University

This September, I will be going to Queen Mary, University of London to study Engineering with Business Management.

The Engineering with Business Management programme appeals to students who are interested in engineering but also wish to develop skills in the business, financial and managerial aspects of industry. It provides a balance in studying technical and business topics. It includes essential engineering subjects whilst accommodating two business management modules each year, taught by the School of Business and Management.

So why engineering? After speaking to engineering students, it is definitely unanimous that the course is monumentally hard. The combination of maths and physics will no doubt be a challenge for anyone, let alone a student that is not particularly talented with either.

I chose engineering, at the time, for two reasons:

• I am committed to choosing a course that leaves my options open at the end of university. Engineering graduates are known to go onto almost any city career from banking and finance to consulting and of course, engineering.
• It was a natural fit for my A Levels – Maths, Physics, Computing and Product Design.

These are sound reasons, however, they lack the most important reason – Did I want to do engineering? Being the incredibly indecisive person that I am, picking a degree, a choice that will impact the rest of your life, was not easy for me at all. Engineering, whilst a natural fit for my subjects, did not, at first, seem like a natural fit for myself. Could I see myself as an engineer?

For a while when I was younger, I was convinced that I would study Computer Science or something along those lines as that’s where my interests lies. However as far as I am aware, the job market is over saturated with people that are qualified at Comp-Sci and after taking an A Level in computing, I realized that computer science was not as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. My passion will always lie with computing and it is because of this, that I feel like I don’t need to study it for 3 years, as I keep up-to-date with it in my own time. My other interest lies in design. However careers in art or design don’t pay very well unless your at the very top. This makes the entire industry extremely competitive.

So having a keen interest in technology with an eye for aesthetics and design is what I am about. iPods. iPhones. Good user interfaces with great looking hardware. Fighter jets, cars, computers, videos games. The blend of design and engineering is what appeals to me.

So I guess my initial doubt arouse from the simple fact that I was not fully aware of what engineering was all about. It seems that I took a backwards approach. After picking engineering, I learnt more and more about what it entails. In the past year or so, I have been looking at career options, engineering journals, books, websites etc to better understand my chosen degree.

It comes to me now that, that picking engineering was the best choice for me.

In life, I feel that I am a pretty good all-rounder. I am good at most sports. I am good at most subjects at school. I am good with almost anything. Maybe not brilliant at any one thing, but good with almost everything. So choosing a degree that can diversify my skill-set and improve on these all rounded skills is important to me.

Secondly, the choice to do the course with business is another plus point. Blending engineering and design with business gives me the opportunity to take technical concepts and communicate them effectively – whether it is sales or marketing pitches, presentations or financial planning. There is no point being technically minded, if you don’t have the capacity to understand how you can sell your product.

Lastly but most importantly, engineering is a blend of logic with creativity. If I was to describe myself in any way, other that the guy with spiky hair and glasses, it would be that I like to think of myself as both logical and creative. One person might solve a problem from A to B, but I’ll take A and B and give you Z.

It is these factors which make engineering suit me. I love solving problems, taking on challenges, designing, drawing, computing, and applying theory to real world situations. Funnily enough, I think I knew these things when I applied for university, albeit on a sub-conscience level, but now, I feel a lot more confident in my choice because I understand myself better (but that is a topic for another day).

Don’t get me wrong. I know I can’t just walk into this university and walk out with my degree. My maths and physics skills are a little rusty, and whilst I have been doing some revision, I have a steep hill ahead of me. I am not going to lie, sometimes I think that maybe this time I might be out of my depth.

I think taking this course is something I have to do though. It will be a challenge – potentially the challenge of my lifetime, something that I hope can bring out the best in me, and take me to new heights by pushing me to work harder than I ever have before. It will be interesting to see how my opinion changes once I start the course, but I can at least say that I am excited. This will definitely be a drastic change of lifestyle to what I am used to.

The question is: Can I rise to the challenge?

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