Where are they now?

The course was very challenging and hard work but definitely worth the effort to gain such a well regarded degree.

Southampton was both the friendliest and most realistic in the advice they offered me: my interviewers recommended I did the Foundation Year here prior to my undergraduate degree, which turned out to be very good advice. I also wanted to have a more unified university experience of the type available here, rather than to be at a London university with their scattered campuses.

A career in engineering offers a huge variety of experiences at home and abroad, and since I graduated in 1981 I have worked in a number of industries (defence, aerospace and even medicine).

The course also had a lot to offer, with lots of interesting-sounding projects, site visits - and of course the surveying course at Gradbach...!

Get involved in as many clubs and societies as possible. University provides unlimited opportunities to meet new people and try new activities and I found the best way to do this was through societies.

Southampton is generally regarded as the best for audiology. Aspects of my degree have been essential in everything I do, from looking at the anatomy of patients to treatments.

If you want to make a good impression on future employers, working during your degree through SUCCESS really counts and, of course, you stand a good chance of getting a job with your sponsor after you graduate.

The best part about studying at Southampton was the quality of the teaching received (both lectures and tutoring), which ultimately enabled me to build an enjoyable career. I also thoroughly enjoyed my final year group project which providing a good base for going on into industry.

I would encourage all Civil Engineering students to think about a SUCCESS scholarship.

Automotive engineering offers fairly short projects, so the next challenge is never far away. The compact campus and nearby halls made life easy at Southampton, but meeting like-minded people and making great friends was the best part for me.

The course enabled me to find a job and obtain a work visa in the UK right after my Masters degree study.

I have directly used my degree for my subsequent career in a number of ways. It has been enormously helpful (I often find myself referring back to books and notes I have kept) and I continue to add to the knowledge obtained through further research.

“Fantastic reputation as an engineering university; my course encouraged me to think beyond the academic exercise when solving engineering problems – a valuable skill I use all the time in my job.”

The course was fun and exciting but also highly challenging at times. The course and module structure was quite straightforward and gave me the opportunity to learn and gather extensive knowledge within a short time.

I can’t say enough for how the Environmental Science course at Southampton provided me a good, solid grounding in such a broad array of disciplines….I certainly wouldn’t have got where I am today without it!

There are also the many clubs and societies which give a much needed respite from the intense course. I joined the skydiving and paragliding clubs during my time at Southampton so I could get my adrenaline rush! Intramural football was also great fun. It meant I could enjoy some competitive sport as well as good nights out with the team.

I knew that Southampton's Transportation Research Group had an excellent reputation and that the MSc was one of the most established postgraduate transport courses in the country. This gave me confidence in the staff leading the course and its content.

First and foremost, my time at Southampton taught me the engineering fundamentals that will be applied throughout my career.

Engineering is all about practical challenges and solving problems, which I felt was a worthwhile career choice. When you choose a uni course, do it because you are interested in the subject because you will be spending a lot of time thinking about it.

Southampton committed some funds towards a PhD and helped me raise some additional resources with external partners such as Marwell Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy (USA).

The best career preparation came from the large amount of project based work, in particular the group design project (GDP) in my final year, which allowed me to take the engineering knowledge I had gained and apply it to a completely different setting.

I enjoyed the way lecturers taught lessons in an interesting and attractive way and the good atmosphere in the classes with everyone being involved in answering all types of questions.

I enjoyed the progression throughout the course, I particularly enjoyed the freedom we were given to apply our knowledge gained and develop as engineers in the latter stages. This was especially the case in the group design project where we were able to combine our skills to solve the most challenging problems that I would never have thought possible at the start of the degree.

The Civil Engineering course at Southampton helped me learn the basic techniques and methods required for design in a consultancy office. This allowed me to go on and develop more detailed skills which I will carry forward with the end goal of gaining Chartership status in the future.

My role is varied working in all spheres of the environment... I have been directly using skills gained on the MSc course to review and improve the Environmental Management System (ISO14001). The work is really interesting and I am relishing the opportunity to put skills gained on the course into practice.

Always study something you enjoy but consider carefully your job prospects at the end of it, and whether those jobs are ones you'd like to do. Don't take easy options, the harder you work the greater the rewards. Keep your options open, engineering is fantastic for that!

The aeronautics and astronautics course strongly appealed to me with subjects offered in exactly what I wanted to study. Southampton had also a great reputation for engineering.

