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u/Real-Coast4227 16d ago
Hey man. I got into my dream school to study ChemE, I waited so long and once I got accepted I didn’t really feel anything. It’s normal. After starting the studies and connecting with other people at the uni it kind of ”clicked” more.
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u/admadguy Process Consulting and Modelling 16d ago
Isn't it the oldest Chemical Engineering department in the world?
Congratulations.
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u/Impressive-Fix-931 16d ago
Good. I'm a 3rd year chem eng student at Manchester on a placement year rn. You're going to enjoy it👌👌
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u/owowthatreallysucked 16d ago
How was Ur first 2 years. Hard?
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u/Impressive-Fix-931 16d ago
Not too bad for me. I don't want to give you false expectations though 😭. The main thing with uni is time management and prioritisation. If you have a lock on that you're solid. All the modules are challenging. Some more than others. Some modules I only understand when exam season came around. Still averaging a first for both first and second year. My advice is to go for as many lectures as possible and do try to at least be good with one week's content by the end of the following week. All the lecturers and students here are amazing and will help you out if you need. There's something called PASS where a group of first years have get assigned a second year mentor who you'll meet with every week. BEFRIEND them. They'll have all the answers, notes, tips from first year and will gladly supply them. Also 1st year is low-key easy as compared to the other years so try to score as high as you can to bring up your average.
But don't forget. Manchester's an amazing city to be in. There's something for every type of person. The food is really good. Lot's of activities/societies at uni as well. Freshers and first month of uni attend every event you can just so you can meet people. Hopefully by then you'll have found your uni group then you can just do stuff with them from then on.
Also since you're on the IP course. Don't just focus on grades. As I said with good time management and prioritisation grades will be fine. I don't know your academic ability but even averaging a 2:1 is good enough. What's very important in addition to grades to secure a placement is some work experience. It can be working events, waiting, bar staff, any thing. Doesn't even have to be STEM related. You'll hear from any placement student you ask that work experience is way more important than anything else to get a placement. So make sure to get a part time job at uni(the money helps as well bc you'll deffo find yourself broke) or at least during vacations.
So yh...that's my essay done. Feel free to ask anything 🤣
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u/owowthatreallysucked 16d ago
I mean my academic ability, maths was definitely my favourite subject. Doing the questions that take me a really long time I don't really mind as long as I get it right. How is the content compared to a level chem and maths?
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u/Impressive-Fix-931 16d ago
Let me just say you'll not use much from chemistry🤣. It's more physics and maths. A lot of the maths is algebra, differentiation, integration. You'll take a maths module every semester till second year. So it's engineering mathematics 1,2,3. There's a lot. Engineering maths is kind of easy once you get the hang of it. 2 is slightly more difficult and takes more time. 3 is crazyyy. Most people felt like that should have been two separate modules. You'll learn about different types of integration, how to solve complex differential equations using various methods like Euler method. Lagrange function.
If you didn't take Physics you'll be fine but you'll need to work harder than others in the beginning to understand concepts because A LOT of the course is physics. A lot of people didn't take Physics though so it's calm. Again time management is your bestie. You'll have a lot of time on your hands. Your schedule will probably be 1-2 clases a day. Wednesdays no classes. In all each module has 1 class a week. You'll learn as you go along.
You'll also have labs every two weeks. A lot of them are very boring but it contributes a lot to your grade so just try to get a report from previous years as reference. Also what they expect you to do and include in the report is available on the e-learning system so if you look at that you'll know what to include.
But honestly focus on 1st year, which isn't that bad. If I remember right it was Taylor, Maclaurin series, and the integration and differentiation is quite similar to A levels in terms of method. But it's applied to more engineering concepts So the difficult part is knowing how to translate the problem from engineering theory into maths. Such as a vessel with a leak being filled and calculating net change in volume with respect to time. And other fluid related questions. There's also some stats which I personally hate but it's not too difficult. The lecturers took it easy on us and didn't put any of the difficult topics in the exam for Maths 1.
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u/owowthatreallysucked 16d ago
Yeah modelling with calculus was usually the harder 8 markers towards the end of the paper. Usually they aren't that bad but can just get to like 3 pages of working out, just tedious. Stats is fairly easy but I don't know how it's gonna be like there. Labs contribute alot to Ur grade but isn't it mostly just writing reports?
