Need some guidance regarding university and my degree

[Hadi Rizvi]

Guys I have done A levels by Pearson Edexcel and appeared for Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I got A*AA respectively. My physics teacher told me that judging from my results, my strength lies in mechanics and physics. Therefore, I decided to pursue either Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering(because I have huge interest in aircraft manufacturing, maintenance and design)

I'm interested in studying at Australian Universities because my aunt lives in Melbourne (so I can save accommodation costs) and I found the standard of education in Australian Universities to be very good. Another reason I chose Australia is because their immigration system is relatively simple and easy.

Therefore, I need guidance whether I have chosen the correct degree and also which universities would be best for the above mentioned degree. I'm open to suggestions for universities of other countries as I also have offers from UK universities.

 

[Syed1]

I was in the same boat as you in 2008-2009. I was a huge fan of aeroplanes since my childhood (I still have the lego models I made as a kid) and always used to read articles on fighter jets and learn more about their performance.

That is why I chose mechanical engineering and I would say it has turned out very well for me. Mechanical engineering is a very vast field and you can get into several different avenues once you graduate. They teach you about thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, structural failure, material science, electronics, machinery and mechanisms etc.

Even though I wasn't able to secure a job in the aerospace industry but that hasn't prevented me from pursuing my interest. During mechanical engineering they taught us to use SolidWorks for CAD and I often in my spare time model fighter jets or jet engines, compressors and 3D print them from the 3D printer I have at home.

Coming to the topic of jobs, after graduation I got a job as an engineer at a company that built ships and naval vessels for the Canadian navy. That was SO interesting. I worked there for two years but had to move to be closer to family. Then I secured a job at a consulting firm that designs and builds water treatment plants and water infrastructure (dams etc). See how diverse fields I can get in because of my degree?

Aerospace engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering and you practically learn all the same things but it is focused towards airplanes. However, it is very restrictive and once you graduate you can ONLY work for an aerospace company and lets be honest there aren't a lot of jobs in that field.

 

[endymion248]

Not from the field - but wouldn't the UK be a better option given the presence of Airbus and ESA there? Does Australia even have any aerospatial industry? Studying in the Uk (or North America), you can do internships in the industry and make helpful connections for later.

 

[SwingIsKing]

Hope this finds you well.

First of all congratulations for those grades - if I might ask, which University offers have you had in the UK that you're interested in?

There are some good Universities for Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering in the UK especially since you seem interested in aviation, though you seem quite comfortable with the prospect of studying at Australia so that may be good to look into.

 

[Moiza]

One thing to consider is the that you may like on thing but once you study it you may start disliking it. It's hard to know what you like and dislike at this stage of your life, when I completed my A levels I had an imaginable love for programming which faded away rather quickly once I studied the theory part of it. Programming itself is fun but the way programming is taught is not.

You should do a lot of research on your likes and dislikes. Check the subjects of the degree you are about to study, download pdfs and look at the course you are going to be studying. This sort of research could save you from 4 years of Misery.

I'm doing chartered accountancy atm and if you had asked me 3 years ago if I would have done this then the answer would've been a straight know but it's surprising how quickly you start loving something you hate and start hating something you once loved.

My suggestion to you is that you should look into the ciriculum of every engineering and don't restrict yourself just yet that too based on the judgment of your teacher. I have done exceptionally well in subjects I hated and done poorly in the ones I loved.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

My suggestion to you is that you should look into the ciriculum of every engineering and don't restrict yourself just yet that too based on the judgment of your teacher. I have done exceptionally well in subjects I hated and done poorly in the ones I loved.

Thanks for your advice.

TBH I was very attracted by medicine and Biology before my A levels so I had actually taken 4 subjects in my AS level (i.e the above mentioned subjects and Biology) but when I started studying AS level Biology, I struggled a lot and a got a B by a whisker while I got an A comfortably in the other 3 subjects. That day, I realised that medicine is not the field for me and I decided to drop it in A2 and thus my attraction for medicine ended.

It turned out to be a great decision as I actually started enjoying my studies and I've already mentioned the end result. And btw in no way does this mean that I hated Maths, in fact, I got the highest marks in Riyadh/Central region in my IGCSE O level Maths exam. If it hadn't been for "Sets, Venn Diagram and Set Notations" then I would have had the highest marks in the world.

