2nd Year Student questions (1 Viewer)

[LeadTaco]

I'm studying a Bachelor of Eng and Sci and Macquarie uni, majoring in Mechanical and Chemistry respectively. I didn't put much thought into choosing my degree/majors, and coasted through my first year (have a terrible GPA atm). So I had a few questions that would help get my shit together.

1) To get into a post graduate program in something like a Master of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) at UNSW or USyd what major of Eng at Maq should I be doing (they don't have electrical at mq). Would Software be a good choice?

2) Which science major would go good with my Engineering major, if I was to go continue with Mech, switch to Computing Eng, or switch to Software Eng

2) Would there be much point in transferring after my second year to a better uni, like UNSW?

Thank You

 

[Silly Sausage]

I'm studying a Bachelor of Eng and Sci and Macquarie uni, majoring in Mechanical and Chemistry respectively. I didn't put much thought into choosing my degree/majors, and coasted through my first year (have a terrible GPA atm). So I had a few questions that would help get my shit together.

1) To get into a post graduate program in something like a Master of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) at UNSW or USyd what major of Eng at Maq should I be doing (they don't have electrical at mq). Would Software be a good choice?

2) Which science major would go good with my Engineering major, if I was to go continue with Mech, switch to Computing Eng, or switch to Software Eng

2) Would there be much point in transferring after my second year to a better uni, like UNSW?

Thank You

1. No, the closest to electrical engineering at MQ is electronics or computer engineering (both sub-disciplines of electrical engineering). I'd personally won't recommend commencing a MS/ME straight after your BE for employment reasons.

2. If you want to become an engineer after graduation, a science degree will most likely not benefit in the job market, (CS may be a bit of an exception especially with ECE).

3. Depends, especially if you want to do electrical engineering as a major and/or you can get the vast majority of your credits transferred.

ALSO,
Master of Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering are different.
Generally, Master of Science is for people who have completed an BEngineering degree in specific major and plan to study this major further in graduate school.
Master of Engineering is for people who have a BEngineering or BScience (usually physics, chem, math, CS majors) in with a major other than the major you're planning to do in Masters.

 

[LeadTaco]

Really appreciate your reply

Master of Engineering is for people who have a BEngineering or BScience (usually physics, chem, math, CS majors) in with a major other than the major you're planning to do in Masters.

The reason I asked about postgrad was because I figured Eng at MQ wouldn't be particularly appealing to the job market. Also, because I want to study/work in Electrical rather then Mech.

So, I think I'm going to drop Science and focus only on Engineering. Though hypothetically if I did continue and finish my degree doing Mech at Mq, based of what you said in the quote, around what GPA would I need to get into a Master of Engineering in Electrical at UNSW?

Thanks again

 

[Silly Sausage]

Really appreciate your reply



The reason I asked about postgrad was because I figured Eng at MQ wouldn't be particularly appealing to the job market. Also, because I want to study/work in Electrical rather then Mech.

So, I think I'm going to drop Science and focus only on Engineering. Though hypothetically if I did continue and finish my degree doing Mech at Mq, based of what you said in the quote, around what GPA would I need to get into a Master of Engineering in Electrical at UNSW?

Thanks again

Graduate programs generally accept at least a credit-average minimum (3.0 GPA).
Also, MQ's mechanical engineering program isn't fully accredited at Engineers Australia yet, so be wary of that.

 

[anomalousdecay]

I don't think going into a masters of electrical is a good idea without having a bachelors in electrical. Even having a bachelors in computer engineering wouldn't really suffice in my opinion.

Study electrical from scratch and get up to date with the engineering science in electrical. Then go on to do a masters in electrical if you wish.

If you end up going into the engineering industry, the science degree becomes almost redundant.

Transfer into what you actually want to study.

 

[Silly Sausage]

I saw your post on reddit, you need to note that there are quite a few differences in their education and qualification programs in U.S. compared to here.

 

[LeadTaco]

I don't think going into a masters of electrical is a good idea without having a bachelors in electrical. Even having a bachelors in computer engineering wouldn't really suffice in my opinion.

Study electrical from scratch and get up to date with the engineering science in electrical. Then go on to do a masters in electrical if you wish.

If you end up going into the engineering industry, the science degree becomes almost redundant.

Transfer into what you actually want to study.

MQ doesn't offer electrical, so I assumed Computer Eng is pretty versatile and relatable to Electrical and I was thinking of changing my science major to electronics. would that be better?

 

[LeadTaco]

I saw your post on reddit, you need to note that there are quite a few differences in their education and qualification programs in U.S. compared to here.

