Electrical Engineering (1 Viewer)

[elseany]

Hey, i just wanted a bit of information about electrical engineering. I was wondering about what kind of fields these people get employed in, like what exactly does their work invovle? Also, how good are their pay packets and is their room for this too increase without necesarily going into management?

I've heard alot of things about elec eng at UNSW being much better than USyd but nobody ever mentions Newcastle. How does newcastle compare to unsw in terms of employability and actual employment statistics.

 

[ianc]

Okay - I'm commencing electrical engineering this year - and here is my understanding of it....

In Australia, most electrical engineering jobs are related to power supply and transmission - eg designing power stations, substations and working out stuff to do with the big power lines. You might also find work in designing the electrical layout for a big building or factory. Also there are a fair number of jobs in designing control systems - especially for the mining/resources industry. Some other fields you can enter include electronics and microelectronics - however there are not a huge number of these kinds of jobs in Australia.

As a standard electrical engineer, the average starting salary is about $45k i think - and with some experience an engineer can earn as much as $70k-$80k

However, most senior engineers move into management style positions which obviously have a lot more earning potential, and the salary can easily be $100k+


UNSW has a whole 5 storey building devoted to electrical engineering and the largest number of students, so obviously has a lot more resources at its disposal which you will appreciate when you come to do your thesis in 4th year. The curriculum is supposedly better than USyd and UTS, but thats a fairly subjective opinion.

UTS uses its 1 year of industry work experience which is built into the program as its major selling point - but people say its not particularly difficult to gain work experience anyway if you really want to - and UNSW requires you to have done at leat 60 days worth over the course of the degree - so you may as well graduate and start working sooner.

I noticed in your location that you are in the Eastern Suburbs - this means that UNSW would be the most convenient for you to commute to.


I'm sorry, I have absolutely no idea about the University of Newcastle, but looking at its program structure it looks very similar to UNSW in that in first year you basically do Maths, Physics, Computing and an introductory engineering subject then you begin electrical stuff in year 2.

Hope this helped and answered some of your questions.

 

[elseany]

wow thanks for that.

And yeah i live in pagewood which is like 15 minutes away by bus from UNSW. I really did want to move away from sydney for uni, but by the sounds of it you cant go past UNSW for engineering so looks like that'll be my new goal.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Fish Sauce]

wow thanks for that.

And yeah i live in pagewood which is like 15 minutes away by bus from UNSW. I really did want to move away from sydney for uni, but by the sounds of it you cant go past UNSW for engineering so looks like that'll be my new goal.

Thanks for the info.

Oh cool! That's where I lived when I was in Sydney.

I was checking out Electrical Engineering at UNSW a couple of days ago and what surprised me was the relatively low UAI of around 85.

 

[ianc]

The UAI cutoffs are merely indicative of demand versus the number of places available - not course difficulty.

Most of the engineering courses at UNSW have a cutoff of 85 - this is because UNSW has the largest engineering faculty of any of the unis in NSW (i'm not sure about the rest of australia) and hence has the largest number of places availble. For example, the cutoff for EE at Usyd this year was something like 89 - but this is because Usyd has a much smaller engineering faculty.

Also you can apply for the alternative entry scheme at UNSW and get in with a UAI as low as 75 - they look at your performance in relevant subjects like maths and physics and also on the basis of an interview - eg why you want to do engineering, why you think you'd be good, etc....

But DO NOT let course cutoffs convince you one course is more academically rigorous than another - like i don't think Arts/Law is an exceptionally difficult course, but everyone wants to do it so the cutoff is sky high. Also the same could be said of medicine - the real challenge is getting in rather than going well in it.

I hope this helped....(and that I didnt ramble too much)

Good luck with Year 12 and choosing a career path!

 

[watatank]

Oh cool! That's where I lived when I was in Sydney.

I was checking out Electrical Engineering at UNSW a couple of days ago and what surprised me was the relatively low UAI of around 85.

I'm starting electrical eng at UOW this year. At UOW its only 78.00, 75.00 if you're a local . They had much trouble filling places this year, I doubt they were all filled.

 

[STx]

The UAI cutoffs are merely indicative of demand versus the number of places available - not course difficulty.

Most of the engineering courses at UNSW have a cutoff of 85 - this is because UNSW has the largest engineering faculty of any of the unis in NSW (i'm not sure about the rest of australia) and hence has the largest number of places availble. For example, the cutoff for EE at Usyd this year was something like 89 - but this is because Usyd has a much smaller engineering faculty.

Also you can apply for the alternative entry scheme at UNSW and get in with a UAI as low as 75 - they look at your performance in relevant subjects like maths and physics and also on the basis of an interview - eg why you want to do engineering, why you think you'd be good, etc....

But DO NOT let course cutoffs convince you one course is more academically rigorous than another - like i don't think Arts/Law is an exceptionally difficult course, but everyone wants to do it so the cutoff is sky high. Also the same could be said of medicine - the real challenge is getting in rather than going well in it.

I hope this helped....(and that I didnt ramble too much)

Good luck with Year 12 and choosing a career path!

yep unsw has the largest engo faculty in Australia

 

[Fish Sauce]

The UAI cutoffs are merely indicative of demand versus the number of places available - not course difficulty.

Most of the engineering courses at UNSW have a cutoff of 85 - this is because UNSW has the largest engineering faculty of any of the unis in NSW (i'm not sure about the rest of australia) and hence has the largest number of places availble. For example, the cutoff for EE at Usyd this year was something like 89 - but this is because Usyd has a much smaller engineering faculty.

Also you can apply for the alternative entry scheme at UNSW and get in with a UAI as low as 75 - they look at your performance in relevant subjects like maths and physics and also on the basis of an interview - eg why you want to do engineering, why you think you'd be good, etc....

But DO NOT let course cutoffs convince you one course is more academically rigorous than another - like i don't think Arts/Law is an exceptionally difficult course, but everyone wants to do it so the cutoff is sky high. Also the same could be said of medicine - the real challenge is getting in rather than going well in it.

I hope this helped....(and that I didnt ramble too much)

Good luck with Year 12 and choosing a career path!

Yeah that's what people said, I never actually thought about that before to be honest. Luckily I'm not particularly interested in Medicine, and although Law appeals a little bit it isn't my ultimate goal. Not really sure what it is at the moment, actually.

Thanks for your help, though!

And nice scores for your subjects, very impressive. Plus you're a We Can Be Heroes fan, awesome!

 

[ianc]

oh thanks......


we can be heroes is the greatest - hahaha part of the reason i like it was the first time i watched it i thought it was for real....until it cut to the next character and i realised it was the same guy. but i love it.

to anyone who hasn't seen it, watch it

 

[cagil20]

Hey Guys, check out this discussion forum about Electrical Engineering.

http://community.boredofstudies.org/586/general-university-discussion/143033/do-you-want-become-electrical-engineer.html

About Power Systems Engineering

http://community.boredofstudies.org...ineering-field-power-systems-engineering.html

More information can be gathered from the Vic Uni website.


http://www.vu.edu.au/Faculties/Health_Engineering_and_Science/Schools/Electrical_Engineering/


Charles​

 

[Buiboi]

why is there suc ha big drop out rate for it?
how hard is it?
what makes it so hard?