Imperial vs UCL for EEE

I'm currently stuck on whether to put imperial or UCL as my firm, I've been given an offer from both Imperial and UCL but since theyre both in London and both very good universities I can't seem to decide between them. Which one would u pick and why (taking the course and social life into account) ? :confused:

Reply 1

Smack

Volunteer Team

Imperial because it's the "best" university to study engineering at in terms of the strength of the department. The oil & gas firms up here will have definitely heard of Imperial but I doubt they'll have heard about UCL. That's why I'd choose Imperial.

Edit: Also, Imperial and Leeds are the only two universities in England that have a student chapter in the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

Eldedu

As far as I know, Imperial has a better reputation for scientific degrees while UCL is better for arts.

Reply 3

wizz_kid

Original post by Marshmallow1

My opinion is gonna be biased coz i'm doing EEE @ UCL. I am loving it so far mainly because unlike imperial, we are relatively smaller (120 1st years). The main benefit about this i think is that lectures are more like tutorials where u feel less intimidated to ask questions as u would in a lecture with like 300-400 people. Now this mite sound a bit stupid/weird but trust me when ur lecturer is deriving some next 2nd ODE's n u dun get one small thing, usually u wont be able to follow the rest of the lecture as u seem to cut off. However the best about UCL is that lectures dont mind being interruped (jus like in school) so they only move on unless n until every1 understands the topic (provided u ask!). Another good thing is coz of the small groups, (almost) every1 knows every1 which is realy great coz u can help each other out.

On the other hand, the work load is an absolute killer. We probably do more maths than maths undergrads and arguable EEE is the most intensive engineering with the heaviest workload. Be prepared to stay behind till like 7-8 almost every day to make ur chances of getting a first realistic. There is one assignment that is due in every week (either programming or maths for the 1st term) which is a great social life killer. All ur friends would be going out partying n that n u'll be stuck trying to figure out how to integreate a function lol! An hour's maths lecture requires about 3 hours of preparation and a 3 hour lab requires about 7 (n is still not enough!).

As for the facilities, i think they are great coz we've got everything that we want. The best thing is that we have access to a 'secure global website' of the department. This allows you to run very high end softwares such as matlab on ANY basic machine that can open a browser. The people are very very very friendly. If ur stuck on a question, u can ask almost any1 n they wud be more than happy to help. No snobbery or imperialism ( pun intended) whatsoever!

Hope that sounds edible coz i'm ill n realy sleepy lol! Feel free to ask any more q's about UCL/EEE in general.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4

RupertTheBear

Original post by Eldedu

As far as I know, Imperial has a better reputation for scientific degrees while UCL is better for arts.

That's probably true, considering Imperial offers no arts degrees.

Reply 5

Eldedu

Original post by RupertTheBear

That's probably true, considering Imperial offers no arts degrees.

Lol well there you go then. Pos rep for making me look like a twit.

To expand on that, I'd say UCL is internationally considered third in the UK for arts (perhaps the LSE beats it in some areas).

Reply 6

RupertTheBear

Original post by Eldedu

Lol well there you go then. Pos rep for making me look like a twit.

To expand on that, I'd say UCL is internationally considered third in the UK for arts (perhaps the LSE beats it in some areas).

I don't know why I need to be a smart ass all the time, possibly some psycological defect.
I would say UCL probably is 3rd best in the UK for arts that the LSE does not offer, like English perhaps. Imperial, LSE and UCL are probably so similar for the subjects where there is overlap that it wouldn't matter to much where you end up...

Reply 7

Eldedu

I'd agree.

There are two types of people. Smart asses, and boring people.

Reply 8

Doja

Original post by wizz_kid

Hope that sounds edible coz i'm ill n realy sleepy lol! Feel free to ask any more q's about UCL/EEE in general.

yum yum!

Reply 9

innerhollow

Original post by Marshmallow1

Both courses are accredited, but judging from what employers say about it, it does seem like Imperial does push you just that little bit more. I mean, they pour everything they have into delivering good science teaching and facilities. Imperial is also a huge target for elite financial institutions if that's what you want (though so is UCL to be fair).

On the other hand if social life is pretty important to you... I'd be inclined towards UCL, as it's a multi-faculty university and I've heard pretty praising comments about its social life, and pretty shady ones about Imperial's.

(edited 13 years ago)

Imperial

Oil companies don't care where you got your degree from.

Reply 12

Peel

Original post by /raees.rahim

Oil companies don't care where you got your degree from.

Not quite sure I fully agree with you - Shell don't give our chem eng society £20k a year to spend on social events, and pay to put their brand on handbooks handed to every UG mechanical engineer for no reason...

Reply 13

xch

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Electrical+%26+Electronic+Engineering

Reply 14

rei dos reis

Original post by Peel

I was just checking if someone would disagree cos I don't know much about this and I'm interested in engineering. How does UCL rate in your opinion? For Mech. Engineering/eee etc.

Reply 15

Smack

Volunteer Team

Original post by /raees.rahim

I was just checking if someone would disagree cos I don't know much about this and I'm interested in engineering. How does UCL rate in your opinion? For Mech. Engineering/eee etc.

I'll be working for an oil company this summer and I largely agree with you that they don't care where you get your degree from. The most important part is that you have a strong CV and that it is seen by the right people. The first part comes from your work experience, extra curriculars, and just how well you can write a CV. The second comes from knowing the right people and that will come from networking. Networking can be through professional events and bodies (for example, I've got memberships to the IMechE, Energy Institute (EI), and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and network through these), your university lecturers and your family members.

Your networking ability can be hugely boosted by attending certain universities. For example, I get free student memberships to the EI and SPE. The SPE section here is also extremely active, with events running just about every week. Technical lectures help bring the right people to look at your CV to the uni, and company visits bring you to the right people.

Since you're interested in oil, and I have first hand experience of getting into the oil sector, I'd choose Imperial if you can get in, because the networking is so much greater than UCL. 80% of jobs in this industry are gotten through some form of contact rather than the usual route.

And then there's the alumni factor. Years ago, certain universities started offering courses, or modules in their courses, that contain a lot of material that is relevant to the petroleum sector, mainly at postgraduate level but also a bit at undergrad level too. Fast forward enough years and some of these graduates are now doing the interviewing and selection of new recruits. It always helps you in an interview if your interviewer graduated from the university you're studying at. And if there's a pile of CVs on their desk, they're more likely to consider the ones from students from the university that they graduated from.

Reply 16

Peel

Original post by /raees.rahim

I was just checking if someone would disagree cos I don't know much about this and I'm interested in engineering. How does UCL rate in your opinion? For Mech. Engineering/eee etc.

Ah baited

For the record, I don't think uni rep matters that much generally - it matters a lot less than people here would have you believe, but it is certainly a factor.

Regarding UCL, I'm not going to pretend to be an authority on this, but I'd say that there are a lot of unis asking for about the same grades (if not less) that are better thought of by industry. On the other hand, if you're interested in non-engineering fields, UCL will open a lot more doors.

I defer to Smacks vastly superior knowledge regarding the oil & gas industry though.