Engineering

We are keen to attract good scientists who are interested in the practical challenge of Engineering. Ability in Mathematics and Physics (less so in Chemistry) and an enterprising attitude towards problem-solving are the necessary characteristics, and the ones we are looking for at entry. Qualifications in non-science subjects, including foreign languages, help to promote the necessary breadth for engineers in the modern world.

All Engineering courses in Oxford are now of four years’ duration. The courses offered at Magdalen are (1) Engineering Science and (2) Engineering, Economics and Management. Both courses share a common syllabus in the first year and it is possible to transfer between courses after the first year, provided that the Department and the tutors concerned agree to the transfer. Applicants who wish to read Engineering, Economics and Management should apply for Engineering Science in the first instance. Candidates who express an interest in Engineering, Economics and Management at the time of application will be considered for transfer into that school at the beginning of their second year. Transfer is conditional on being ranked in the top 40 per cent in the First Public Examination, having read a prescribed economics text in the long vacation, and having performed satisfactorily in a written examination and interview on that text.

In most years Magdalen admits five or six undergraduates to read Engineering courses.

Details of the courses may be found in the University Prospectus or may be found on the Department of Engineering Science website, which will also include details of departmental Open Days.

Magdalen has three Fellows and one College lecturer who are tutors in Engineering. Dr Constantin Coussios is concerned mainly with the teaching of mathematics and control, Professor John Gregg is concerned with the teaching of electrical subjects, Dr Zhong You teaches civil and mechanical engineering, and Dr Colin Wood is responsible for fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.

Entry procedures

All candidates for all Engineering courses are required to sit the Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) on 7 November 2012. Further details can be found on the Undergraduate Admissions website at: PAT.

For conditional offers, A2 grades of A*AA (or equivalent) are required, including Mathematics and Physics. The A* must be obtained in Mathematics, Physics or Further Mathematics.

Although industrial sponsorship is not essential, many Engineering undergraduates find such an attachment useful in providing them with practical experience in parallel with their more academic studies at Oxford. Sponsorship often requires the student to defer entry for a year while he or she works with the company involved; we have no objection to this provided that the year off is used positively, and academic studies are not neglected. However, applicants will have to decide by the time of admissions interviews whether they wish to defer; deferral at a later date will not normally be allowed.

Please contact Dr Zhong You for further information.

External links