.

kingcobra

Chemistry would certainly help a lot with it, but you can get into most Engineering courses with just a HC3 in Maths, and the points requirement, and then you do a chemistry module in the course itself that gets you up to speed.
However, I know for Trinity and UCD you must do common entry engineering, which means that you have to do civil, electronic engineering, chemical engineering etc. and then make your decision after 1st/2nd year. This is probably the better route to go down because I know a few people have completely changed their mindset after doing it.

But yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about not doing chemistry for the Leaving. I'm in the same boat as you, doing the same subjects and I'm just going to go on and do common entry engineering and then make my specific course choice.

pinkbear

I did electrical & electronic engineering in college. I wouldn't worry about not having chemistry going into engineering: no-one has all the relevant subjects, some have physics, some engineering, some applied maths, some chemistry, some technology etc. So everything is taken from the beginning, though very fast, so it may be a bit of extra work to keep up. If you enjoy the technical / science subjects, you are probably suited to engineering.
My main advice to you would be just to be aware that it's a long, hard, not very interesting course. You will have double the lectures of many other courses, and get used to failing or doing badly in exams. Many times during my course I questioned if it was the right choice for me.
However, I don't for a minute regret it, as I have had some fantastic jobs since (and some great pay!). None of my jobs were ever boring, and I still use many of my technical skills daily, 20 years after college. In general engineers are just very good at solving technical problems, even if they are not directly using what they did in college, they use it directly.

Have you had a look at bio-medical engineering?

kilrush

I'm currently in 2nd year in Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering in UCD. I haven't really come across much technical drawing at all really! I suppose we will have to draw plant designs in later years but as of now I have yet to use CAD or anything like that ! Having done chemistry in the Leaving Cert. helped a small bit in the one chemistry module we did in first year but apart from that everything else is more or less new to us too so it isn't a big disadvantage! Some of my friends did not do physics and they found that to be much tougher than those who didn't do Chemistry. There is actually some places this year where biology helps for example I've an exam in Biotechnology tomorrow which is all about Genetics and Cells and Stuff like that!

Some of my friends in Mech. and Bio. Medical Engineering did a module in first year where they had CAD labs every second week so there is space in engineering for drawing!

PM me if you have any more questions as you can see I'm procrastinating studying so I am very willings to help !!

gwakamoley

41542 wrote: »

Hi i'm currently doing the leaving cert and dcg, maths, physics and biology would be my favourite subjects especially dcg. I was thinking of doing engineering in college - Process&Chemical? Would this involve a lot of drawing does anyone know? Since i've been looking up engineering courses they fail to mention it in most! And not doing chemistry for my leaving -is that a big loss going into that type of engineering? Don't know should I go follow the engineering path or settle for something more Architectural or Construction like?
Thanks

I'm in first year Engineering in UCD. As mentioned already it's general for first year so all 275 of us do the same modules. For the first semester we have been doing a module in Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanics and Creativity in Design.

Creativity has been the only one with any bit of drawing in it and even at that it was only 20% of the total grade. Every other module has been very maths heavy. Chemistry was pretty much the Leaving Cert course without Organic Chemistry. It would require a fair bit of work to get up to scratch in Chemistry but its doable.

earwax_man

gwakamoley wrote: »

I'm in first year Engineering in UCD. As mentioned already it's general for first year so all 275 of us do the same modules. For the first semester we have been doing a module in Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanics and Creativity in Design.

Creativity has been the only one with any bit of drawing in it and even at that it was only 20% of the total grade. Every other module has been very maths heavy. Chemistry was pretty much the Leaving Cert course without Organic Chemistry. It would require a fair bit of work to get up to scratch in Chemistry but its doable.

I'm a 1st year Engineering student in Trinity just to provide a comparison for the OP We have 11 modules, of which we only have had 6 of those until we got Christmas holidays (mechanics, engineering maths, drawing, physics, experimental methods and introduction to professional engineering (total balls of a module - utterly worthless)). Of those subjects, applied maths and physics are simply a must to be able to do well in those modules. I know people who haven't physics done, and they're finding it very difficult. I'm even finding mechanics difficult having done applied maths up until last Christmas. In having LC drawing, we don't need to attend the lectures for 1E9 (drawing); and the tutorials are easier than Junior Cert. The main emphasis so far has been on calculus and general knowledge.
We have chemistry modules next semester, but we don't have an option for chemical engineering in TCD; so again seems a wee bit silly. :rolleyes:

Also worth a mention that AutoCAD is all we use, and they're trying to get us to be familiar with it. Not a major part of anything at the moment

gwakamoley

earwax_man wrote: »

