My course
The course content was very varied, with some modules being joined with other courses. The ability to specialise your course after the first year (materials science for year 1, and then a choice of either further, aeronautical or automotive materials for the rest of the course) was very unique. It gave you the chance to have an introduction to the course before you made any major decisions about where to specialise. The Department of Materials also had a lot of contacts with companies for placement years which improved both the application and the choice of placement.
I really enjoyed the CAD (computer aided design) module in first year. The mixture between practical content (i.e making the designs) and theoretical information (i.e understanding engineering drawings) made the module really engaging. I spend a lot of time working with engineering drawings at my graduate job, so being able to understand them has proved invaluable.
I would also like the mention the Part C project module. While writing a dissertation was obviously stressful, the freedom to work with a supervising lecturer and conduct my own experiments in the lab was one of my favourite times at uni. It was my first time running/managing a project and I ended up receiving the John Goodwin Memorial Prize for the highest project marks in my course. I knew I had put a lot of effort into it but for that to be officially recognised with an award was amazing. The project management skills also gained from this certainly help me manage the failure investigation projects that I work on now.