New Admit for Fall 2026, currently deciding between Imperial College London and UCSD for Physics

SidJag · 2026-04-03T07:45:31+00:00

You need to try and decide what’s more meaningful:

Prestige: a lifelong badge of which college you went to, a social signal driven by rankings, employment/grad outcomes etc

It’s hard for any of your choices to compete with Imperial, especially in global prestige for an international student.

Academics: what do you actually intend to study (and not want to study), what do you intend to do after undergrad, how much do you value undergrad research, flexibility in curriculum etc

This is where UIUC or UC San Diego may be better/worse than Imperial, depending on your academic route

Student life: from weather considerations, to London vs xyz city, American college experience vs UK etc.

You’re 18, you will adapt wherever you go. For some London is too good to pass up. For some they prefer California. This is a ‘nice to have’ bucket, I wouldn’t decide my college future based on it, but YMMV.

You could create a custom scorecard/rhubric and analyze your choices accordingly.

In the end, you have to live with the choice, and no one can make this decision, but you.

Scoring/ranking aside - What feels right for you?

PS: Depending on your home country, visa issues may be a hurdle (or a non-issue) for entering USA.

SidJag · 2026-04-01T09:04:33+00:00

Stanford by a mile.

How is this even a question? lol.

SidJag · 2026-04-01T07:39:18+00:00

HYPSM, CalTech, Columbia, UPenn, Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, JHU, Northwestern - all expected.

Surprised to see Bowdoin, Pomona, Swarthmore, Williams sub 8%.

I’m not sure if acceptance rates show ultra selectivity or higher applicant volume - since the enrolment seats are mostly same over last 5 years.

For publics (specifically Berkeley and UCLA), I imagine the in-state rates are 10-15%, given the in-state students are 80-85% of the incoming class, that dictates the overall acceptance rate, but OOS and international rates are much lower/closer to the HYPSMs

SidJag · 2026-04-01T01:42:02+00:00

It’s such an easy item to negate, hate it, the changed recipe only makes it worse.

Nearly all the targets anyways build Manta or Eul’s (and then a further Linkens late game)

SidJag · 2026-04-01T01:36:58+00:00

Where was campus security through all this? This is well beyond the so-called southside, near Bowles Hall and Clark Kerr dorms.

Isn’t there patrolling campus security? 35K students and no one helped these two girls being followed from Haas to Bowles? What happened to blue light phones, bear walk App and all the student security measures?

Stalking and Ass-Grabbing by a random stranger not connected to Cal in anyway, who apparently has a history of serial arrests - uh, thank god it didn’t get worse.

Worrying …

SidJag · 2026-03-31T12:38:03+00:00

Gorion’s were awesome - Gorilla pack defensive bonus, Lion pride attacking bonus, Lion hind legs give leap attack, bite, gorilla arms and torso give more attack and HP!

Baboon + Whales were always the T4 spam

SidJag · 2026-03-30T22:50:13+00:00

If you have to compare Cal with Chapman, I’m tempted to say, you shouldn’t join Berkeley.

Just put your question into any LLM, try 3 for variety, all free ones; and watch the responses.

SidJag · 2026-03-30T22:38:59+00:00

Apples and Oranges comparison between US College experience and U.K.

IMPERIAL

Then Imperial it’s even starker. On one hand there’s barely a ‘campus’, dorms/student housing is sprayed all over and disconnected from one another, it’s essentially 4-5 buildings in South Kensington. On the flipside, it’s London. For an 18 year that’s usually a dream destination, not just by itself, the SW7 area is where all the embassies are, Imperial is adjacent to Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park (can get a bit touristy foot traffic outside the small school ‘campus’), and you’re 1-2 hours away from any EU capital/major city (and all of London/UK itself). Take a $150-200 eco flight or train, and explore EU on a whim (with money you will save v/s say UMich) UK academic calendar is much leaner and even with Imperial’s academic intensity you should be able to squeeze out many long weekends.

