Imperial College London reviews

Imperial College London review

The medicine course is constantly changing from year to year ever since the new intergrated course was introduced. For my year the course was a bit unorganized but i think that for all the new med students joining it is now more structured. The work is not really difficult to understand. it's just a matter of learning a rather large quantity and trying not to cram all revision in the few weeks leading up to the exams.

The med school itself is very separated from the rest of imperial- it has it's own student union, sport clubs, bars scattered around different hospitals etc. therefore, the medics tend to stick to themselves, and you get yourusual cliques within the year (eg rugby boys, rowers, overseas students...). Whereever you go there are bound to be medics around as the year is so large. The ratio of girls:boys is about 60:40 so this is where all the rest of imperial get the better looking girls from! The ICSM union organizes events throughout the year, not only the friday night bops, but fresher's week (helluva lot better than ic's) and our renowned RAG week and lots more.

All freshers get accomodation in the first year unlike other london unis. My halls in the first year had just been refurbished a few years back so was relatively clean and modern inside. The hall organized load of activities to do throughout the year such as going to the theatre, eurodisney, alton towers, casino nights... and the hall subsidises the cost so it was easy to have fun without spending a bomb. There are lots of places to go out, whether it's to the local pub (pricey), cinema (getting cheaper), po na na's in hammersmith (full of roehampton uni ladies also), union (no one goes there except for saddo engineers), reynold's bar (charing cross site and very cheap) or into london for night out whether cheap or expensive. There are lots of places to go shoppping too; king's road, kensington high street, knightsbridge within walking distance or just get the bus/train into central london to the usual hotspots...

So I would definitely recommend coming to Imperial. I don't regret choosing this uni- I have loads of fantastic friends, love my course and am having a brilliant time here.

Imperial College London review

Imperial is in South Kensington, once of the nicest parts of London. The campus and some halls are next to the Royal Albert Hall and Science Museum, and are a 1 minute walk from Hyde Park.

But then you can read all that in the prospectus...

Halls - you are guaranteed a room, and it will either be really nice or a hole. They keep renovating the halls, which is bad because they are more expensive, have no atmosphere and look like hospitals. A single room will be more than £80 a week, though doubles are about £50-60. The food in catered halls is barely passable and you only get evening meals at 1 set time each weekday evening. Believe me, the extra cost isn't worth it.

After halls, flats cost at least £80 a week. Rats, dodgy landlord and intermittent hot water included.

Chem Eng - Great, but really really hard work. Be prepared to work your butt off here, oh, and it won’t matter if you're top of you’re class at A-Level, because everyone at Imperial was top of their class. I got AABB in Maths, Geology, Physics and Chemistry and I'm just scraping a 2:1. I know people who got 4 A's who are on 2:2's.

Timetable - Expect to be in lectures from like 9-12 Monday to Friday, and then probably labs 2-5 most afternoons. Engineering courses have about 25 hours a week in lectures, and on top of this comes the problem sheets, coursework, lab reports etc. However I do no work over the holidays. None. The summer term is spent living in the Library and at your desk.

People - There are about 100 people in the year, but a lack of ladies. Its getting better (about 40% women) and there are some really pretty girls at IC, but you need to be quick of the mark...

Graduate Jobs - Chem. Eng. is a really good department, and you shouldn't have much problem getting a great job afterwards. Engineering jobs tend to pay max of £25k a year starting aged 21. About half the year do Stockbroking and City work after Imperial - that's about max of £35k a year, though with the stress and long hours you deserve it. The average IC student earnings are very high compared to some other places...

Part Time Jobs - Don't get one or you will fail...

The Campus - is really squashed in because there just isn't any room in London. The buildings are ugly and concrete, other than the new buildings which look like greenhouses. There is the standard crap like a newsagents, stationary shop and a few cafe's. Food is really expensive and sometimes tastes ok - just don't look at it. Library is big, with new greenhouse on top. Just as hot inside in the Summer.

Pubs - There are a couple of bars on Campus, which are cheap (pint about £1.20-£1.50) compared to all the pubs in London that charge about £2.50 for a pint of Lager. The Union has about 2-3 bars, and has club nights Wed and Fri. Used to be just cheese, though have now got other stuff like House, Drum 'n Bass, R&B and Hip Hop. There is a new guy organising the events, and it seems to keep getting better... Can also go to UCL, LSE and Kings Unions.

