Girton offers a great opportunity for engineering students

Welcome to Girton College Engineering. On this page, you will find the key information you need to know if you are considering applying to study Engineering at Girton. You can also learn more about what the  Engineers at Girton are getting up to. Please read on for:

• An Introduction to Engineering at Girton
• The Cambridge Engineering Degree
• What is Engineering like for Students at Girton?
• How to Apply
• College Fellows and Supervisors
• The Girton College Engineering Society
• Postgraduate Engineering
• Career Destinations and Alumni

An Introduction to Engineering at Girton

When you study Engineering at Girton, you join one of the largest subject groups at the College, with 10-15 students studying in each of the four years of the Cambridge Engineering course. Girton has seven active Girton Engineering Fellows [link to section below] who will oversee your studies during your time at Cambridge.

While at Girton you will be supported by a dedicated “Director of Studies”, an Engineering Fellow at the College who is responsible for your academic progress, and a “Tutor”, a Fellow in another subject, who provides pastoral support and advice. 

This arrangement helps you to reach your potential, from navigating coursework and exams, to kindling a passion for engineering which sustains a career well beyond your time studying at Girton.    

The Cambridge Engineering Degree

The Cambridge Engineering degree is a four-year Master’s course, split into Part I, the first two years, and Part II, the third and fourth years. Lectures, practicals, project work and examinations are delivered by the Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED), with students from different colleges all receiving the same teaching. However, in Cambridge in Part I, all of the small group teaching sessions, called “supervisions”, are arranged by the colleges. At Girton, supervisions are delivered by the Engineering Fellows so that our undergraduate students receive high-quality, personalised teaching from experts in the field. 

Part I in Cambridge provides a general education in Engineering which picks up from A-Level Maths, Further Maths and Physics and covers: Mechanics, Thermofluids, Structures, Materials, Electrical and Information Engineering including Computing, and Mathematical methods. In Part II, students specialise and get the opportunity to cover engineering topics as diverse as Systems and Control, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Semiconductor Engineering, Vibration, Bioengineering, Turbomachinery, Nuclear Power, and many, many others. Most students also choose several modules on business, economics or management.  

Put together, the four-year course results in an accredited Master’s in Engineering which sets you up for fantastic careers in a wide range of different fields. You can find more detail about the engineering course on the Department's website.

What is Engineering like for students at Girton?

What is a week like studying engineering as a Girton student? If you are a first or second year you will attend several lectures a day and have “labs”, which are practicals or projects, to work on at the Engineering Department in the centre of town. The cycle ride from Girton is about 25 minutes, or you can catch the bus, so you will feel wide awake for your 9am lecture! 

Most timetabled lectures and labs finish by 13:00 and you have time to get back to college to refuel with an excellent lunch served in either the Main Hall or Social Hub. In the afternoons, there are usually three supervisions per week, led by Girton Engineering Fellows, who help you delve deeper into the different topics you are learning about in lectures. The supervisions are typically 1-hour long and you attend in groups of 2 or 3 with the other Girton students in your year. 

Apart from supervisions, lectures and labs, students need to spend several hours a day going over lectures, working on problems they are set for supervisions, or on coursework. Some students like to work in their rooms, some in the Engineering Department, and others in the calm and fantastically well-stocked college library. As well as staying on top of your work, you will also find plenty of time for socialising, playing sport and music, and relaxing in Girton’s beautiful grounds. 

The schedule for third- and fourth-year Engineers still includes lectures, labs and supervisions but the emphasis shifts more towards coursework and open-ended projects. This culminates in the “Fourth Year Project”, for which you will produce an original piece of research or design which aims to tackle some of society’s most exciting and pressing challenges. 

In recent years, Girton fourth-year Engineers, supervised by Fellows at Girton, have tackled problems including how to measure ice cover in the Antarctic, how best to design electric jet engines, how to improve the energy efficiency of school and college buildings, and how to measure atmospheric conditions to understand cricket ball swing better.  

How to apply

Each year, we admit between 10 and 15 students from all over the world, from all types of schools and with a wide range of backgrounds. 

We are looking for applicants with excellent mathematical and physical reasoning, with a strong academic record and also potential to flourish in the Cambridge system, and with a passion and enthusiasm for Engineering.  

Academic Requirements: All entry requirements are A-Level standard or equivalent, unless otherwise stated. Maths and Physics are essential. If you have a choice of topics within your Maths course (and/or Further Maths), you will find mechanics and pure mathematics most relevant to our Engineering course. 

Girton strongly prefers applicants for Engineering to be taking a third, relevant subject. If your school or college is able to offer Further Maths or you can access it through the Further Mathematics Support Programme, you are very strongly encouraged to study this. Other suitable subjects for your third A-Level include Chemistry, Computing, Design Technology, and Electronics. If you realise only at the end of Year 12 that you would like to pursue Engineering at Girton, we very strongly recommend that you take AS Further Maths in Year 13 if possible. 

Typical offer: A*A*A.

We welcome applications from students taking A-Level Mathematics and a suitable vocational qualification, e.g. a BTEC Higher National Diploma, in an engineering discipline. Applicants are expected to achieve the highest possible grades in A-Level Mathematics and the vocational qualification.

Written assessment: All Cambridge applicants are required to take the Engineering and Science Admissions Test (ESAT) prior to interview. Applicants must register in advance and further information about the written assessment can be found here. [link]

Interviews. In December 2024 interviews will be online and each applicant will receive two 25-minute interviews. 

More information about admissions can be found on the University webpage.

The Girton College Engineering Society

Girton’s Engineering Society has been revamped for the 2024-25 academic year and their new website will be launching soon. The Society meets several times a term, usually accompanied by free food and drink, giving a great opportunity for students from different years, postgraduates, supervisors and Fellows to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere. This year we have planned a Welcome Social for the Freshers, a Christmas Quiz, Lent Term Presentation evening, and End of Part II Exam Celebration Drinks. There is also a “Girton Great Build” being planned so watch this space…!

Girtonians have also been fully involved in the activities of the Cambridge University Engineering Society, CU Eco-racing, CU Space Flight, CU Riviera Racing as well as science and engineering outreach activities such as teaching support in local schools through the Stimulus Scheme, educational science activities for children such as CHaOS and helping in the Department of Engineering’s participation in the Cambridge Science Festival. Girton Engineers have also been involved in schemes to encourage applications to Cambridge from under-represented groups, such as being Student Ambassadors for the College and University, as well as being active members of the College community.

Postgraduate Engineering

Graduates are welcome across all the scientific disciplines and are encouraged to take part in subject-organised events and to share their experience with undergraduate students. They are encouraged to take part in college teaching provided that their supervisor agrees.

Research and postgraduate students are admitted to the University by the Board of Graduate Studies. You must therefore apply centrally and not to the College. However, you must be admitted to a College to be able to study at the University. To ensure that this is Girton you need to indicate this on your application form.

Career Destinations and Alumni

After graduation, our alumni go on to a wide range of exciting career pathways. Some proceed to postgraduate study at Cambridge or elsewhere around the world. They study PhD, MPhils or MSc courses in various engineering disciplines to develop and hone their area of expertise. 

Alternatively, many of our students enter industry as engineers. The Girton Engineering Fellows and the wider Engineering Department will closely support you to find rewarding summer work placements. In many cases, these opportunities have led to employment after graduation. 

Today, our recent graduates are working on “real-world” problems including the latest smart phone technology, high speed rail infrastructure, future aircraft propulsion, explosion modelling, and even parachutes for landing vehicles on Mars! Away from Engineering, our students also go on to have successful careers in many different sectors including teaching, finance, consulting or the armed forces.