There are lots of different types of engineer

You need to understand the different types of engineering. Start by watching these videos.

Electrical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Petroleum Engineering

Marine Engineering

Mechatronics Engineering

Narrowing things down…

The above list of factors to consider is already long, and you want to make a shortlist. Just as with selecting a university, you need to select what is important for a university to provide you with.

One suggestion would be to narrow the above list down to the following key areas:

• • • Academics
    • Housing
    • Extra-curricular

These three areas impact students on a daily basis, and will preoccupy you throughout most of your time at university. 

You are probably already thinking about the cost and whether you have enough IB points to meet the entrance requirements. These are, of course, important considerations, but let’s put them to one side for the moment and focus on finding the university that you would like to go to. We will look later on at whether you are able to afford the tuition fees and whether you have enough IB points. So let’s get searching and draw up a shortlist.

How many universities should you apply to?

‘Reach, Target and Safety University’

This is not such a simple question as it might appear, there are many factors that come into play here.

Are you applying to only one country or multiple countries?

If you are applying to the UK, then the UCAS application software restricts you to applying to 5 courses – usually 5  universities (only 4 if you are applying to medicine/dentistry/ VetMed).

If you are applying to the Netherlands, then you can only apply to 4 universities.

If you are applying to the United States, then there is no limit other than factors such as the time needed for the applications and the application fees.

Many students who apply to universities in more than one country soon find themselves applying to a relatively large number of universities. All of this is interesting, but what really concerns you is how many universities you need to apply to in order to get accepted.

Many students adopt the ‘Reach, Target and Safety University’ method. This has several advantages:

It allows you to apply to universities where the admissions requirements in terms of academic grades may be a little higher than you are currently achieving (Reach Universities). 

It ensures that you apply to universities where you exceed the admissions requirements in terms of the academic grades and are therefore almost guaranteed to be made an offer of a place. (Safety Universities).

If you decide to pursue the ‘Reach, Target and Safety University’ method, you will probably not need to apply to more than 2 reach, 3 or 4 target and 3 or 4 safety. These numbers are of course flexible both up and down. The Reach, Target and Safety University’ method is easy to manage when you are comparing universities and applying to universities within one country. E.g. USA. But what happens when you are applying to multiple countries? It is much more complicated to make these comparisons. The advice Wigsbury can offer you is to treat each national system as a stand-alone unit, and to make sure that you have reach, target and safety universities in each country. This way you will achieve the necessary spread.

Well, we have just discussed the strategy of  ‘Reach, Target and Safety University’ which will hopefully ensure your success in obtaining a place to study based on your academic grades. But what about the other factors that play a role in university selection and application?

Application fees

These vary considerably from country to country. 

E.g. The UK operates a centralized system limiting you to applying to 5 courses (universities) and the cost is GBP 25 for all five. In the United States you have to pay an application fee to each university you apply to – typically in the range of $50-$100, although some may be higher.

There are private universities in Europe that are charging €200 for each application.

Now you understand the importance of the shortlist.

Short list versus long list

Despite the issues of time and money, many students are convinced that if they apply to a lot of universities, they have a better chance of getting in.

Now consider this scenario: imagine that you are an admissions tutor at a university and your university is looking for students who have achieved, or are predicted to achieve, 35 IB points. The application in front of you is from a student with 36 IB points. Easy, you offer him or her a place and as an admissions tutor you neither know nor care how many other universities that student has applied to. They have met your requirements and you have offered them a place. 

From your perspective as a student, you have met the admissions requirements and you have been offered a place. Did you apply to 5 other universities, or 55 other universities? The question is irrelevant, the admissions tutor is giving you a place because you met the admissions requirements.

What all this means is that providing you tick the boxes when making your shortlist –and the admissions requirements is a very important box – you will receive an offer of a place irrespective of how many other universities you’ve simultaneously applied to.

All of this brings us back to the beginning: set priorities and make a shortlist, and by that we mean a shortlist that will ensure that you do not have too much application work to do in grade 12, and will ensure your successful entry into a university that you are excited about studying at.

Be flexible, be positive and have then fun at university!