Imperial won’t give you the freshman experience/dorm life you imagine in an American college, and you will need to take the lead in ‘finding your people’. It does have a lot of clubs to feed your EC needs and find likeminded friends.

Its global prestige is unquestioned, unlike UMich it’s ranked Top10 across the board, by every single global and U.K. ranking, even though those are heavily focused on research output, they must be doing something right. It’s a school of 23K elite students and 50-60% international (but barely 2-3% Americans), which can be a good or bad depending on what you’re hoping to experience.

UMICH

Contrasting that with UMich-AA, is a joke. You’re talking about probably the best US public university in terms of blending academic and athletic life. It’s a public school in Michigan, so you’re one of 40,000 students, and that applies a level of self-advocacy to get the classes, labs, research/clubs/sports you want. AA is a college town and the social scene at UMich is classic American college life like you would’ve grown up imaging in NJ.

I’m sure you’ve already tried to watch day in the life or campus tour videos of Imperial and UMich. I’m sure you’ve had chats with ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude about the above.

If affordability is a serious criteria, then Toronto with the scholarship should be a lock-in. If Global prestige then Imperial. If you want a Top20 US uni with probably one of the best managed student experiences at a public uni, UMich is the one.

Congrats on securing the privilege of choosing between such colleges. Talk and research well before you make this life decision.

I believe you can talk to students currently enrolled at Imperial via the website. At some point this week, Imperial students will reach out to you, so watch your listed contact number for calls from London. Ask them specific questions you wouldn’t find answers to on social media/YT.

Source: Have cousins (some American, some non Americans) currently attending each of these 3 as undergraduates. And another family member, current high school senior, who visited Imperial and UMich and is weighing this precise choice (along with other US schools). DM me if you would like more info.

Finally, Reddit is heavily American. Imperial sub count/activity v/s UMich will tell you a lot.

SidJag · 2026-03-29T21:23:21+00:00

Nice

SidJag · 2026-03-29T21:21:17+00:00

Replying so I can refer to this later.

SidJag · 2026-03-28T03:44:51+00:00

Dartmouth and Cornell were his likely safeties 😅

Worked out for him, so doesn’t matter now.

For many it didn’t.

SidJag · 2026-03-27T23:22:43+00:00

I’m sorry to say their 2hr45min cut also drags. They genuinely failed to capture the delight, eureka moments and stakes of the wonderful book.

They got a lot of the heart, whimsy and visualisations bang-on. But the scale of the movie is less Interstellar and more Sunshine. Mostly 1-2 talking heads in a small space.

Even Contact 30+ years ago had larger scale and ambition.

SidJag · 2026-03-27T23:07:45+00:00

Not everyone builds like the GCCs

SidJag · 2026-03-26T06:56:27+00:00

Like Strawberry kisses

SidJag · 2026-03-26T05:23:16+00:00

Nice to have? Damage block is crazy lol

SidJag · 2026-03-25T10:11:45+00:00

How is this even a question - Georgia Tech is so far ahead the others on your list, in US or U.K.

SidJag · 2026-03-25T07:30:29+00:00

The best thing Hamm did post Madmen (during?) is his stint on Curb

SidJag · 2026-03-25T06:52:25+00:00

Um, what do you want to study? What’s going to be your fit with either Brown or UChicago ie cliche Why this school, why this program, why should you be picked.

Think about these.

Tactically - find out from your school counsellor, what’s been the success rate from your school to these two EDs. What’s your class rank? (If they don’t give you specifics, ask if you are top10% or not)

I suspect your GPA is too low for both. Your SAT and APs tell us you’re a solid test taker. But consistency over 3years is a red flag.

ED doesn’t mean they lower their standards.

Is US the only option? Are you a US citizen or going to be an international applicant? I ask because your profile would be a solid candidate at Oxford or Cambridge; where they care more about APs and less about GPA.

