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I'm doing Maths, Biology and Physics.. Degree options??

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Old 12th Mar 2009, 14:52
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I'm doing Maths, Biology and Physics.. Degree options??

Ive been looking at Aero eng but by the sounds of things, it is very hard and takes up way too much social time at uni...

Are there any degree options that i can do with these subjects other than a really hard engineering one??


Thanks.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 14:59
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Sambo,

considering this is an aviation related forum, can I deduce that you are asking us for advice as to what degree (if at all required) will help you get an aviation job (pilot, mechanic).

If not, then perphaps you should see your schools career advisor.

By the way:

"it is very hard and takes up way too much social time at uni..."

Perhaps you should avoid UNI and save all our taxes to pay for you to get drunk every night waking up at 2pm the next day!!!

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Old 12th Mar 2009, 15:02
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Have you looked at Mechnical Engineering?
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 17:21
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aero eng

Sambo, I did the 4 years BEng hons in aeronautical engineering. While yes it was very tough at times, everyone still managed lots of social time as you put it. Its still university, you still finish the day at 1pm and spend the rest of the day in the pub/turn up hungover for 9am lectures etc. Its all about balance, some people would do that, and the others would have to cram before exam time. Some would study consistently through the term and find exam time a breeze.
Although the material was difficult sometimes, I found the fact that I was genuinely interested in the subjects and a career in aviation, more than gave me the motivation to study. If you were doing a degree that you're not really interested in but only decided to do so because you had heard it was easier than others, then I can guarantee you would probably turn up to even less lectures as you wouldnt have any motivation and you would also assume it was easy enough to catch up on therefore skip even more.

Perhaps you should sit down and really think about what you actually want to do and the reasons why you want to go to university.

Best of luck with your decision!

C
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 17:28
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Aero Eng may seem to have longer hours than other degrees, but this is when you only consider the hours spent in lectures/labs/tutorials etc. In arts subjects with only a few hours a week, you would be expected to do most of the work in your own time, you would end up doing almost as much work as Aero Eng students. I don't know if there are any degrees which are easy and genuinely have low hours, but if they exist I doubt that employers would have any respect for them.

If you don't like studying, then you should be considering whether uni is for you.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 18:00
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I am in Aviation and did Geography. Unless you want to do something specific like Engineering it doesn't really matter what degree you do, although I would be tempted to avoid things like media studies.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 18:03
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My course was £1700 per year, all paid for by the government thankfully.

I would suggest doing a degree you enjoy, my first degree was in Law. I hated Law with a passion but finished it and went on to do a degree in something I found much more interesting (and easier for me) computing.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 19:12
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I did a MSc/BSc in Physics and graduated at the turn of the century. Best thing i ever did and it expanded my mind so much

good luck with whatever you choose
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 19:29
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I would question your motivation to go to university if you're after a toss-off degree. Either do a decent one or don't bother.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 19:53
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I think i'll probably do physics, im not looking for a "toss off" degree as you put it. i do actually want to get somewhere in life.
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 20:09
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No Capatain Random.

Even those that have parents with a salary above a certain threshold hence the paying of £3145, it is still heavily subsidised by Mr & Mrs Taxpayer.

Those below a certain salary have incremental decreases in payment until it reaches zero payment!
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Old 12th Mar 2009, 22:31
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It's far from a waste of money, majority of students are tax payers as well. Could be worst, they could all be claiming benefits if they had no jobs
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 06:04
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I think i'll probably do physics, im not looking for a "toss off" degree as you put it. i do actually want to get somewhere in life.
Wicked! I wish i could go back and do it all over again. Physics will open your mind to a whole new realm of possibilities and trust me what you learn at A-level is nothing compared to the beauty that is Quantum mechanics! One of my fellow students quit the course because he couldn't handle the implications of QM! There is allot of maths - once i finished i joked they should have give me a maths degree too. 9-5 lectures for the whole 3-year course but you will soon get into the swing of things

mmm perhaps it's time to look at the phd option mmm

Good luck and you made the right decision
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 08:47
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So we have gone for a "not really hard engineering degree so I can p!ss about" to Physics?

I don't know your background and perhaps you do have the brains to be the next Lucassian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge but judging by your post, you seem to just want to do the standard thing which is to go to University - not necessarily for a P!ss up but to further yourself. Many people do it and take courses like Environmental Management, and Art, or Human Geography. Good luck to them.

But Physics is completely different. Physics isn't something you just fancy doing. Most of my colleagues are MSc Pure Maths or Physics graduates, min IQ's of 140 and the type of people that got A's in A Level Further Maths without even thinking about it. Yet in Uni, they were in their books every waking hour just to get a 2.2 for the Bachelors.

Physics is probably the second hardest degree course to take. Hardest is probably Philosophy and Physics in Cambridge - when I looked in 2001 at the prospectus, it required 30 UCAS points (three A's- max intake 24 students).

You still haven't elaborated as to whether your question is pertaining to a future career in aviation - pilot, mechanic, engineer?

If not, then this isn't really the forum where you should ask those questions. Its like a A-level chemistry student coming here and asking if its best to study Medicine at Kings College or Cambridge....
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 09:46
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I have to agree with skyhighbird, going from not wanting to do something hard like Aeronautical Engineering because you want a social life and then saying you want to do Physics shows a lack of understanding. I wouldn't say there's much to choose between them in terms of work load. Both will make your brain hurt in ways you cannot begin to imagine. The same applies to plenty of other engineering degrees too, Mechanical, Chemical... probably even some of the structural work in a Civil Engineering degree.

Whoever said they studied Aero and finished their lectures at 1pm, can I ask which kindergarten did you study at?

Having studied engineering for 7 years I can say it's worth it, even though I don't work in the field, it's tough but it gives you a lot of clout in the workplace particularly if you study at a top notch university.
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 10:18
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Just one observation... don't touch Engineering degrees unless you are *very* strong at maths. As for other courses, I couldn't say.
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 11:58
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You should not be asking this question on this forum at all.

As has been said repeatedly, it matter not a jot what degree you have if you want to fly. Diverting into something that you think may be useful is in fact a terrible choice and could compromise your degree result.

Do what you are best at, and what interests you academically.

NEVER choose a degree related to aviation unless you have academic aptitude in that area!!
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 16:49
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aero eng

Mr Grimsdale,

yeah that was me that studied aero eng and finished lectures at 1pm everyday in both 3rd and 4th year. Maybe a couple of days a week there would be labs/tutorials in the afternoon, but more often than not that was you for the day.

The kindergarden was university of glasgow.
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Old 13th Mar 2009, 17:45
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Originally Posted by colette
Mr Grimsdale,

yeah that was me that studied aero eng and finished lectures at 1pm everyday in both 3rd and 4th year. Maybe a couple of days a week there would be labs/tutorials in the afternoon, but more often than not that was you for the day.

The kindergarden was university of glasgow.
I don't honestly recall the specific hours I did on my degree, but overall my recollection is around 50-60 hours of study per week, and on the similar courses that I've taught on our students were working similar hours.

On all such courses years 3-5 are likely to show substantially reduced lecture hours. That's because you're increasingly working on individual and group study projects, and not because it gets easier. An aero-eng graduate should be somebody capable of being dropped into a new project and left to a fair extent to get on with it, and the ability to do that is in large part achieved through doing large amounts of assessed and overseen work, rather than just sitting in lectures or doing pre-planned labs.

Mind you I've seen students work 25 hour weeks on such courses, and some of them pass. Generally not well, and almost certainly not with grades that make them employable as anything beyond a junior "back room boy" (or girl).

G
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