Southampton Vs Imperial University

[tcbtcb]

Hi folks,
I have an admit from Univ of soton(race car aerodynamics), Imperial and cranfield.
Based on ur experiences, i need inputs that mite help me decide..it wud really help.

Should i defer my admit by an year, coz of the situation.

I really am looking fwd for some advice,
Thnx

[kilcoo316]

I would recommend something less specialised... but each to their own.

[tcbtcb]

could u tell me y,

the degree at cranfield is a general one in motorsports.

[kilcoo316]

Because when you do graduate with a degree in motorsports engineering, your more or less restricting yourself to a field with jobs measured in the thousands.

If you've a mechanical (or aero) degree, your in a field where the jobs are measured in the hundreds of thousands... and if you like to travel, millions.


I'd advise keeping your options open as long as possible.

I've done aero, and in hindsight might have been better served with mechanical.



Cranfield is a very good uni, was there a couple of weeks ago for the composites CPD - they do a lot of the FIA crash testing there. Wait a sec... Cranfield is post-grad only... whats your primary degree in?

[tcbtcb]

Hi,

yeah all this for post grad only.
Primary degree in mechanical enggr.

[kilcoo316]

Err... might be worth deferring for a bit.


If they decide to chop costs in F1 there will be alot of well skilled aero-heads on the motorsport market. Might be very hard to get a job straight out of uni (even post-grad'd*).



*which ironically will limit your options a bit - your 'overqualified' for everything except your specialist field - yet underexperienced in everything except your specialist field.

[tcbtcb]

can i get into some other forms of motorpsorts with a degree from here instead of deferring....coz from where i come from..i cant do anything worthwhile deferring.

is it possible to work in some other area for the time being and then jump back.

Thnx a lot for ur inputs!

[West]

I answered your PM, but kilcoo made a good point - a motorsports degree will probably limit you to that field only. And you'll probably work like a dog too. So make sure it's something you really, REALLY, want to do.

I can't think of any motorsports-like program in the US; maybe somebody else can chime in on this. It does seem like in the UK, you have direct links to motorsport companies, so you would definitely want to go because of that. You might want to see if any local teams would accept an internship as well - go unpaid if you have to. Sometimes it's who you know, not what you know, that will get you in.

[kilcoo316]

Sometimes it's who you know, not what you know, that will get you in.

I would change that to most of the time, its who you know!



Really good suggestion that - do an internship, even for nothing (over the summer months for instance) will get you known within a team, and you can build a network of contacts from that starting point.

[tcbtcb]

thnx guys...

so i pick Cranfield for now..and build on that..and see where it takes me?

[tarzoon]

Hi,

I've been in both Cranfield and Soton. Not in mechanical/aero, though. Still, I've seen work done in both unis and from what I understood Cranfield has better contacts when it comes to motorsports. Soton is more generalised - in the sense that goes more beyond the motorsports subject.

Hope this helps, although it seems you already made a decision. If it's Cranfield, I hope you have a car (parking is not a big problem over there)!

[tahadar]

On the topic of Cranfield (since it seems like some others over here have been there), does anybody know about the history of the BAC/English Electric Lightning that is lying on the tarmac near the flightline?

[Scuderia_Russ]

On the topic of Cranfield (since it seems like some others over here have been there), does anybody know about the history of the BAC/English Electric Lightning that is lying on the tarmac near the flightline?

Our team is based two minutes from Cranfield so we sometimes use the cafe (Cafe Pacific) next to the flight school (they do an excellent fry up which is definetely 110% of your recommended daily allowance of stodge). If ever you are in there there's a board with some piccys and info on it as you go in. Never took much interest myself though. We can sometimes hear a jet engine being fired up on occasion so it might be that.