More Uni advice required please, Imperial & UCL.

[gam3r]

Imperial is ranked higher than UCL. But, to be honest, neither of them have a life. I had to a choice to go to both of them. In the end I chose Queen Mary because it appealed more to me and was great in the league tables in my course. Your son will have to pay higher accomodation fees and higher living expenses due to being in Central London. They're both great Uni's serving with great distinction. But I'd advise him to look into what kind of life he'll have.

I would agree with you to a certain degree as I have never met anyone from Imperial on a night out or any event etc, but i have met loads of UCL people! I go to KCL

Both very good Uni's i would probably choose UCL if it was me though...tbh i don't think the socials great at Imperial, but i could be wrong.

 

[bennyB]

I've been to both, did my undergrad masters at imperial, doing a masters at UCL.

To summarise my experience: Imperial teaching > UCL teaching, Imperial social<<UCL social

That's just my experience however, i'm sure many people would say completely the opposite, but i personally think that's the general trend.

 

[Alex_L]

i don't get the issue with the social thing......

you're in central london, i was absolutely never stuck for things to do, so the fact imperial union is rubbish didn't bother me when i have a thousand other clubs/bars/pubs on my door step.

in terms of meeting people, the halls and courses seem as sociable as what i've seen of UCL/LSE

 

[bennyB]

Yeah i'm talking more about the type of people who go there, not london itself. But as I said everyone will have different experiences, so it shouldn't weigh too heavily in his decision.

 

[Mud]

I'm in the strange position where I'm a postgrad student at ICL but working mostly out of the University of Bath. Comparitively, ICL is very stuffy and elitist...but there's no denying they get results. The academics are motivated and there're few administrators to curb the academics' spending. The clue is in the name really...it's a college of the American kind, they put a big emphasis on profiting off projects. I've no undergrad experience of ICL, but hopefully that gives you some idea of the general mindset there (in the harder sciences and engineering at least).

 

[Alex_L]

I'm in the strange position where I'm a postgrad student at ICL but working mostly out of the University of Bath. Comparitively, ICL is very stuffy and elitist...but there's no denying they get results. The academics are motivated and there're few administrators to curb the academics' spending. The clue is in the name really...it's a college of the American kind, they put a big emphasis on profiting off projects. I've no undergrad experience of ICL, but hopefully that gives you some idea of the general mindset there (in the harder sciences and engineering at least).

i don't think it is particularly elitist, just they know they're world class, and are rightly proud of it, and that rubs off on the students, but its the same at LSE and oxbridge.

 

[Mud]

i don't think it is particularly elitist, just they know they're world class, and are rightly proud of it, and that rubs off on the students, but its the same at LSE and oxbridge.

Yes and no...there's an air of elitism and oneupsmanship at ICL that I've often seen make students afraid to ask questions. The students then compensate for this by working that much harder behind closed doors, but it's an unnecessary stress that makes me far happier when I'm working at Bath. If you need to be stressed to progress that's fine, but it's not the only way. If you're self-motivated you can get along and perhaps be happier elsewhere.

YMMV. Broad brush-strokes and that, but that's my experience of the place.

 

[Alex_L]

Yes and no...there's an air of elitism and oneupsmanship at ICL that I've often seen make students afraid to ask questions. The students then compensate for this by working that much harder behind closed doors, but it's an unnecessary stress that makes me far happier when I'm working at Bath. If you need to be stressed to progress that's fine, but it's not the only way. If you're self-motivated you can get along and perhaps be happier elsewhere.

YMMV. Broad brush-strokes and that, but that's my experience of the place.

oh for sure, YMMV, i've been described as arrogant, but i take the view i'm not arrogant just confident, but everyone has a different perspective.

I'm definitely one of those people who absolutely hated it when anyone put their hand up to ask questions. However, my experience and that of my friends led me to conclude that Imperial relies a lot more on self motivation and study to get you through your degree. There are some exceptional teachers at Imperial, but they generally recruit exceptional researchers and therefore you get some who really aren't great at lecturing (which in my view is a real art) and I certainly found there were some lecture courses you just had to teach yourself, but its no bad a skill to learn.

Make no mistake, IC is a real pressure cooker environment that will really push you, but it's worth it.

 

[ironman]

Being part of an elite institution is not a bad thing and the top cluster all certainly have a level of it, although UCL is very much less so but this may be due to the heritage from it's Bentham roots.

As far as the social thing goes, it doesn't matter how many bars and clubs there are really, it's the type of people you are surrounded with. London is absolutely fantastic but only when you are with the right group of people.