I'm a 1st year Engineering student in Trinity just to provide a comparison for the OP We have 11 modules, of which we only have had 6 of those until we got Christmas holidays (mechanics, engineering maths, drawing, physics, experimental methods and introduction to professional engineering (total balls of a module - utterly worthless)). Of those subjects, applied maths and physics are simply a must to be able to do well in those modules. I know people who haven't physics done, and they're finding it very difficult. I'm even finding mechanics difficult having done applied maths up until last Christmas. In having LC drawing, we don't need to attend the lectures for 1E9 (drawing); and the tutorials are easier than Junior Cert. The main emphasis so far has been on calculus and general knowledge.
We have chemistry modules next semester, but we don't have an option for chemical engineering in TCD; so again seems a wee bit silly. :rolleyes:

Also worth a mention that AutoCAD is all we use, and they're trying to get us to be familiar with it. Not a major part of anything at the moment

Applied maths is very useful for engineering but I definitely wouldn't say it's a must. Mechanics would have been a lot more manageable for me if I had done Applied Maths for the Leaving but I think I managed ok with a bit of work.

On the topic of the OP's question about the amount of drawing, it would definitely seem like Trinity has more drawing than UCD in the first semester of first year, but both are pretty small amounts. In my opinion you should pick engineering if you like maths and science, if it's drawing you want there may be more suitable courses.

Fanatec

I don't want to hijack the thread but was wondering what considerations the above posters looked at when choosing their college (ie. Trinity over UCD etc.)

Was it the facilities/lecturers/location/reputation or just the general feel of the place?

Thanks in advance

Soldering_Iorn

DIT for engineering. Most recognised worldwide for engineering with best facilities compared to DCU, UCD, Trinity etc. Although if you're looking for campus, college life etc. Bolton St. is not where it's at!

If you're more for maths and not so much design - Mechanical Engineering DT022.
If you're less for engineering and more for design - Product Design DT001.
If you're looking for a well rounded course - Manufacturing & Design Engineering DT023 incorporates process, electrical & electronic, automation, manufacturing, design and in final year bio-med.

At the end of the day when it comes to employment, a Level 8 Degree in engineering is a Level 8 Degree in engineering! - no matter what discipline.

gwakamoley

Fanatec wrote: »

I don't want to hijack the thread but was wondering what considerations the above posters looked at when choosing their college (ie. Trinity over UCD etc.)

Was it the facilities/lecturers/location/reputation or just the general feel of the place?

Thanks in advance

These are what comes to mind for me at the moment as the biggest advantages of engineering in UCD over Trinity.

1 year general engineering : the two years of general engineering in Trinity is excessive and I have heard that 3rd year is very tough as students have to catch up after having non-specific learning for so long.

Semesterised exams: UCD exams are split between Christmas and Summer while all Trinity exams are in the Summer. This means that they are examined in material from modules that they haven't been in a lecture for in 6 months.

There's also the location to keep in mind when picking where you want to go. UCD has nice on campus accommodation and because it's not right in the center of the city like Trinity getting off campus accommodation is a bit less hassle.

The lecturers that I have had so far have been friendly and encourage the student to engage both in class and by sending them emails.

As the Soldering Iorn said, at the end of the day once you put the work into getting a good degree then a level 8 degree is a level 8 degree, whether its from UCD, DIT, TCD or where ever else.

I'll leave it to someone else to tell you why Trinners is for winners :P

41542

thanks a million for all the replies they're wonderful! I've been thinking lately to go into the more design/drawing route and UL courses are looking good for that! I had my heart set on Cork for college and doing engineering there but I'm not sure if it'll suit me ...I've basically heard nearly all engineering courses are basically all maths..I love maths it's one of my favourites but I don't think I'd be smart enough to face that standard of maths!

41542

And I know engineering will be a struggle but is it worth it in the end of the day? I know I shouldn't base my college choice on jobs or whatever but can't you branch off into so many things that it would be a better course to do instead of design or along those lines??

bren2001

Soldering_Iorn wrote: »

DIT for engineering. Most recognised worldwide for engineering with best facilities compared to DCU, UCD, Trinity etc. Although if you're looking for campus, college life etc. Bolton St. is not where it's at!

If you're more for maths and not so much design - Mechanical Engineering DT022.
If you're less for engineering and more for design - Product Design DT001.
If you're looking for a well rounded course - Manufacturing & Design Engineering DT023 incorporates process, electrical & electronic, automation, manufacturing, design and in final year bio-med.

At the end of the day when it comes to employment, a Level 8 Degree in engineering is a Level 8 Degree in engineering! - no matter what discipline.

I stopped reading there