For Hieu, he was first attracted to his course because of its world class reputation and the high level of support the University offered overseas students.

Southampton has the best aero course in the country. Simple decision really. As it turned out, it's a really nice campus, and with the coast, the New Forest and London only a stone's throw away (to name three), it's ideally placed for all sorts of activities.

The work based placement helped me to secure my current role working as a Graduate Environmental Consultant for Ramboll UK.

After my first visit to Southampton University I knew that that was where I wanted to study. I had heard of the outstanding reputation of engineering at Southampton and the aerospace engineering course offered everything I was looking for.

For my dissertation I investigated the relationship between large herbivore grazing and heathland vegetation, and the impact this had on reptile distribution and abundance.

The Shard was a fantastic project to get involved in, everyone in London has seen it go up and it’s very impressive. When you stand at the bottom and look up, it almost disappears into the sky.

The first year surveying field trip to Gradbach was definitely a high point and it was an excellent opportunity to get to know the other students and some of the staff. The staff in the school are very approachable and always offer help even if the problem isn’t in their particular field of expertise.

There was a lot of choice about which modules to take so I could choose the ones that interested me the most. That way I was always studying something that I wanted to learn more about rather than something that was of no interest!

Harry wants to work at the cutting edge of technology.

Having spoken to the course coordinator, Professor Nick Hounsell, I was quickly convinced that the course was for me, blending a combination of analytical study, engineering and policy.

The course also has a good reputation within its field. I liked the wide choice of modules available to ES students, including many with an ecological focus, which I was particularly interested in. Also, for someone interested in marine ecology, having the National Oceanography Centre as one of its campuses was an attraction.

I chose to study Environmental Sciences at Southampton because of the multidisciplinary nature of the degree. The course allowed for me to study across departments. When I selected an engineering unit I was taught by an engineer and the same for biology, physics, and geography.

Lohan's ambition was to work in the music business

Lohan's ambition was to work in the music business

I don’t think that I can remember a single part of the course that I didn’t enjoy. I mean I wouldn’t say I would choose to do some of the maths modules again for fun but the interest in the course material and the challenges keeps you going. The group projects and the field trips though were the best bits.

At exam times you have to fight for places in the library. I found that lecturers were usually around if you needed them and resources were also never in short supply (thank you late night computer labs!) Some people did take a more novel approach to studying - such as Starbucks, but I found that spending some time in the Union cafe made a good change from the above locations!

If you are interested in becoming a pilot, I suggest you join the local air cadet group. You will be able to have a go at flying light aircraft and gliders.

When I was a little kid, I used to enjoy drawing pictures of boats – and I thought, "Hey, if I can get a job and make a living from doing this, why not?" I found out later on that naval architecture/ship science is not quite as simple as this though…

Work hard at school and university; putting the hours in always pays off, but make sure you have a life outside of work too. Get some work experience and try different areas of the industry.

I was interested in pursuing a career in transport planning and after speaking to someone who was on the course the year before me, I decided that it would be a good introduction to the subject area.

At Southampton I had the opportunity to study across departments. I took German, which was useful when I lived there for three years, and I audited courses in the EE department. It broadened my technical vocabulary, and provided a foundation for my work with MPEG.

Southampton was a great place to study and its bars, shops and parks are well geared towards students. After my UCAS visit day I was immediately struck by how friendly the students and staff were and the relaxed attitude was refreshing. The sheer number of student societies and sports clubs was fantastic and made it really easy to try new things and meet new people.

I now work in Winchester where I head up the vestibular service and supervise trainees

Jane worked for Ove Arup and Partners from 1976-1998, during which time she was Principal in Charge of Arup’s Los Angeles office (1986-88) and worked on her most notable and high-profile project – the Millennium Wheel.

There are lots of reasons why Southampton was an attractive choice. Ultimately though, I liked the Uni on the open day – four years later I am still convinced I made the right choice!

For anyone toying with the idea of a BSc in Audiology or MSc in Health Science specialising in Audiology I would thoroughly recommend it as a solid and rewarding career.

In 1961, Southampton had one of the best reputations for aero engineering, and it was in the finest location. It also had a friendly atmosphere (only about 3,000 students in those days) and its own UAS operating out of Hamble – easy to get to on a rare free afternoon.