Engineering at Newcastle (3 Viewers)

[Tacoo]

Anyone planning on studying an engineering course at Newcastle in 2014?

 

[Dementured]

Yeah.

 

[Tacoo]

Civil? Mechanical?

 

[Dementured]

Electrical

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[azza1995]

Hey Mate, yeah I am, hopefully a combined degree of Mechatronics and Mechanical engineering

 

[Tacoo]

Nice man, I'm hopefully doing civil but 2nd and 3rd preferences were mining and mechanical

 

[Tacoo]

Might do mechatronics as a side degree later on just because I love robots hahaha

 

[azza1995]

Awesome mate! Sound like a great choices!
Hahah yes robots is going to be an amazing part of the degree! Really looking forward to it! Heard the maths is just really crazy hahah
You live in newy or coming from somewhere else? I coming up there next yeah, im moving from just outside of Canberra.

 

[Tacoo]

Went to school in newcastle, moved to the central coast a few months ago, moving back to newcastle for on campus accomodation hopefully xD

 

[Heydosaurus]

If anyone is still thinking about it, I personally can't recommend electrical engineering here enough. It's a great program and maybe I'm just really lucky, but all of my lecturers and tutors have been excellent.

 

[azza1995]

Awesome Heydosauru! What sort of subjects do you do in your first year of electrical engineering at Newcastle?

 

[Heydosaurus]

Haha, very late response. Apologies for that. =P I'll list each of the first year courses and briefly describe their contents.

Semester 1

ELEC1700 - Computer Engineering

Introduces you to the foundations of the workings of computers. The course mainly applies mathematical logic to different scenarios, such as processor design. Lots of logic gates and binary! Additionally, Steve, the lecturer, is absolutely fantastic.

MATH1110 - Mathematics 1

Quickly revises HSC calculus modules (from the 2 unit course) and expands upon them, whilst introducing you to vectors, complex numbers, polar coordinates and planes. As long as you got at least a band 5 in the HSC mathematics course, you shouldn't struggle here.

PHYS1210 - Advanced Physics 1

Us electrical engineering students have to at least have a general liking for physics, as we're the only group of engineering students that have to study advanced physics. This is mainly due to the concepts introduced in the successor course, PHYS1220, however, this course includes particle physics, cosmology, mechanics, thermodynamics, wave mechanics and nuclear physics. A very interesting course with some important foundations for further studies in electrical engineering. HSC physics is recommended, but not required. Another word of advice is to never wear a hat to the lectures. One of the lecturers, Paul, is a massive prick to anybody that wears a hat. Excellent lecturer, though. =P

GENG1803 - Introduction to Engineering Practice

Along with MATH1110, this is the main first semester course that every engineering student, along with computer science students, has to complete. It introduces a very broad portfolio of concepts that will be expanded upon as you progress within your degree. Along with this, it introduces you to engineering report writing, with 60% of your final mark being based off of group contributions leading up to and including the report.

Semester 2

MATH1120 - Mathematics 2

This course introduces you to matrices and differential equations, whilst expanding upon the calculus concepts as taught in MATH1110. It flows much better as a course than MATH1110 did and the course coordinator, Mike, is excellent.

PHYS1220 - Advanced Physics 2

Here you start to get into the more applicable electrical engineering foundations, such as electricity, electromagnetism, optics and an introduction to quantum mechanics, something which will blow your brain into a bajillion pieces. Of course, quantum mechanics will lead into semiconductors with PHYS2170, the most influential material within our generation of electrical engineers.

ELEC1300 - Electrical Engineering

Introduces you to the analysis of electrical circuits, power and the properties of resistors, inductors and capacitors. I would say that it's the most difficult course within the first year of electrical engineering at UoN, but you'll find that it's very enjoyable if you're genuinely interested in electrical engineering.

GENG1003 - Introduction to Procedural Programming

As somebody that has always found computer programming to be the single most mundane area of computing as a field, at first, I hated the fact that I had to do this course, but I eventually came to like it. It introduces you to the foundations of programming in both C and MATLAB, within the context of an engineer. Mike, the course coordinator, is also excellent.

So that's the first year of electrical engineering in a nutshell. Having really enjoyed the first year, I'm definitely looking forward to the challenges of second year. Bring on the four month break, though!

 

[jacksonhughes95]

Heydosaurus, can you recommend any textbooks which you use in first year elec eng?

 

[Heydosaurus]

The single greatest textbook that you can pick up for first year electrical engineering is 'Physics for Scientists and Engineers' by Giancoli, preferably the 4th edition. It's a set of three volumes and it covers both courses. You're given access to a digital copy of the book, however, I think that it's an excellent set of books that make a great addition to an engineering student's personal library.

Other than that, for most of my courses, I haven't found textbooks to be a strong necessity. As somebody with little experience in C, I have found the 7th edition of 'Problem Solving and Program Design in C' by Hanly & Koffman to be especially helpful in getting through GENG1003. In the rest of the courses, lecture notes are more than sufficient enough to get you through the courses. If you require them, they provide you with extra problems in each of the courses, too.

 

[azza1995]

Thanks Heydosaurus for all that information about electrical engineering, I really appreciate it!!! It has been a great insight into first year uni!! I am really looking forward to studying at UoN next year!!!

How much of first years contains programming? Would a degree like Mechatronics have a greater focus on programming than electrical engineering?

 

[anomalousdecay]

Awesome mate! Sound like a great choices!
Hahah yes robots is going to be an amazing part of the degree! Really looking forward to it! Heard the maths is just really crazy hahah
You live in newy or coming from somewhere else? I coming up there next yeah, im moving from just outside of Canberra.

Have you considered going to ADFA? I would go there if I lived near Canberra.

 

[Heydosaurus]

How much of first years contains programming? Would a degree like Mechatronics have a greater focus on programming than electrical engineering?

The only programming course that you have to do in first year is GENG1003, so an 8th of your total course loadings for first year, full time study. ELEC1700 makes you think like a programmer, sometimes, too.

Mechatronics certainly has a greater number of programming courses that you have to do, compared to electrical. I think that there's a couple of extra ones in second year, as opposed to only half a course in electrical.

 

[azza1995]

Have you considered going to ADFA? I would go there if I lived near Canberra.

Nar, I like warmer weather way better than the cold and after living here six years, its horrible. Plus I've heard way better feedback about engineering at Newcastle, than I have at ADFA.

The only programming course that you have to do in first year is GENG1003, so an 8th of your total course loadings for first year, full time study. ELEC1700 makes you think like a programmer, sometimes, too.

Mechatronics certainly has a greater number of programming courses that you have to do, compared to electrical. I think that there's a couple of extra ones in second year, as opposed to only half a course in electrical.

Cool man! Thanks for all your help, it has been really helpful, you've given me a great insight into engineering at uni! Best of luck with all your exam results!

 

[mehrad1995]

Im currently going to do Mechanical at Macquarie University, do you guys think i should apply for Newcastle UNI for the february offer??? I live in sydney!! please help me out!!!

One more Question is UWS better for engineering or Macquarie University ??

 

[Heydosaurus]

I just emailed the lecturer about book and he said that they are going to use some kind of electronic text this year.

It should be the same book, but digital. The digital copy is shit, though. You can only access it after logging into the Mastering Physics website and it's browser based. Buying a physical copy is expensive (around $200), but I found it to be totally worth it.