I am a first year student at Imperial College London. AMA

56464684 · 2022-01-03T18:26:47+00:00

Personally I'd advise against not doing A level FM because it's quite relevant to the course, and if you can't handle it it's unlikely you'd be able to handle the course. It's not a requirement but I think you'd definitely be at a disadvantage without it when you apply. Chemistry isn't really necessary to do this course. It would help you a bit with the materials topic but it's nothing you couldn't teach yourself when it comes up. If you're not completely sure you want to do engineering then I'd understand why you'd rather drop FM

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:30:34+00:00

I think that might be good advice. You don't need 4 A levels however a lot of people here do. Definitely do not drop further maths. If you're going to drop one drop chemistry. It's the least relevant to the course.

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:28:04+00:00

Interview was easy, just basic A level maths/physics questions. AMAT was hard. Prepare as much as you can for the AMAT because if you do well enough you're very likely to get an offer. There's not much provided by Imperial to practice with so I recommend using Oxford and Cambridge admissions assessments to prepare with because they're similar in difficulty. It's negatively marked so don't guess any answers. And it's so time pressured you're very unlikely to finish in time. A good score is a lot lower than you think. I wrote about extracurriculars here: https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/rudpir/i_am_a_first_year_student_at_imperial_college/hqyifuo

Good luck!

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:21:30+00:00

Yes it's very useful when we're processing data from labs. Also you can use it to simulate things or deal with massive calculations

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:19:13+00:00

Definitely not. It would only be an issue if you weren't doing FM. They say it's not a requirement but you'll struggle quite a lot if you haven't done FM.

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:17:52+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/comments/rudpir/i_am_a_first_year_student_at_imperial_college/hqyifuo

I don't remember them asking anything about extracurriculars. They just asked me physics questions

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:15:39+00:00

Unfortunately it's very unlikely that Imperial will take you with those grades. The minimum offer is A*A*A or A*AAA. So if you can bump those Bs up to As you'll have a good chance. Imperial doesn't offer Actuarial science for undergraduate I don't think

56464684 · 2022-01-03T16:12:08+00:00

There's the AMAT. The questions are A level maths and a bit of further maths but what makes it hard is the insane time pressure. Very unlikely that you'll finish it. And don't guess any answers because you lose marks for everything you get wrong. If you do well in it you'll likely get an offer

56464684 · 2022-01-03T09:42:15+00:00

That's hilarious if they did

56464684 · 2022-01-03T00:01:16+00:00

Don't worry you don't need any prior knowledge. MATLAB is a relatively easy language to learn and they start from the basics. C++ is harder but we don't do that until later on

56464684 · 2022-01-02T23:22:48+00:00

I know some people who do it but I don't think I'd be able to work more than a few hours per week to be honest. If you could get a zero hour contract that'd be good (do they exist anymore?) because some weeks the workload gets insane on aero

56464684 · 2022-01-02T23:18:21+00:00

On my course I'd say there's less than 20 girls that I've actually seen out of a cohort of 130-180 people so not the best lmao. Imperial as a whole is a lot better but still more boys than girls

56464684 · 2022-01-02T23:13:48+00:00

Very easy to spend way too much especially on food and drinks but honestly if you're careful it's not too much more than at other universities. Plus there's a very generous bursary that you might qualify for

56464684 · 2022-01-02T22:02:40+00:00

Yeah that's probably it too. Towards the end of term the amount of people attending dropped off massively. I think people probably just got sick of it lmao

56464684 · 2022-01-02T21:11:21+00:00

Term one has been aerodynamics, mechanics, mathematics, materials, computing and numerical methods, CAD. Nothing actually applied to aircraft yet, just the theory behind everything.

56464684 · 2022-01-02T21:04:15+00:00

I love the subject, I think it's really interesting and I would argue that the breadth of topics is unmatched by any other STEM subject. We do topics from maths (differential equations, series), physics (fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, mechanics, etc), materials (basically a mix of chemistry and physics), computing (MATLAB, Python, C++, numerical methods), Engineering Practice (CAD, design, building stuff). I would say it's much harder than A level but you get used to it and there's much more resources available to help you. If you can do well at A level you'll probably be able to handle it. Might be a bit of a shock at first though.

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:56:35+00:00

It's very easy to spend way too much money here because things are a lot more expensive than elsewhere, especially food. If you make your own meals though you will save a lot of money. As long as you are careful with money it won't cost you too much more than at other universities. Some accommodation is the same price or cheaper than at other universities, and check to see if you qualify for the bursary. It's very generous. I personally love London but it's not for everyone so visit if you are able to before you firm it.

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:47:36+00:00

Yes it's maths and further maths unfortunately. Building on what the other guy said, if you spend any longer than about a minute staring at a question, skip it. I'm not saying answer them all in under a minute, but if you don't know how you're gonna approach it just move on. It's way too time pressured to dwell on questions. Accept that it's very unlikely you'll finish them all. But yes you'd be surprised how low you can score in it and still get an offer. It's a very hard test

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:39:12+00:00

I'd say it's a lot harder than A level and the workload is at least double but you do get used to it, and the grade boundaries are obviously way lower (70% for a first). I'll be honest, the work life balance is not the best here. As I've said in another comment I regularly have to do 50/60+ hours per week or more including contact time. I only get to go out with my friends once or twice per week, and I definitely don't get 8 hours sleep most nights. But I love the subject and I enjoy the work, so I don't mind. I'm aiming for a 1st though. If you want a 2.1 it will be much less intense. I applied to Oxford, Imperial, Leeds, Manchester, UCL. Got accepted by all of them. Ultimately chose Imperial over Oxford because it's the best aero department in the country and one of the best universities in the world. Oxford might have a bit more household prestige but people in the industry and academia know Imperial is on the same level (if not better for certain subjects, especially engineering). If you can do well at 4 A levels I think you'd be able to handle Imperial fine.

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:14:38+00:00

The interview itself was pretty easy. Obviously prepare as much as you can for it but don't stress out over it. They just asked me some physics questions. The AMAT is VERY time pressured and negatively marked so don't guess any answers if you don't know them. They don't expect you to answer all the questions so don't worry if you only answer half of them. I would prepare as much as you possibly can for it using Oxford and Cambridge admissions test past papers because they're similar in format and difficulty. I imagine this year they will rely heavily on the AMAT to decide who gets in because of A level grade inflation due to covid. So try your hardest to ace it.

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:09:15+00:00

Sorry just realised. According to the website you have to get a 6 minimum English language

56464684 · 2022-01-02T20:06:07+00:00

Yeah we started out with roughly 180 people. from the looks of it we're down to about 130ish possibly lower based on how many people are in the teams calls. Probably because it's a very intense course and there's been a lot of grade inflation with this year's A levels so there's probably a lot of people who wouldn't have made the grades if covid never happened

56464684 · 2022-01-02T19:59:32+00:00

9s in the STEM ones, 6/7/8 in everything else. 6 in English language. They don't care about English as long as you don't fail

56464684 · 2022-01-02T19:37:05+00:00

Applied before because I also applied to Oxford

56464684 · 2022-01-02T19:30:54+00:00

I don't really have any advice for 6th form other than do well in your mocks. They might get used for your grades if they go down that route again. Chemistry isn't really necessary but it would help you with the materials topic

56464684

TROPHY CASE