Help/Advice Wanted: Graeme's Career Dilemma

[graeme01]

Hi

Right basically after some advice from you lot that have a lot more work and life experience than me

My carreer so far:

Im currentley 21 and i left school at 16 to join an engineering college which has got a very good reputation in the uk. It is called TTE if anyone knows of it. I was sponsored by Shell through this college with the first two years based at the college doing broadbased engineering ( process, power and control and mechanical) with a couple weeks work experience on site. I then went down the route of mechanical (not entirley out of choice but there was no places left for power and control and i didnt want to be an operator at the time) and spent the last 18 months of the apprentiship on site at shell stanlow doing pure mechanical fitting.
This has consisted of overhauling different kit form the plants such as compressors, sundine pumps and basic pumps like single overhung and vil's, pit pumps, turbines, ( also spent time in the TA hall with the 6 huge turbo alternators) i have worked on the plants themselves including the catalytic cracker, distillation, chemicals and oils units, and the tankage side of the site.

I have undertaken my HNC partime in mechanical engineering which i am due to finish in june this year with triple distinction overall grade.

I have now worked on site for about 2 1/2 years and I am currentley in the central workshops in the valve shop which oversees the overhauling of all releif valves, pilot valves, pressure vacuum valves and so on.

later on last year i started to doubt that this is actually what i wnated to do with the rest of my life ( mechanical fitter ) so i approached the company and asked to do a part time degree to open up some doors for me and they basically turned round and said come back in a few years, do some a levels in pure maths and physics and we will consider it then.

A little annoyed and wondering what to do i applied to univeristies full time and got all five offers back for mech engineering includiong two offers from univerisity of Leeds and university of aston which i was very proud of. These offers were based on my personal statement, work experience and distinction grade hnc.

Basically I am now stressing out wondering what the best thing to do is? whether to leave work and take study up full time, hopefully getting a decent grade from one of the two above decent univeristy's and then get an engineering graduate job which may be a bit more challenging for me.

In the meantime the site is now in the process of changing hands to a company called essar which is due to be finalised in june this year so I'm now wondering if their speal of wanting to expand peoples careers and improve their opportunites is worth staying on for.

Im just not sure if Mech engineering is really for me. I mean i have a keen interest in modified cars and modern engineering ideas and techniques but overhauling old fashioned pumps that are older then me isn't really what i had in mind. I know the moneys good and i will earn roughly a shade over 30 grand this year which for an undergraduate at my age is really good but I am just not enjoying it.

Another side of the story is that all of us that left school just don't feel as though we have lived life as much as people going to college and then onto univeristy were we were just blinkered by the prospects of money without doing a degree and now we are stuck in the same job at the young age of 21

Anyone offer any advice on what different routes i could take? It will all be taken on board so don't be afraid of putting it bluntly.

Many regards

Graeme

 

[AlephZero]

Congratulations on your HNC results.

You didn't make it entirely clear what degree courses you have been accepted on.

If you wanted to do a BSc or BEng degree at universities like Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, etc, you would certainly need the equivalent of good A levels in maths and phyiscs (i.e. A or B grades). I don't know how your HNC compares with that, or if it covered all parts of the A level course or just those relevant to your HNC subjects. From what Shell said, apparently they wanted you to actually get the A levels.

On the other hand there are universities which are less demanding about entry requirements, but the downside is their degrees may be less valuable (i.e. this isn't a free lunch). Again, I don't know anything specifically about Leeds or Aston. I work for a big engineering company in the UK and we have regular contacts with about 12 universities in the UK, but not those two.

On the positive side, what you have got is a good qualification from college, and some good practical work experience with a big well-known company. Those two things should get you a foot in the door in engineering whatever field you want to work in, without any more qualifications.

 

[graeme01]

the degree cousre is Beng in mechanical engineering, Leeds is ranked 21 and aston 41. I know this isn't the be all end all as there different on each rankings but gives an idea.

 

[AlephZero]

Try and find out what the drop-out rate was for those courses in past years. That would give you an idea how "speculative" their admissions requirements are.

If a course is oversubscribed, the dropout rate tends to be low because even if the selection process isn't perfect, the weaker applicants will tend to have less chance of getting on the course.

On the other hand if a course is undersubscribed, in the current financial climate the college may take the cynical view that getting one year's tuition fees out of somebody and then failing them is a better financial deal (for them!) than getting nothing.

Note, I'm not implying anything for or against those two courses, because I don't have any information - I'm just pointing out something that could be worth checking.