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The route into electrical engineer

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Physicsrequiredfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Physics HLrequiredfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Advanced Placement

  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetismhelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • AP Computer Science Ahelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    The direct destination — power systems, electronics, industrial control and utilities.

    Four to five years, with a preparatory year common in the Kingdom.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • ESAT or TMUAOctober

    Required at Cambridge and Imperial; not required by most universities.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi admission composite for engineering colleges.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • IELTS, TOEFL or STEPBefore enrolment

    Determines whether a preparatory year is required at English-medium engineering colleges.

    • Weekly, year-roundIELTS and TOEFL both run frequently at centres across the Kingdom; Duolingo and PTE can be sat at very short notice.
    • 3 to 13 days after the testResults, depending on the test. IELTS computer-delivered is among the fastest; paper-based is slower.
    • Autumn of Grade 12 at the latestWhen to have sat it by, leaving room for one repeat before offers are decided.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, science track (علمي)3 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc Electrical Engineering4–5 yrs
  3. licensingSaudi Council of Engineers registration0–1 yrs
  4. practiceGraduate then professional engineer0 yr

LicensingSaudi Council of Engineers registration is mandatory to practise.

United Kingdom

  1. schoolA-levels including maths and physics2 yr
  2. undergraduateBEng or MEng Electrical / Electronic Engineering3–4 yrs
  3. trainingGraduate development toward chartership3–5 yrs
  4. licensingChartered Engineer status0–1 yrs
  5. practiceChartered electrical engineer0 yr

LicensingChartership is the professional standard, closely tied to seniority and pay.

United States

  1. schoolHigh school with maths and physics4 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's in electrical engineering4 yr
  3. licensingProfessional Engineer licence, where required0–4 yrs
  4. practiceElectrical engineer0 yr

LicensingLicence matters for consulting and power-system sign-off; many electrical engineers in electronics never need one.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–6 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 2 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 280,000–440,000 of earnings deferred.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 7–9 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 6 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £162,000–210,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–8 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 4 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $195,120–250,520 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.