Alright, so is there one that you would have loved to have known before you started that
you now know?
What did we say before?
That it was hard.
So, Lauren, why did you decide to study chemical and biomolecular engineering?
I was interested in a lot of things in high school.
I thought at one point I’d become a lawyer, or a psychologist or a vet but I kind of went
with the subjects I was most interested in high school which was maths and chemistry.
When I came to the Sydney Uni open day and had a look at the engineering mini lectures,
that’s what sort of made up my mind.
So, Tim I have a question for you next, who should study chemical and biomolecular engineering?
Someone who wants to make a difference.
A mix of skills really makes for a good and successful engineer and a chemical and bimolecular
engineer.
So yes, there is some science, maths and even chemistry but ability to work with people,
talk with people, and have a passion for doing something exciting – that’s what actually
makes a successful engineer.
So, why did you choose the University of Sydney to study?
Yeah, I think before I came to the Open Day, I had a look at some of the university rankings,
specifically for chemical engineering, and that all checked out pretty well.
When I came on Open Day I just really liked the feel of the campus and being able to talk
to current students really made me want to come to the University of Sydney.
What are the entry requirements?
We’ve got an ATAR of 92 to get into chemical engineering and that’s not just for the
single degree of chemical and biomolecular but also if you’re doing a combined degree
with science, arts or project management.
There’s a slightly higher requirement of 95 if you decide to do a combined degree with
commerce and that’s 95.
We also have a maths prerequisite because it’s really important that you have some
fundamental maths skills and if you’re a New South Wales student, we require that you
have a good score in two-unit maths but we strongly recommend that you’ve done three
unit maths.
If you’re from outside New South Wales, there’s the equivalent subjects of what
you’ve done in other states or an IB equivalent to.
How do interstate students apply to engineering at Sydney?
So, if you don’t live in New South Wales, you will need to visit UAC, that’s the new
South Wales Universities Admissions Centre website and you can apply through them.
So, Lauren, what do you reckon are the best aspects of your course?
Some of the best aspects?
I quite like how its taught in that we have lectures and then tutorials following up and
one of the benefits I think of this degree that goes for all engineering degrees is you
tend to be with the same people everyday which is really great for actually making friends
at university.
You go to lectures together and you work in the tutorials together and you do group projects
together so that’s something I really enjoyed.
Can you do a major?
And what are the options?
There are a number of majors that students can do no matter what stream of engineering
there are.
But the key message is you don’t actually have to.
If you are doing a double degree like with science or commerce, there is not the space
in your degree for you to do that extra specialisation but if you are doing a single degree you certainly
can.
But my recommendation is don’t worry about it at the moment.
It only reflects the subjects that you pick once you’ve gone into second or third year.
Take the time now with your introductory courses to think about “what do I like and maybe
not so much like” and you can make a choice later.
What work experience do students need to get career ready?
Well I reckon there’s a number of things that you need to do and we’ve got a new
program called PEP and all of our students from day one, we’re getting them primed
to be thinking about how does what they do in the classroom going to contribute to what
they’re going to eventually be as a professional engineer.
Now all of our students once they get to about third year have to do some work experience
of at least six weeks but right from the beginning, we’re giving you opportunities to be engaged
with what real engineers do.
Next question we have is do you have to find your own placements?
In principle yes.
We do have an expectation that you find your own placements, but we’re going to provide
a lot of support to help you with that.
We actually do think its important that not only is it the work experience that’s valuable,
it’s the process of going through and applying for things; attending an interview, is just
as important as work experience.
But we do give you lots of help.
We have lots of opportunities where we will try to connect you through careers nights,
sponsorship days where you’ve got the chance to meet and make connections with lots of
people from industry.
And we do actually have an option called the Jacaranda Flame Consulting company where we
can give students their own work experience employed through us.
Within the chemical engineering department as well when it came time to find my own practical
experience placement, a list was actually sent out of all the companies that other students
had done their work placement at which was really helpful for me in terms of finding
somewhere to go.
How much time do you spend on placements?
We expect that all of our students have work experience that goes on for at least six weeks
full time as part of their degree.
Now there’s actually quite a bit of flexibility when you can do that.
Often you can do that in your Summer holidays but now with the change of semester dates
there’s actually six weeks in the middle of the year over the Winter break that you
can fit your work experience into.
For my practical experience, I went to an engineering consulting firm ITD Asia Pacific
and I was an intern within their process engineering team for six weeks at the end of my third
year.
So, if there’s one thing you wish you knew before you started what would that be?
I think for me I wish I knew that you don’t have to lock yourself into a career by choosing
a degree at university.
I mean I was picking my degree at 17 and I didn’t even really know what engineering
was and what I found now coming towards the end of my degree is that I have a lot of options
open to me in terms of different industries as well as less technical areas such as management
consulting.
Okay next question for you Tim.
Are there any scholarships available?
There’s lots of different types of scholarships that are potentially available.
If you’re just about to enter engineering.
We automatically give some scholarships to students with the highest marks.
We also have what’s known as the Leadership Scholarship which is given to students with
high marks but not necessarily the highest but also through an interview process which
demonstrates they’ve got what it takes to be an engineering leader of the future.
So, what do you like most about living in Sydney?
I think Sydney is great and it’s probably the best city in Australia but that’s my
bias because I was born here.
You really are with the university in the centre of everything; you’re so close to
the city itself.
Newtown is also great.
There’s a great nightlife and social scene in Newtown, it’s a great area to be in.
So Lauren, do you know anyone who lives on campus?
I do.
I live on campus.
I’ve lived at The Women’s College since my first year and so by the end of this year
that will make five years.
I found living on campus really great, especially with the engineering degrees that tend to
have higher contact hours.
So you’re right on campus, if you need to come in to work on a project you’re right
there and can access the university facilities quite easily.
I also found it quite beneficial to be part of a college community.
There’s tutorial support, extra pastoral care and other opportunities that come from
living in that environment.
Are they any exchange opportunities?
We’ve got a really ambitious plan over the next few years that we want half of all of
our students to have had some exchange overseas.
We’re really making our processes simple so it’s easy to see and find other universities
which have got lists of subjects that reasonably map with some of ours.
We’ve got students who go to all four corners of the globe: South America, Asia and Europe.
We’ve also recently change dour semester dates so that there’s an even better opportunity
for students to take advantage of our Winter and enjoy an exchange in the warmth of the
northern hemisphere Summer.
I know for me coming into university, the idea of going on exchange for a full semester
or full year seemed too long so I was really excited to find a two-week exchange program
in Italy where I went over at the end of my third-year and it was some of the most fun
two weeks I’ve had.
I would really recommend looking into exchange options.
What career opportunities are there?
There’s lots.
Now lots of engineers actually end up working in industries not directly related to engineering.
But let’s not talk about those.
Let’s talk about the exciting things that engineers do and particularly if you’re
in chemical and biomolecular engineering some of the key industries that you get involved
with are doing processing on a big scale.
So industries related to oil and fuel and particularly food are some of the exciting
areas where chemical engineers can be involved.
We reckon that it’s going to be a chemical engineer who is going to completely eliminate
food waste in the world over the next 50 years.