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u/Impressive-Fix-931 16d ago
Stats isn't bad. You'll learn more about error propagation. So how to use calculus to quantify experimental errors. You'll learn that in Statistics then have to apply that in your lab reports. Labs are very technical. What makes them difficult is you that you probably will not have done the module where the engineering concept comes from. So it becomes very difficult to analyse the results for your report. You're basically having to learn all the theory AND report on it and relate it to your findings.
Ther's also another type of assessment called posters. Posters are basically reports in the form of a 1 pager. So after doing a lab you'll either have to do a report or a poster. There's no fluff and is just the results and analysis presented as brief but clear as possible.
For reports you need to do a lot of analysis and be able to write clearly. Luckily ChatGPT can help but only to an extent. Learn to use ChatPGT once you start uni but don't rely on it as that will be at the detriment of proper understanding. Also, good thing is all the labs are repeated across the years so if you know a few second, third years and they had that lab and scored well, you can just get their reports. You'll know at least two higher year students from going to the PASS sessions. I'll say don't skip those sessions. It's once a week for an hour I think. And you'll get so much advice and help from them. It's like an informal chat where they just help you with anything related to the course or uni in general. It could be coursework, questions from class, etc.
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u/owowthatreallysucked 16d ago
Thank you for all this help, genuinely. I don't think I'll have much of a social life at uni as sad as that sounds 💀 just the way I am. I will try my very best to attend all lectures and sessions. Grok and all that I gotten pretty good at using, actually helped me with bio and chem with blurting. But nah if I need to learn something conceptually I will stay away from AI in general
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u/Impressive-Fix-931 16d ago
No worries. Luckily for you UoM is ELITE when it comes to career stuff. A lot of people on chem eng got placements in my year including myself. I started my placement year in July just over a month ago. Make sure you take advantage of everything. Don't forget to have fun at uni though 🤣. Grades are really not as important as you think. Obviously everyone wants a 1st class, but you're not going to look back in 10 years and cherish the grades. Make friends, go out, skip a few classes to go to Liverpool or Leeds with friends. It's all fine.
Good thing is all lectures are recorded so you can watch them back later. Honestly you'll zone out of some classes and not get anything out of them. So you should try to go for at least 70% percent of them but it's not like high school. Some people do fine without going to lectures it just depends on you.
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u/Ore-igger 16d ago
I would feel like I would rather be a manager at McDonald's in the US.
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u/mirrormap74 16d ago
I did this exact course at Manchester around 10 years ago, the year out in particularly set me up really well. Enjoy it and congratulations 🥳
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u/PUfelix85 16d ago
You shouldn't feel anything. What do you feel. There isn't any emotion that you have to feel at any one time in your life. Just feel the emotions that you do feel. Realize that you are not really in control of them, and then just appreciate them for what they are.
Some feelings you might be experiencing: excitement, confusion, fear, insecurity, happiness, joy, disappointment
But these are just a few. Only you can know what feelings you feel. Don't be afraid of them. Embrace them. Even when they are confusing or unwanted. That is part of being an adult.
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u/DeadlyGamer2202 16d ago
UK job market is exceptionally horrible right now. Especially for core engineers.
I’d not recommend studying there if your goal is to work there to pay off your student loan.
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u/sdnomlA 16d ago
Tell Dr Siperstein I said hello and that I still have her adsorption notes that I refer to every other week.
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u/owowthatreallysucked 16d ago
Adsorb react release?
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u/sdnomlA 15d ago
Adsorb release she doesn't do react
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u/owowthatreallysucked 15d ago
What? I was joking lol. But wait why do the first and last steps but not the intermediates 😂
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u/sdnomlA 11d ago
There aren't always intermediates....
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u/owowthatreallysucked 8d ago
Ah right. Well I didn't know that and will learn more in the coming months now...
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u/soft_cheese 14d ago edited 14d ago
I did this exact course. I kind of regret it tbh, made me realise I didn't want to be a chemical engineer and I went into software engineering instead - I didn't need a degree for that but now I'm paying £350/month to a student loan. The teaching kind of sucked too apart from few good lecturers.
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u/owowthatreallysucked 14d ago
Eh, I've basically self studied my alevels and managed to pull 3 A's out my ass somehow. How hard can it get?
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u/Moist-Basil9217 11d ago
I can’t imagine being a poor Brit trying to get a job and losing out constantly because the Indians won’t stay in India
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u/Jesus97_98 16d ago
Happy ?
Unless you hate chemical engineering, in which case you’re on the wrong sub 😅