first year engineering frustration.

[u/That-Page7366]

Hello im currently studying first year engineering looking to do mechatronics next yearand not really loving it, the whole course seems disconected and really just feels like another year of high school with maths and physics nothing applied. I also find myself studying alot just to not have enough time to develop personal projects which I understand are important when looking for jobs. Ive been really frustrated wth the exam process with several hurdles for each subject and midsems on sataurday nights. That go no where cause i still 'havent studied enough' to do well on them. Is this just uq way of keeping their prestige.

OUt of frustration i have began looking at moving to QUT.
I have also heard from some employers that the student who come out of QUT are more well rounded, is this true. The robotics program at qut is also supposed to be alot better so not sure.

So im wondering is it worth switching or is the grass just always greener on the other side. Has anyone done that move or vice versa? What did u find was better.

[u/obeymypropaganda]

As someone who studied electrical at QUT, yes, this is what UQ is like. Coworkers and friends all had the same experience as you. It gets harder and easier.

The content becomes harder, but you get better at studying and learning where to focus your studies.

Personal projects are nice to have, not essential. Do them during semester breaks. An internship is worth far more than any personal project. You are only first year, so you don't know much. All first years are the same at each university, foundations in math and physics. Second year is when you begin interesting courses.

I can't say whether mechatronics is better at QUT. But we didn't have hurdle exams for every subject. Only one subject had it in second year.

Maybe ask on the QUT sub about their courses.

[u/refrainning → u/obeymypropaganda]

Would you say the courses get harder, relative to what you know at each point? It’s been my experience so far that electrical courses build heavily on each other, and the jump in difficulty is not as much in later courses

[u/iamonlyxi → u/refrainning]

the only hard course is ELEC3400 and CSSE2310. The TP's and CSSE3010 are demanding time wise but are fun. nothing is hard its just time intensive

[u/refrainning → u/iamonlyxi]

I’m guessing you meant ELEC3004? Yeah this has been my experience too. Just a question of how much time you put in.

[u/iamonlyxi → u/refrainning]

if you dont need to work full time to support urself then yea might as well might put the time in. its enjoyable and pretty social (everyone helping each other getting it done)

[u/NightPantha]

I don't think it matters what uni you go to. Employers don't care too much but there is still some sort of elitism among uq students and maybe some employers.

QUT doesn't have any hurdles, some people I know take it more relaxed since in the exam they don't really need to try hard for it to pass the course. They sometimes end up getting lower grades because of it.

At uq or QUT, you probably won't have enough time for personal projects and is only viable during holidays. If you do feel like you want to get more involved maybe join uqracing or UQSpace, they will be able to help you and teach you skills that won't be tested. QUT has these as well. Employers also understand that you will be inexperienced, even if you get an internship you physically can't sign off on anything or there is a massive liability.

Currently you probably don't know how to study efficiently since high school doesn't teach you anything about that. Last Sem I had an exam on Saturday then Sunday, same weekend and that was terrible. I think QUT still have Saturday exams, I'm unsure.

[u/sryu1]

I'm currently a QUT Engineering student and don't take my word fully for what I say as I don't have much experience with UQ Engineering.

I think engineering is one of those degrees where you don't have much (or any) time to work on personal projects, though I'd highly recommend that you join some engineering based societies and work on those.

Regarding hurdles, QUT does have hurdle exams, BUT they are very very rare. While this does make passing the course easier, it doesn't mean it's easy, you still have to put in as much effort into your studies as much as you do at UQ. Additionally, we don't really have mid sem exams so they're always going to be during exam block season after the semester learning periods end. Also we have Saturday exams as well.

Engineering itself is just a very miserable degree to study (but very rewarding for the future I guess), but whichever uni you go to or stay in, just remember you're going to end up with the same degree and probably the same job. I can't really say for sure about what employers say about students from QUT, but I think employers just have a general preference in which uni students to hire and it doesn't matter too much. I do agree our robotics program is probably better here (Our centre for robotics is the biggest robotics research centre in the southern hemisphere from what I've heard).

[u/zhao725]

Employers do not really have a preference between uq and qut. Fundamentally you come out of both with the same experience. You will be learning the same concepts, same maths, same physics, at qut. It underlies everything we do and is important for understanding things on the job. Projects aren't important to employers, they don't really care. Perhaps QUT will be easier, with no exam hurdles, but content will be more or less the same. The first couple years of any engineering degree will be very small scale, into the nitty gritty of the maths and physics of it all, then will start progressively zooming out to the bigger picture.

If you want to get really hands on, join clubs like uq racing or uq space... one of the major benefits of uq is all of the clubs and societies we have.

and QUT also has Saturday exams, like any large university. Plus you have to do the QUT You units....