University and qualifications...

[maniac0796]

Dunno if this is the right place, but:

I left college last year, with 2 AS levels, and 2 BTEC's. For the last year, I've done an city and guilds level 2 NVQ in car maintenance, and can continue onto level 3 soon. I'd like to think I'm quite good with cars and would happily be able to have a go at fixing something or modifying something, or even making something for one.

After taking my mate up to uni last weekend, and being there made me sort of wish I'd done more to be able to get into uni, but being 17 and 18 at college, I didn't really know what I wanted to be. Now I have a better idea of what I want out of life. So I started looking on the UCAS site at various courses to do with automotive engineering, or motor sport engineering.

But, all these courses seem like they want at least 3 a levels, with ones in maths and physics. My AS' are in maths and physics, but they're useless unless they're full A level's from the sounds of it. The BTEC's count as an A level each, but they're in music performance and music technology, so not much use.

What I want to know is, what chance of getting into uni to do something like automotive engineering do I have. It seems that the experience of working in a garage for over a year won't count to anything, and that all that matters is UCAS points or whatever, which I don't have enough of.

Is it worth applying with what I've got anyway, and maybe get an interview or demonstration of something, and see if they say yes, or will they just decline because I didn't memorize some answers?

Anyone had experience with this or relatives etc?

[Stevenj214]

Find a course you would like to do and speak to the admissions tutor. You may have to go back to college or do a university access course.

[hairykrishna]

I don't know about automotive engineering specifically but mech eng in general requires reasonably good maths skills. My guess is that you're going to struggle to even get to the interview stage without a full A level in maths. What were your AS grades?

[xr287]

Some universities run summer schools where you do an intensive 10 week-ish term and if you pass all the courses above a certain level required for whatever particular course you want to do you get automatic entry.

You are not always limited to joining the uni you do the summer school at as some will accept a pass at another universities summer school. Just need to do a bit of research for yourself.

[ATG]

Stevenj214 said:

Find a course you would like to do and speak to the admissions tutor. You may have to go back to college or do a university access course.

Nail on the head.

[maniac0796]

hairykrishna said:

I don't know about automotive engineering specifically but mech eng in general requires reasonably good maths skills. My guess is that you're going to struggle to even get to the interview stage without a full A level in maths. What were your AS grades?

B at Physics, and an E at maths. Couldn't get statistics down.

So is it generally a case of going back to college and getting the necsacery grades to go to uni?

[hairykrishna]

maniac0796 said:

hairykrishna said:

I don't know about automotive engineering specifically but mech eng in general requires reasonably good maths skills. My guess is that you're going to struggle to even get to the interview stage without a full A level in maths. What were your AS grades?

B at Physics, and an E at maths. Couldn't get statistics down.

So is it generally a case of going back to college and getting the necsacery grades to go to uni?

There are some course options that lower the grade requirements - most engineering departments offer a 'foundation year' which is a year crammed with maths and basic mechanics modules to get you up to speed. I think even for these though you might have to head back to college or check out the summer school options others have mentioned. I'd drop an email to the admissions tutors of some of the places you're interested in. They'll give you some info on what the best route to take is.

[Ultuous]

maniac0796 said:

B at Physics, and an E at maths. Couldn't get statistics down.

So is it generally a case of going back to college and getting the necsacery grades to go to uni?

Engineering degrees are very maths intensive (it made my head hurt sometimes, despite having the A-level) so I'd recommend getting the grades first, as much for your own comfort that you won't feel out of depth with the maths on the degree as anything!

It's been 15 years since I did my A-levels, but we had a choice between courses waited towards stats or mechanics (I chose the latter)... Might this be an option for you... I'm guessing that with the B in Physics that a lot of the maths isn't too much of a problem for you?

[Engineer1]

Also years mechanicing is of little use as a way into engineering but is probably a god send once you are in. As an automotive engineer you will be designing, testing etc with limited hands on, the years of mechanicing may mean you are a little more concious of how a part will be worked on once fitted.

[maniac0796]

Ultuous said:

maniac0796 said:

B at Physics, and an E at maths. Couldn't get statistics down.

So is it generally a case of going back to college and getting the necsacery grades to go to uni?

It's been 15 years since I did my A-levels, but we had a choice between courses waited towards stats or mechanics (I chose the latter)... Might this be an option for you... I'm guessing that with the B in Physics that a lot of the maths isn't too much of a problem for you?

I've never struggled with maths. Problem was, at college for AS, you had to do stats as a module, along with core 1 and 2. In the second year, you get to choose mechanics, or stats as the 6th module. Obviously, getting an E meant I couldn't do a second year, but I was younger and didn't know what I wanted to do, so didn't think much of it. But I found physics easy. Makes complete sense.

Might look at foundation degrees. Seems the automotive ones give you a degree in Mechanical engineering, so I can now see why they want such good grades in maths and physics.

As much as I love working on cars, I don't really want to be stuck in the whole servicing side of it, would prefer to get a lot more out of it.