so you're thinking about studying engineering at University, yay!
but which subject should you take for A-level? Well in this video I'm going to be giving you
some advice on how to help you make that decision.
Hey welcome to my channel, I am Hayley Loren and I'm an engineer, and if you've not been here
before I chat about engineering, I give tips about careers, I interview engineers
and I also talk about how engineering works. So if that sounds good to you then
be sure to subscribe because it would be awesome to have you here. So which
subjects should you choose for a levels if you want to study engineering at
University? So the reason I'm doing this video is because a couple of years ago I
did one talking in general sense about choosing a levels for engineering and I
got loads of questions in the comment section about the specific combinations
of subjects that you should choose for different types of engineering and
engineering in general. So I thought I would do this video because it could be
really helpful for you. So the first thing that I want you to know is that
each University is very different in terms of their entry requirements so it
might be that one University says that they want you to do maths and physics
but it might be that another one only wants you to do maths and then they're
quite flexible on what subjects you do for the other two. So the big bit
of advice here is, get on the websites of universities. So if you have an idea of
which universities you're thinking about going to then you can actually go online,
go on their website, go on the Engineering College website and actually
look at the entry requirements that they want. So I'm just going to dive in here
and I'm just going to show you a couple of examples and how they differ. So I'm
first going to look at University of York so if you just google
University of York engineering then it will take you to the MEng and if
you're just on this initial page and you click on entry requirements then
you can see that they've stated here that they need you to have three A's
including maths but your other two subjects can be any and they actually
welcome arts and humanities. So university of york is
a great example of one where it's actually quite flexible, where you only
need to decide on maths. Now I've got University of Oxford here as well if
you're thinking about going to Oxbridge. So they actually do engineering science
which is pretty much engineering, so they need you to have higher grades obviously
because it's Oxbridge so you need two A*s and an A. And they've actually
specified that they want you to have both physics and maths so they're saying
that you need the two of them and they're also saying that one of your top
marks needs to be in maths, physics or further maths. So I think that is showing
you that each University is quite different and it's great if you do have
an idea of the universities that you're thinking about going to or even if
you're just trying to decide at the moment, then maybe that will be part of
your decision making process. But if you literally have no idea at the moment and
you just want to choose your a-levels and you just want to give yourself the
best possible options, then my advice would be do maths and physics because
these seem to be the two subjects which most universities want. As a minimum
really you want to be doing math or physics and then really with the other
other a level if you're doing three or if you're doing four then you can do
anything you could do music you could do art you could do economics, IT.
Really it's up to you and most universities like to see well-rounded students so
it's not just about being pure science all of the time, sometimes they
like to see that you know you're a mathematician or you're an engineer but
also you like music and you like art that's really really cool and it shows
that you have a bit of personality as well. Okay I also want to point out here
that actually it really doesn't matter in the long term, in the big scheme of
things in the world it doesn't really matter which A levels you choose. So I
actually did biology chemistry economics and English so that's not maths and
that's not physics yet I am still an engineer, I've become an
engineer and I've done that through a longer process, so I didn't initially go
to university to study engineering I did biology instead and then I came to
engineering later on and I transitioned. So if you're in a situation where maybe
you've already chosen and it's not quite fitting with what universities want
then I honestly wouldn't worry because the important thing is if you're
passionate about something if you're driven and if you're interested then
that will not stop you I promise you that. I'm going to be giving lots of
other advice and answering questions like how good at maths do you need to be
and which are the best universities to go to for engineering. So if you want
your questions like this answered then make sure you subscribe if you have any
questions at all then please feel free to write them in the comments and I will
get to them as quickly as possible. I am here for you, I am here to help
and I will see you next time.
you