Meet our IEA - Diana

Name: Diana

Department: Automatic control systems

Course: Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering
Nationality: Romanian

Hello

I would like to share a little something about myself and how I got into the University of Sheffield:

I am Diana and I come from Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Before University,  I had considered studying abroad but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. What course should I do? Which university? How would I cope in a foreign country? What country do I even want to go to?

Three days before the closing date for applications on the UCAS website, I decided to apply to a university in the UK. My parents were very supportive and told me to go ahead. It’s an English speaking country, in the EU ( back then ☹ ) and so easy to get to. I knew quite a bit about British culture and history and of course that it is famous for its universities.

I started writing my application using tips from any website I could find and asked my friends and teachers to proof-read it for me. I was eager to look at the University rankings, global rankings, UCAS rankings, specific course rankings, and learn how UCAS works. The process of applying to Universities with little guidance from anyone was a hectic time for me!

I sent in my application and waited for the results. Sheffield was my firm choice, but why?

Because I love the Arctic Monkeys. Oh, and the course was pretty good too.

I knew I wanted to do Robotics when I stumbled across a YouTube video about people who play one of my favourite video games - League of Legends. One of the people they followed was a Korean man that created robot replicas of characters from the game. That was when I realised: ‘I want to do this too! This is what I want.’

This newly sparked interest, combined with a love for Maths and Physics in school and a bit of a twist of fate is how and why I chose my course and this University.  I have never regretted my decision, it was the best choice I could have made.

Meet Our International Ambassador - Ioan-Alexandru Herdea

Hi all, my name is Ioan-Alexandru Herdea. I am studying Mechatronic and Robotic Engineering with a Year in Industry, it may sound quite long and fancy. But believe me, it is simply amazing. You learn a little from everything - Controlling Systems, Engineering Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Modelling, Simulation and Programming. Plus, we have a lot of laboratories where we can implement, what we have learned, into real systems. Those moments are funny and demanding because theoretical results are not the same every time with the outputs in real life. What is more, there is the possibility of working in the Engineering domain afterwards.

A lot of people have asked me why I chose this course. Well, the answer is more like a story. Two months before the UCAS applications opened, I saw the movies ‘Real Steel and ‘Ex Machina’ and my first thought was “How about starting to build a robot?” So I went to my Computer Science teacher and asked her if I could join the robotics team in high school. I skipped most of my lectures for two weeks, so I could focus on designing a robot for an up and coming competition. I simply couldn’t see myself studying anything other than Robotics. Even though our team did not win, we had a great time working together and the experience made me more determined to find a Robotic course.

Why The University of Sheffield?

I have to admit that all the universities that run Mechatronic and Robotic Engineering courses in the UK are located in amazing cities. However as Sheffield is a student friendly city, I am able to experience everything that university life can offer, with affordable prices and a wide range of activities. Also, The University of Sheffield is the only university which runs a competition called Global Engineering Week. It takes place over a period of one week where you are assigned to work with a group of students to come up with a solution for a specific engineering problem, set in a particular country. The group consists of students from all the engineering departments.

My hobbies… being an active man, I have tried almost all sports, but what I am most passionate about is squash, mountain biking, and skiing. The city is also well known for one of my favourite sports - squash. There are many squash celebrities who lived here.

In addition to sports, I also enjoy cars, collecting fountain pens and maybe something a bit unusual, disassembling electronic equipment or anything that has screws just to give me a better understanding of how they work.