Clubs - the Union is good at Sport and Recreation. There are hundreds of clubs that do everything imaginable. All the sport teams are good, though they can be quite competitive, and you either take it seriously (train 2-3 times a week) or not bother.

Best Bit - London, Culture, Knowing people from Overseas, Got a great job for after Uni before graduating,

Worst Bit - Lack of Community, Competitiveness, Long Hours, Hard Work, Lack of Women, Geeky Reputation, Cliquey Groups, Medics, Expensive...

Epilogue...

Sometimes it would be nice to go to a Uni where there was a bit more community, everyone wasn't so bloody clever and the work wasn't so hard. Don't get me wrong - I've enjoyed my time here, and I've got a great job before I've even graduated, but I just feel that I've missed out on something - like I've had to grow up just a bit too fast and worked a bit to hard to consider myself a "real" student.

Imperial College London review

Life at Imperial is hard, as other people have said, but especially so on the Aero course – generally regarded as one of the hardest courses here, but hey you get a good degree. If you like a challenge and want to see how far you can go I would definitely recommend coming to IC. If you do not like work I would recommend taking Physics or Materials Geology etc, they can easily be grouped under a heading of a slacker degree compared to the good engineering degrees at IC... NawtyBoy has no idea.

Regarding the Aero course, it really is very good, lots of work, lots of lectures especially in the first year, but the subject matter is vaguely interesting and occasionally you get a glimpse through the maths at how your subject applies to the real world. There are labs in 1/2/3 year and the coursework becomes a greater and greater percentage of the total mark of the year as you reach the 4th year. Other than that there are group projects where you can exercise your engineering skills and get involved in a like more hands on way. Other than that everyone in the department works hard and they will almost all have double A maths grades, physics and Chemistry A grades.

There are indeed a strangely high number of male’s here, but you’re in London and a nice part of London as well, so I’m sure you will not struggle to find females.

Overall if you expect to work hard, and know how to use time outside of work as best as possible then IC is definitely worth considering, but then I guess I would say that cos I am studying here. Come for an open day and check it out, probably your best bet.

Imperial College London review

Well the first thing you’ll notice when you get here is the lack of girls. As it stands ladies account for about 40% of the college but most of them are medics and will be off in hospitals after the first year, never to be seen again.

So girls, this may give you an incentive to come here but from what my girly friends tell me most of the blokes are not that hot (except for myself) and IC is mostly boring geeks.

The union is used to be crap but has been getting better since the new entertainment manager took over. As you are in London you can go to numerous other unions (Kings and LSE are good) plus there are some of the best clubs in the world (e.g. Fabric).

The best thing about the union is the Cinema that runs two films twice a week and only costs £3 or £5 for both.

IC has the most student societies in the country so if you enjoy a sport or have an interest it is most likely we do it and if not it is very easy to start your own club and get funding.

Sports can be done with the University of London as well but most of these are quite competitive so you better be good.

Halls is always good even if the buildings aren’t that great, most have been renovated in the last few years and are very nice but they’re still some skank holes. It is the place you will make most of your friends and probably flat mates too. Even though you are in the centre of London IC guarantees a place in halls to all first years.

All of the halls are less than 30mins from college and most are a lot closer. There are single, double and even triple rooms and the prices are about £80, £60, and £40 respectively. The choice is up to you - sharing is a bit of a gamble but it is so much cheaper it may be worth the risk.

After halls it is not so good, don’t get me wrong surprisingly there are many private student houses for such a densely populated area but most of them are either expensive (£100/wk) or you will have to share a room in some dive and still pay a lot (£80). You can get nice cheap places but they are further away and you have to pay for travel (note students get 30% London travel cards)

Now onto the course: Imperial and Physics in particular is rock hard. You will have about 20 hrs a week in college and then that again to do all your coursework. Now i know when you started A-levels they told you to do one hour for every hour of lectures and i know i never did that much and i still got AAB, but hear it is the necessary. Basically it is a full 40hr week and you have to treat it as a job as opposed to the free ride your mates will be having at other uni’s. This is if you what a first, you can do quite a bit less if you don't mind a 2-2 and want some fun but you will still have to work hard but not super hard.