 

[Belawal2014]

I was in the same boat as you in 2008-2009. I was a huge fan of aeroplanes since my childhood (I still have the lego models I made as a kid) and always used to read articles on fighter jets and learn more about their performance.

That is why I chose mechanical engineering and I would say it has turned out very well for me. Mechanical engineering is a very vast field and you can get into several different avenues once you graduate. They teach you about thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, structural failure, material science, electronics, machinery and mechanisms etc.

Even though I wasn't able to secure a job in the aerospace industry but that hasn't prevented me from pursuing my interest. During mechanical engineering they taught us to use SolidWorks for CAD and I often in my spare time model fighter jets or jet engines, compressors and 3D print them from the 3D printer I have at home.

Coming to the topic of jobs, after graduation I got a job as an engineer at a company that built ships and naval vessels for the Canadian navy. That was SO interesting. I worked there for two years but had to move to be closer to family. Then I secured a job at a consulting firm that designs and builds water treatment plants and water infrastructure (dams etc). See how diverse fields I can get in because of my degree?

Aerospace engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering and you practically learn all the same things but it is focused towards airplanes. However, it is very restrictive and once you graduate you can ONLY work for an aerospace company and lets be honest there aren't a lot of jobs in that field.

Pretty much this. I get so much flak from my brother who's in his last year of Mech Eng, saying Software Eng is useless and I agree, tbh.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Pretty much this. I get so much flak from my brother who's in his last year of Mech Eng, saying Software Eng is useless and I agree, tbh.

This is surprising to say the least. I've read and heard that Software Engineers are in 10x more demand than any other engineering field. And such a high demand does make sense in today's world because almost everything nowadays relies on some kind of software.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

I was in the same boat as you in 2008-2009. I was a huge fan of aeroplanes since my childhood (I still have the lego models I made as a kid) and always used to read articles on fighter jets and learn more about their performance.

That is why I chose mechanical engineering and I would say it has turned out very well for me. Mechanical engineering is a very vast field and you can get into several different avenues once you graduate. They teach you about thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, structural failure, material science, electronics, machinery and mechanisms etc.

Even though I wasn't able to secure a job in the aerospace industry but that hasn't prevented me from pursuing my interest. During mechanical engineering they taught us to use SolidWorks for CAD and I often in my spare time model fighter jets or jet engines, compressors and 3D print them from the 3D printer I have at home.

Coming to the topic of jobs, after graduation I got a job as an engineer at a company that built ships and naval vessels for the Canadian navy. That was SO interesting. I worked there for two years but had to move to be closer to family. Then I secured a job at a consulting firm that designs and builds water treatment plants and water infrastructure (dams etc). See how diverse fields I can get in because of my degree?

Aerospace engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering and you practically learn all the same things but it is focused towards airplanes. However, it is very restrictive and once you graduate you can ONLY work for an aerospace company and lets be honest there aren't a lot of jobs in that field.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Your post was very satisfying and also made me smile at times but I genuinely got worried when I read the last paragraph. My logic for choosing Aerospace was that, as far as I know, almost every country has it's own Civil Aviation Authority and airline, so I thought that there can't be a dearth of jobs in this field.

Secondly I have read on many reliable websites that there is a high demand of Aerospace engineers due to the ever growing aviation industry. Do you feel that I might struggle to get a job in Australia if I pursue Aerospace engineering?

 

[sjahmed23]

Mech Engineering will give you a variety of options to choose from. I would say nowadays it doesn't really matter what your engineering background is, as long as you can think through problems analytically and you can explain your thought process to managers and execs, you can pretty much go anywhere you want. I have a lot of ee friends and mech friends who went to work for boeing and I have seen aero space engineers work in other fields. My only suggestion would be go to a university which has close relationships with the industry you are trying to into. For example, my company has a good understanding with NYU as they have lab equipment and facilities to do our research analysis, so we often hire engineers from there who know the work and whatnot.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Go ahead with University of Melbourne.

Mera Khuda tumharay saath ho.

 

[sshakir411]

Only thing I'll add is don't restrict yourself to places where you have family. Some savings on living cost are helpful but in the long term you're better off going to the place that will offer you the best opportunities. I don't know about Australia but if I were in your shoes with those kind of grades I'd aim for a comp sci degree at UC Berkley or UCLA to eventually end up working in the Valley or go to Princeton to do either Math or Engineering.

 

[Belawal2014]

This is surprising to say the least. I've read and heard that Software Engineers are in 10x more demand than any other engineering field. And such a high demand does make sense in today's world because almost everything nowadays relies on some kind of software.

