Which South East University for Maths and Science?

JohnnyG

JohnnyG

JohnnyG

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My eldest (6th form) is starting to think about which uni to apply for although he should really be focusing on his A levels alone we reckon.
He doesn't want to put in the extra work needed for Oxford or Cambridge as that'll take over his life completely he says (we'd like him to of course but it's a fair point) and he thinks he'll have enough UCAS points and good grades to get him in to most other unis.
He quite fancies Queen Mary (ugly Jock), but I know the area which isn't the best, or Imperial College which is in a great area but if you read the all the literature he's amassed or listen to propaganda at the meetings then they're both great, of course.
He'd rather travel than stay on any campus so has anyone got any good advice on what's best @1 hour or so max from West London?:)
 
My friend applied for maths at imperial, his offer there was higher than for Oxford. Both were 3 A's, but imperial stipulated that he has to get A grades in FP1 and FP2 (further pure 1+2) which are the hardest two modules.

As for Queen Mary, I've only ever heard of it mentioned as a medical school myself.
 
imperial, lse and ucl are his best options; not considered all that different from oxbridge.
then again it all depends on what he wants to do; all i can say is that if he wants to get into the city then those are by far and away his best options.
 
Ben M said:
My friend applied for maths at imperial, his offer there was higher than for Oxford. Both were 3 A's, but imperial stipulated that he has to get A grades in FP1 and FP2 (further pure 1+2) which are the hardest two modules.

As for Queen Mary, I've only ever heard of it mentioned as a medical school myself.
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I believe they have some sort of school for Mathematical Science or something:)
 
JohnnyG said:
I believe they have some sort of school for Mathematical Science or something:)
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Oh right okay. Is there a reason why he only wants to be in the south east? The only really good universities there are London ones, but KCL I don't really assosciate with physics and maths, more of a biology/ chemistry sort of science uni.
 
Queen Mary has so many asians there it isn't even funny, put me right off. Also the fact that the area is pretty dire aswell.

But how clever is he? Imperial is pretty difficult to get into.
 
Imperial and UCL are the ones in the area you're looking for that are somewhat in the same league as Oxbridge.

LSE doesn't offer sciences, but I believe it does offer maths courses. Numerous other universities like Warwick have very well respected maths courses, but are not in the South East.

Queen Mary, whilst a decent university, isn't in the same league as the above.
 
He wants to travel to uni, not stay there as he's in lurrve and wants to balance 'work and play' so it has to be SE really, if he can carry the both off we don't mind.
The amount of Asians isn't a problem as he's currently in a minority in his school anyway and has been for years.
He's pretty clued up, at least 6 A* from his results last year and projected to get at least 4 from his A levels.
 
JohnnyG said:
He wants to travel to uni, not stay there as he's in lurrve and wants to balance 'work and play' so it has to be SE really, if he can carry the both off we don't mind.
The amount of Asians isn't a problem as he's currently in a minority in his school anyway and has been for years.
He's pretty clued up, at least 6 A* from his results last year and projected to get at least 4 from his A levels.
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I'd say visit the London colleges and see what he thinks, maybe visit a couple of Oxbridge colleges before he dismisses them completely as well.
 
He'd rather travel than stay on any campus so has anyone got any good advice on what's best @1 hour or so max from West London?
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Have to say that that's not the best idea. Freedom from parents is best thing about uni! (though I suppose for the price of accommodation, it might be 'better' to live at home)
 
JohnnyG said:
He wants to travel to uni, not stay there as he's in lurrve and wants to balance 'work and play' so it has to be SE really, if he can carry the both off we don't mind.
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Choosing your Uni based on your love interest is severely crippling your choice of University. I think thats a bad move to make. Theres absolutely no reason why he couldn't have a long distance relationship. Commuting to university will reduce his university social life, and dare I say it, his entire university experience to 'zero'.

The amount of Asians isn't a problem as he's currently in a minority in his school anyway and has been for years.
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I hear very bad things about St. Marys. As above, apparently its shocking how many are foriegn students. My brother went for an open day and described it as 'intimidating and "segregating"'. He also said it was a 'dump', but thats only the dental school.
 
Nitefly said:
Choosing your Uni based on your love interest is severely crippling your choice of University. I think thats a bad move to make. Theres absolutely no reason why he couldn't have a long distance relationship. Commuting to university will reduce his university social life, and dare I say it, his entire university experience to 'zero'.
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In other words: tell him to stop thinking with his balls, and start thinking with his marbles.
 
Out of the london unis/colleges, I think Imperial has the best reputation for maths, science and engineering.
 
If he doesn't want to go for Oxford/Cambridge then he should avoid Imperial too tbh...

AFAIK for maths Cambridge is top and Oxford and Imperial are about the same
 
Just in case he's under some illusion: there's not really a lot of extra work to be put in to get into Oxbridge. For science/maths they'd expect at least 3 A grades in science/maths A levels and that's it really. It obviously helps to show you're interested by doing other stuff connected with the subject, but there aren't usually any extra tests to be taken. If you're son will probably get 4 A grades anyway then he might want to think about looking into Oxbridge (Cambridge obviously...;))

The one exception would be maths which usually requires a STEP paper.

edit: just read the bit about wanting to live at home - he should definitely move out, he'd miss half the experience.
 
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Nitefly said:
Choosing your Uni based on your love interest is severely crippling your choice of University. I think thats a bad move to make. Theres absolutely no reason why he couldn't have a long distance relationship. Commuting to university will reduce his university social life, and dare I say it, his entire university experience to 'zero'.
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I'd like to reiterate this, I couldn't imagine living at home whilst being at uni. Make sure he knows it's the right decision if he does choose to live at home, I know a few people who regret living at home during uni.
 
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