We don't really have so many optional choices here early on - in UK Engineering degrees are regulated by the Engineering Council and have to cover set material,

We don't really have so many optional choices here early on - in UK Engineering degrees are regulated by the Engineering Council and have to cover set material, or students who graduate from it are not able to register for Chartered Engineer status as quickly (adds an extra 5 years onto the process). For Physics, the courses are generally set to meet requirements set by the Institute of Physics. We do have credits, but it's generally not possible for you to take courses from a higher level - a 2nd year student can't generally take a 3rd year course for e.g. or vice versa. In general, this means that the first two years of all physics/eng degrees in the UK cover almost identical material across all Universities. It's only after that you start to get any choice, and those choices usually relate somewhat to the expertise of the academics at that institution - I did my first degree in a University with very strong condensed matter theory group for e.g. so there were lots of courses on that.