Mechanical Engineering CIT

Mike..

*removed*

biblio

I did mechanical engineering in CIT ten years ago, as your confident with maths you should be fine. There was quite a lot of maths and physics involved, there was some practical work too machining, welding etc but they introduced those subjects at entry level.
Your probably the opposite of me, I had done engineering, tech drawing for the LC, but wasnt too hot at maths,physics etc which meant I had to work a bit harder at those subjects.

i think you should be fine, any questions pm me i will try and answer

MarcusFenix

Hey
Im in my third year of four in the Honors degree and I have done the Ordinary Degree, if your looking for lathe work etc. the Ordinary Degree is the way to go, I had a few buddies who never saw a lathe before the started and they got on fine. Car engine knowledge is like who has the biggest van in trade courses!

I.e. has little or nothing to do with course work and no prior knowledge is needed.

One thing to understand though, mechanical engineering is not glorified mechanic work, you get into highly specialized theory in maths and subjects that will provide you with the basis for any technical career, even electronics.

As for the ordinary degree, you should fly through it with hons. maths and physics under your belt. I would advise this route as you can continue on to do the hons. degree (2 additional years) and have a very valuable skill set which the hons. guys don't have. This will take you 5 years though

If you don't mind me asking, why did you drop out of the last course?

boudy

you'll be fine, im just after finishing year 2 of the course and it has more to do with maths/physics than practical work. The course is hard and expect to see a lot of people dropping out in the first year. The practical subjects are continuous assessment so are handy to pass even if you have no previous experience in these areas..

MarcusFenix

I'm just after finishing mine! The story is first semester is pretty intense, second semester looks like it should be cos it's 6 weeks of 3 12 week modules condensed down, but it's pretty laid back,then for the second half of semester you go on work experience, this is a good opportunity to go to Europe to work. The way it's set up the work experience is 1 module but has 3 times the weighting(15 credits as opposed to 5)
And it's timed that the work experience will go on during the summer of the company wants ya!

theShawzer

Ok I'm thinking this would be a good place to ask this,

I really like the look of this course and think I would really enjoy it. But I can't apply through the cao because I did a rubbish leaving because I never thought I'd go to college but I was wrong.

As far as I'm aware I could apply with my Fetac results because I did a level 5 course last year and got 9 distinctions, 1 ,merit and 1 pass. But my other problem is I don't have honours maths.

What I'm trying to figure out is should I try to do honours maths by night? do a course in mech eng in Colaiste Stiofán Naofa? or should I do the second year of my course and have a BTEC HnD in Radio Broadcasting to my name and worry about mech eng after that?

Has anyone had to go about applying backwards like me? And has anyone done the course in CSN and what did they think. I know that maths is part of the curriculum in CSN but not sure if it'll meet the requirment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Webmonkey

CIT have their own maths exam. It might be worth looking into:

http://www.cit.ie/index.cfm/page/maths

However it seems to be for entry to Level 8. I don't know if you need honors maths to go into Level 7 courses. It might be worth getting in contact with someone from the department.

theShawzer

Webmonkey wrote: »

CIT have their own maths exam. It might be worth looking into:

http://www.cit.ie/index.cfm/page/maths

However it seems to be for entry to Level 8. I don't know if you need honors maths to go into Level 7 courses. It might be worth getting in contact with someone from the department.

Ya I've briefly read a bit about that but it seems it's more of a 'second' chance. I did my leaving cert in 2007 so it would be hard without having done maths in a few years but I will look into it further thanks

MiamTea

Hey, I think I'm doing this course next year, can anyone tell me is the chemistry very hard? And is the maths in the honours degree tough?
And one other thing, do many girls do this course? I'm not sure I wana be the only one...:D

Newtown90

Just after finishing the course!

The maths is very hard!..

But honestly if you put in the work you'll be grand!...

The chemisty is more thermodynamics and thermofluids!

A lot of refrigeration, combustion of engines, fluids, etc..

All do able if you put in the work!

There was one girl in my course and she dropped out after two years!

Very small female numbers i must say..

astra97

I'm also thinking of doing this course next year. I know that there is a wide opportunity of careers that you can get at the end of the course, but I was wondering, what are the typical careers people normally get after doing this course? And is it easy to get a well paid job with this course under you belt?

mrmeindl

astra97 wrote: »

what are the typical careers people normally get after doing this course?

