I feel like university in general is very much just a guessing game, and you’re lucky if you end up doing the right thing. You can try to do your research, look through the uni website, read the subject descriptions full of the same repeated buzzwords, but at the end of the day that is so different from actually doing and being in a course.
Engsci sounded super interesting from what I read, which it actually is in my experience as well luckily, but as the realities of engsci kicked in it left me feeling like I had been left a little blindsides as to what it’s really like to study. Aside from the “problem solving”, “optimising”, statements that get thrown at you, what is it really like?
I’m gonna wrap up the year with a little FAQ or Q&A sort of thing, but with myself, made up of all the random things you can’t read about in the uni spec descriptions on the website?
Hope you guys find this helpful and slightly interesting, and I hope you enjoyed my blog this year!! 🫶🫶
I’m gonna be 100% real with you guys and say that the workload, at least in my opinion, is pretty intense. As a second year I thought half the battle was over, I’ve made it into my spec surely it gets at least a little easier from here right?
NO IT DOESN’T GUYS!! I don’t know if anyone thought that except me, because honestly it was really wishful thinking. In case you’re thinking the same thing then now is your reality check that it doesn’t get easier. Maybe this was obvious to everyone this whole time except me? I’m not sure how this workload compares to other specs, but I think all of them have a decent amount going on.
In engsci specifically I feel like there is so much coursework due during the semester, it feels like every single week you have a few massive assignments due, because you literally do, and then suddenly exams come along and they are still worth 50%+. What a scam to be honest, but yea, overall it’s definitely full on. IM FINALLY FINISHED WITH EXAMS THOUGH, SUCH A RELIEF!!
I feel like everyone has this preconception that engsci is a super super hard course. This is a hard question to directly answer, due to this being completely subjective, but I think largely this isn’t the case.
I’m not saying I have found engsci easy because that could not be further from the truth, but engsci classes are definitely all doable sometimes they just require more time and effort which sucks, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Definitely don’t let this idea dissuade you from choosing engsci, because if we are being real engineering is always going to be hard no matter what spec you go into.
My biggest advice to help with this is make friends!! It’s so much easier to get through a course when you have people that you can ask for help when you need!
It’s well known that engsci is a smaller cohort, but what this means is that it actually has a way more ‘high school’ sort of feel going on with smaller lecture halls and more familiar faces. Because of this you definitely get to know your lecturers a bit more, they might not know your name or anything but they definitely have a better gauge of the different people in the cohort. You also get to know your cohort pretty well, even after the trip it’s reasonably close as a result of this small size. The class reps know the people and cohort better than is possible with the class sizes of first year.
One of my favourite engsci differences that comes as a result of this, is that class-wide extensions are more common. The class reps for engsci can get a good impression of how the class is coping with the workload, and if it actually is too much at once they ask the lecturers for class-wide extensions, of a few days or whatever seems fit. The lecturers are actually super receptive to this and it’s honestly something I have really appreciated about class reps and the cohort this year.
There may have been some slight changes to first year engineering from when I did it, but here are some of the things that I found interesting in engsci this year or different from first year:
- The exams are worth so much! In first year I remember exams usually being worth 30-40% of our grade for a paper, but typically in engsci, especially during the first semester, exams are worth more like 50-60%. This felt like so much pressure at the start, but considering the high amount of coursework I feel like we are all reasonably prepared for these exams.
- We basically always get a cheat sheet in exams! I know so many specs don’t get to bring in any notes for their exams, but engsci is definitely the opposite of that. For all my exams this year, excluding one, I got to bring in a double-sided sheet of notes. I feel like I don’t use this sheet much in my exams anyway, but just the reassurance that you have some of your notes there is so good in an exam.
- The coursework tends to be more work than in first year. Compared to, for example, the chemmat coursework of first year, a 7% engsci assignment is going to be a lot more work than a few material matters assignments and a couple of quizzes that technically makeup that same 7%.
I’m not a big lover of group work but here we are, I knew it was coming, but unfortunately yes there is a bunch of group work in engsci. This makes a lot of sense, considering everyone works as part of a team in real life engineering jobs the majority of the time, but still 😭😭.
This semester I had two classes that were almost fully based around group work, although one of these was the general engineering class that everyone takes. The engineering science specific group class: ENGSCI 263, which I explained more in depth in an earlier post, was definitely a lot of work in my opinion. I think one of the biggest struggles when it comes to group work is actually communication. I had mixed experiences this year with some great group members that went above and beyond and had great communication, as well as the complete opposite. I think most of the time you end up with at least a mostly good group, but the most important thing to remember is communication!! Without good communication it just makes things harder than they need to be, also please contribute to your group projects don’t be that guy that does nothing! 😶
Ok guys that’s everything from me this year!! I hope you guys enjoyed my blog, and that I offered some helpful insight into engsci to help you with your decision making! Honestly it’s such a big decison to make, the only advice I really have left to give is go with your gut! Choosing a spec is super important, but it’s not set in stone, you can change later on if you find it’s not what you expect, so don’t stress!!
Have a great holidays and enjoy the break from studying, good luck everyone!!
Ava 🧚♀️🧸🍓