Yeahp, that's the main reason I went in to Software Eng. My advice is to do what you're good at and what your interest is in. The rest (job, money, etc) will find a way.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Hope this finds you well.

First of all congratulations for those grades - if I might ask, which University offers have you had in the UK that you're interested in?

There are some good Universities for Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering in the UK especially since you seem interested in aviation, though you seem quite comfortable with the prospect of studying at Australia so that may be good to look into.

Thanks.

I have an offer from the University of Manchester but I had to defer it to September 2017 because I was too late in applying for the visa. I'm not too interested in the UK because I want to settle in the country where I complete my bachelor's degree and the UK has some complicated procedures for that and I read somewhere in PP that UK residency/nationality might take 6-7 years which is too much.

Australia has a much simpler immigration system and they have a severe shortage of skilled labour so that increases my chances of being able to settle in Australia.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Only thing I'll add is don't restrict yourself to places where you have family. Some savings on living cost are helpful but in the long term you're better off going to the place that will offer you the best opportunities. I don't know about Australia but if I were in your shoes with those kind of grades I'd aim for a comp sci degree at UC Berkley or UCLA to eventually end up working in the Valley or go to Princeton to do either Math or Engineering.

I would love to go to the USA but it really is very expensive and I do have a limited budget you know. I will definitely consider the US for my Master's degree as by then I will be much more stable and confident.

 

[Belawal2014]

I would love to go to the USA but it really is very expensive and I do have a limited budget you know. I will definitely consider the US for my Master's degree as by then I will be much more stable and confident.

DO NOT GO to the US or Canada if you aren't on a scholarship. Education for international students seems to be a business here. International students at my Uni pay like 6x, 7x more than Canadian citizens. It's horrible..

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Go ahead with University of Melbourne.

Mera Khuda tumharay saath ho.

I looked at their courses but I wasn't satisfied with their confusing degrees and apart from that, they don't have much connections with employers whereas RMIT and Monash university both have strong links with industry.

Thanks for your kind wishes. May Allah bless you.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

DO NOT GO to the US or Canada if you aren't on a scholarship. Education for international students seems to be a business here. International students at my Uni pay like 6x, 7x more than Canadian citizens. It's horrible..

I know that and it is the exact reason why I've chosen not to apply at Canadian or American universities for my undergrad degree

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Mech Engineering will give you a variety of options to choose from. I would say nowadays it doesn't really matter what your engineering background is, as long as you can think through problems analytically and you can explain your thought process to managers and execs, you can pretty much go anywhere you want. I have a lot of ee friends and mech friends who went to work for boeing and I have seen aero space engineers work in other fields. My only suggestion would be go to a university which has close relationships with the industry you are trying to into. For example, my company has a good understanding with NYU as they have lab equipment and facilities to do our research analysis, so we often hire engineers from there who know the work and whatnot.

Yeah I have done this exact kind of research and found that, in Melbourne, only RMIT and Monash University have strong industry links and can really boost my chances of securing a job as soon as I finish my degree. Apart from that, both are among the top 100 in the world for engineering and technology studies which is a massive bonus for a guy like me.

 

[Syed1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Your post was very satisfying and also made me smile at times but I genuinely got worried when I read the last paragraph. My logic for choosing Aerospace was that, as far as I know, almost every country has it's own Civil Aviation Authority and airline, so I thought that there can't be a dearth of jobs in this field.

Secondly I have read on many reliable websites that there is a high demand of Aerospace engineers due to the ever growing aviation industry. Do you feel that I might struggle to get a job in Australia if I pursue Aerospace engineering?

My pleasure.


With regards to aerospace engineering, it is just my opinion and obviously I can be wrong. If you feel like there is enough scope for it in Australia then by all means follow your heart.


One thing I would recommend is enroll into the co-op program. In Australia they might have a different name for it but in Canada it is called a co-op program. Co-op is when you need to have mandatory 16 months of industry experience to graduate. Most people split it into 4 Co-ops of 4 month each over the summer and this way they don't miss any semesters. The university helps you landing a co-op job using its industry linkages. Although you would have no time to travel or visit family but this will let you have SIXTEEN months of paid industrial experience even before you graduate and would definitely put you ahead of your peers who haven't completed co-ops. Most times the companies that offer you the co-op job will also offer you a fulltime job once you graduate if you had been impressive during your time there.