Is it worth it?? Well i think so or i would have quit. But think about it seriously before accepting an offer from IC. It'll give you a kick start into employment, but maybe you wont have as much fun as you should.

Wye College

Wye College is a respected agricultural college near Ashford, Kent, which
was taken over by Imperial College in 2000. Since then, the choice of
courses has been drastically reduced, staff have been laid off and new
student numbers are down to less than 100 a year. The college now
specialises in agriculture, horticulture, animal and plant sciences, equine
science and business, food marketing and environmental management.

I would recommend Wye for students who do not wish to study at a large town
or city university; Wye is a village with a population of 2,000, but has
good bus and train links to Ashford, Canterbury and London. However, as some
people found out to their cost, it is easy to get a reputation very quickly
as everybody knows everybody. You may also find that an "in" crowd develops
very quickly and there can be a definite sense of "them and us" amongst
students, particularly involving girls on equine courses and blokes on the
agricultural business management course.

Library facilities are excellent and the computer ratio is approximately 1
networked computer to 5 students. Email addresses are suffixed @ic.ac.uk.
The village is situated at the foot of the beautiful North Downs with ample
opportunity for walking, cycling and horse riding.

First year students should be guaranteed a place in halls as there are
currently insufficient students to fill all hall places. You may be able to
get a 2nd or 3rd year hall place too. There are a few pubs in Wye plus an
unsatisfactory Student Union - if you are interested in anything other than
sport or drinking, then the SU will not be interested in supporting you.

There are two main halls - College, which is noisy but allows you to roll
out of bed 5 minutes before your lecture, and Withersdane, set in beautiful
grounds a 10-minute walk from the main site. En suite facilities are only
available at Withersdane. Cost in 2000/2001 for standard room with catering
was approximately £75 per week (excluding holidays).

My degree, Countryside Management, has now been replaced with a wider
Environmental Management course which can be continued to MSci if required.
The course is varied and includes courses on agriculture, environmental
policy, ecology, soils, planning, statistics (yuck), forestry and
horticulture/landscape management plus a 12,000 word dissertation. Overall I
was satisfied with the course content and I have to say I didn't find it
particularly challenging. Entry requirements for courses at Wye are lower
than at the main Imperial sites - typically BBC or BCC.

Imperial College London review

Regarding the uni, I can honestly say that I decided this was the place for me when I came for open day. A lot of it is to do with Imperial's reputation and its academic excellence. The fact that it is located in London does help a long way towards my application as well. The reason I say this is if there is nothing that interest you within the uni (which isn't really going to happen) there is always something in London which will keep you entertain till the early hours of the morning.

Sorry must get back to the serious issue, in terms of medicine which is all I really know about. The course is continuely evolving with increasing emphasis on integrating clinical knowledge to basic human physiology. The positive side is that you get to do the stuff you came into medical school to do early. The negative side is that you don't actually have all the knowledge to acquire the clinical bits so it becomes a slight struggle at first.

Imperial College London review

I spent only one year at IC as an exchange Erasmus student (I'm French) and I had lots of fun: only 10 or 12hrs/week... not too bad.
However students spend lots of time doing projects (research and design projects).I enjoyed the group project since it allows you to work with so many people that you wouldn't ever know otherwise.
I'd like to say that, to my mind, there is lots of competition between students (not everybody hopefully). Indeed, the English degree is a very important result (we don't get any "degree" in France) and everyboby works hard to get a good one. Sometimes too hard ;-)
Anyway London is a great place to live and as an Erasmus Student you have plenty of time to go out...

Imperial College London review

Imperial College is a really cool place, despite the fact that once you get in you get a feeling that you've walked into a factory which makes you turn you head back to look for signs to make sure you're actually in the right place. But it's obvious that the condition is improving (The medical building and the new business building looks GREAT!)

And my course, Biomedical Engineering, It sounds like a very specialized course, until you actually got in, you have to study a bit of everything (Mech Eng, Elec Eng, Chem Eng, Medicine, Computing, Maths, etc) and you end up feeling you're still doing A levels, doing lots of separate subjects. But things get better -- In your third year you start working on Medical Imaging, Tissue Engineering, Artificial Organs, How cool is that!! And please note, this is a very very new field, and you're going to be a PIONEER!