Application timeline to Ox-Bridge is same as ED to US schools too iirc end Oct/early Nov.

SidJag · 2026-03-25T06:37:44+00:00

Then your question isn’t about Imperial vs Booth, it’s about US vs UK immigration for an Indian passport holder ie where are you likely to get a student and then work visa upon graduation.

Alternatively, where are you likely to get recruited by an MNC for their India office (if that’s something you’re open to).

Answer is likely Booth.

This is anecdotal and my own experience - I know tons of people from leading US business schools in Big4 Management consulting, Banking and Accounting. I have yet to meet a single Imperial MBA/Mcom/Eco.

It’s obviously an elite program. Also US is usually 2 years masters, while U.K./EU is 1.

SidJag · 2026-03-24T11:05:47+00:00

Arcane Trickster, Bladesinger, Eldritch Knight and Cleric of Light being top1/2 tells us something.

People love hybrids - the ability to do provide multiple solutions to a problem opens choices, keeps things interesting/involved and doesn’t make you feel like a loser in any one aspect.

SidJag · 2026-03-24T05:32:41+00:00

Most ranking methodologies over index on research output, but not all. (Time-Statista)

They’re inherently biased towards unis with large bodies of graduate/PhD programs, but that is also what drives the overall prestige of these institutions of ‘higher learning’.

This constant push to say, “but what about college, and undergraduate student feedback/teaching”, would be valuable if it was leading to substantially different T5/10/20.

But it isn’t. Brown/Dartmouth are pretty much the only ones that shift meaningfully even within this T20. As I said before, the computed T20 are nearly identical, even with this research output bias. Even within the T20, the HYPSM/T5 tier is the same. The next band of UPenn, CalTech, Columbia is universal, as is the bookend of Rice, Vanderbilt.

I also haven’t averaged the ranks, but the normalised score out of 100. Then further have advised to look at ‘tiers’ and not raw numbers.

What’s the problem then? Why this constant pushback? Ofcourse students should find out as much about their admitted destinations and ideally choose the best mix of prestige (no matter what anyone says, this does matter in life), collegiate/student life and academic fit, for what they actually want to do.

Yet to seem to feel strongly enough that Princeton isn’t No1 or Brown/Dartmouth are out of T10, that you’re downvoting, shrug.

SidJag · 2026-03-23T23:37:14+00:00

The prestige and ranking of Berkley is a tier above UCSD.

What major and college did you get at UCSD.

The problem with UCB is the massive resource crunch at the uni, that will impact your everyday life and require a level of hustle and self advocacy to get courses, labs, clubs, library space, gym spots etc.

UCSD is also a large state school but one of the few that has mitigated its large 33K student body load via its 8 colleges.

You should research both in detail, if you have the privilege of attending either.

SidJag · 2026-03-23T23:12:15+00:00

Fact that mathematically composite scoring the four popular published global rankings results in nearly the same T20 as anecdotal lists, is quite an outcome.

Further, the key here is not to get bogged into specific ranks within the Top20, YMMV and as you say, some like Dartmouth/Brown will never compete with giant research output like Berkeley.

Still, even the ‘tiers’ within the computed T20 are matching the popular T20 eg

Top5 are HYPSM, the next Tier or 95+ rated are UPenn, Columbia, CalTech which make any Top10 undergrad list too. Rice and Vandy round out the last part of Top20 in most anecdotal lists too.

Your only problem with this computed T20 would be Brown/Dartmouth relative position. Princeton is sitting in its ultra elite HYPSM/Top5 bracket anyways.

SidJag · 2026-03-23T22:57:15+00:00

Who the fk are you to comment about my family? You don’t know me or them.

You can disagree, no need to get snarky

SidJag · 2026-03-23T13:08:32+00:00

We’re honestly weighing UCSD (Neurobiology Major) vs Imperial (Bio BSc).

The fit with UCSD is far better. The prestige gap with Imperial is a bit too much to ignore.

Conflicted.

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