Working in the pharmaceutical/biomedical industry would be the most common, depends what you're interested in really. The list is endless tbh.

astra97 wrote: »

And is it easy to get a well paid job with this course under you belt?

Not easy but not exceedingly difficult.

Dermighty

astra97 wrote: »

I'm also thinking of doing this course next year. I know that there is a wide opportunity of careers that you can get at the end of the course, but I was wondering, what are the typical careers people normally get after doing this course? And is it easy to get a well paid job with this course under you belt?

With the level 7 a job wont be hard to find but you'll most definitely be limited in your options for progression, a promotion a few years down the line may require a level 8 degree (most good jobs do) and the level 7 isn't as good as a level 8 on paper. I've been told by level 7 and level 8 engineers that the level 7 puts a ceiling on your potential within certain fields, but I've also been told that that is a load of rubbish and that if you have the balls you can make whatever you want happen.

The jobs are varied, your project will give you some idea about what interests you (and what doesn't interest you). I learned a huge amount from the project, I had a project that mixed almost everything about the course (the only project this year that did I feel) and it helps a lot.

The one year add ons are a good option, only one year extra, level 8 accredited, respected by big companies like Stryker, Apple etc and they are also eligible for the grant if you've done th elevel 7 (as they are higher up on the FETAC ladder).

I'm a couple of weeks away from finishing my final year of the level 7 and I enmjoyed it, great course, the level 8 has more theory, maths and less practical hands on skills (welding, 3d design) but it has a work experience component (really good for the CV!!!).

Whichever option appeals to you I'd recommend the course, the 1st year may be tedious (I started when I was 25) but after that it gets interesting.

My advice (if you do it) would be get good at thermofluids as it's very relevant to the kind of jobs you can get with a level 7.

Newtown90

astra97 wrote: »

I'm also thinking of doing this course next year. I know that there is a wide opportunity of careers that you can get at the end of the course, but I was wondering, what are the typical careers people normally get after doing this course? And is it easy to get a well paid job with this course under you belt?

I did the level 7 of this course, got a years work experience and went back amd did level 8 BSc in process plant technology.

When I finished that last summer I got a job in Irelands biggest semi conductor producer in kildare as a BIM Co-ordinator with the usual grad wage.

9 months later I was offered a project engineers role in ringaskiddy where ive more than doubled my money.

So anything is possible you just need the balls to stick your head in and try.

condog123

is it really a 9-5 monday to friday course though?

stardollz

condog123 wrote: »

is it really a 9-5 monday to friday course though?

More or less. In fact, because there are a lot of lab classes you could end up finishing at 6 some evenings. Fridays generally finish 2pm, 4pm or you could be off every 2nd week etc - again depending on your lab classes.

condog123

stardollz wrote: »

More or less. In fact, because there are a lot of lab classes you could end up finishing at 6 some evenings. Fridays generally finish 2pm, 4pm or you could be off every 2nd week etc - again depending on your lab classes.

It's between this and nutrition and health in cit for me, I think the hours would be way to much if you ask me, couldn't imagine being on a computer a lot of the day to be honest I'm useless and design and it doesn't interest me much but that being said I love maths and physics and have a big interest in biology even though I didn't do it at leaving cert

Newtown90

condog123 wrote: »

It's between this and nutrition and health in cit for me, I think the hours would be way to much if you ask me, couldn't imagine being on a computer a lot of the day to be honest I'm useless and design and it doesn't interest me much but that being said I love maths and physics and have a big interest in biology even though I didn't do it at leaving cert

You wouldn't be on a pc most of the day.

"Labs" are infact thermo labs where you carry out "experiments".. Mechatronics labs where you build different automation systems... Workshop labs where you are doing the practical ( That is if you go the level 7 way ). And then you have the CAD Labs for like 3/4 hours a week.

Great variety!

Dermighty

You would use a PC max 6 hours a week in 2nd year and 3rd year.

stardollz

Sorry, I should have specified what the labs were. The labs are basically a more hands on approach to the learning process.

In relation to the input hours, I don't think that should be a factor. No matter what course you do, if you want to do well you'll have to put in extra hours. The advantage of these lab hours is actually that you just need to write up a short lab report for each and that becomes part of your continuous assessment grade.

I know people in 1st year nutrition who spend more time in the library etc than final year/3rd year mechanical engineers.