On the UNSW master of eng page their not very specific about the undergraduate requirements for admission so I wasn't very sure, and figured reddit could help

 

[D94]

On the UNSW master of eng page their not very specific about the undergraduate requirements for admission so I wasn't very sure, and figured reddit could help

http://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/.../master-of-engineering-electrical-engineering

Entry Requirements
Entry is open to students with a four year Bachelor of Engineering degree with a specialisation in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent including non-accredited degrees under the Washington Accord) with a minimum 70% average.*

Seems pretty clear to me. Or are you referring to something else?

 

[LeadTaco]

http://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/.../master-of-engineering-electrical-engineering

Entry Requirements
Entry is open to students with a four year Bachelor of Engineering degree with a specialisation in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent including non-accredited degrees under the Washington Accord) with a minimum 70% average.*

Seems pretty clear to me. Or are you referring to something else?

Sorry I was meant to quote the post above that, where he referenced that doing a masters in electrical engineering would be a bad idea if I didn't do my undergraduate in that major, and I was wondering if he meant it would be a bad idea in terms of admissions into post graduate or something else like applicability when finding a job

 

[anomalousdecay]

It's a bad idea because you've missed so much content and don't have the knowledge for an appropriate electrical thesis and/or project for a masters.

Your jump is equivalent to a year 9 student with only basic year 9 knowledge jumping to the final HSC year for 10 units or more.

Depends on what you learn in comp eng, but that isn't ideal either.

I hate to be blunt, but if you want a masters in elec, focus on obtaining a bachelor of elec first.

 

[LeadTaco]

It's a bad idea because you've missed so much content and don't have the knowledge for an appropriate electrical thesis and/or project for a masters.

Your jump is equivalent to a year 9 student with only basic year 9 knowledge jumping to the final HSC year for 10 units or more.

Depends on what you learn in comp eng, but that isn't ideal either.

I hate to be blunt, but if you want a masters in elec, focus on obtaining a bachelor of elec first.

Nah I appreciate the bluntness, what about Masters in Engineering Science (in Elec Eng) as the website says "allows students to consolidate a specialization from an undergraduate degree, change direction to a new area of engineering"

I might just hedge my bets and finish my degree, I can always go into IT if it doesn't work out lol

 

[anomalousdecay]

I suggest trying to do a bachelor's in engineering science first then a masters afterwards if you want.

Contact the school of elec at UNSW.

What are your motives towards getting a masters in electrical if you haven't done a bachelors in electrical? If you really want to study elec, then you should look at doing a bachelor of elec first.

 

[LeadTaco]

I suggest trying to do a bachelor's in engineering science first then a masters afterwards if you want.

Contact the school of elec at UNSW.

What are your motives towards getting a masters in electrical if you haven't done a bachelors in electrical? If you really want to study elec, then you should look at doing a bachelor of elec first.

I think you're right just seems like I'm wasting the last 2 years of my life by transferring, but I've been thinking about it, and with the double degree I'm currently doing, I'm looking at finishing my course by 2019-2020 so if I transfer to a single degree of engineering at another uni I could probably finish around the same time. So, if it's alright could answer some questions about what course of action I should take now since you seem like you know your shit.

Also, it should be noted that I'm most likely going to finish my 2nd year with a gpa of around 3-3.1/4 and I had two fails in the first semester of my first year.

Would that be alright to get me into UNSW or UTS eng (I'm going to be 20 by early 2017 so I think I'm considered Mature age students to UTS not sure about other unis but that might help my chances?) and I assume their only gonna be looking at my uni marks and not my ATAR since I'm applying after second year? Also, how would someone who transferred universities after 2 years be viewed in the job markets, or when applying to postgrad courses.


Thanks again for answering my questions

 

[anomalousdecay]

I've never looked at transfers because it has never concerned me sorry.

What industry are you looking to work in once you graduate? For example, the power industry requires a lot of electrical and mechanical engineers and a few mechatronics engineers too. Robotics industry takes people from elec, computing and mechatronics.

In the end, look at where you want to end up and what you want to do in that industry. You can end up in the same industry studying either one of your options. After that it just depends on what you will do in that industry (which is where your qualification will have a major affect).

Of course there are other industries which don't take both electrical and mechanical engineers. Just have a look at what you want to do.

I still encourage you to contact the school of elec at UNSW or whatever other equivalent there is at other universities. Not really sure what occurs in the engineering science program so that might be ok for you. However, I'm really skeptical about masters in engineering without having the bachelors background.

 

[LeadTaco]

Thanks for the advice, I'll post the transfer questions in another thread.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Also although I mentioned what industry you want to go in, look at industries that you want to go in. You can shift in between here and there quite a bit depending on what you like/dislike and the job market at the times.

I suppose this is where your choice of the degree takes precedence because that will determine which industries you have the best chance at entering and so forth.