Imperial Surgery&Anaesthesia BSc

Hi I did the BSc as an external last year. It was a really nice year. I met so many lovely people and learnt tonnes of new things.

First, I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers. They say 5 places but there were 14 externals! The application process is literally just the personal statement and references, no interview. In terms of the personal statement, just highlight why you want to do the COURSE not the CAREER. Talk about the elements of the course that you find interesting and how you developed an interest in them or any relevant extracurricular activities that fed into that interest.

It was a tough BSc but all of the Imperial ones are.

Negatives: I was also lured in by the fact that you do the exams in Feb and then start your project after thinking that I wouldn't cope revising and writing a dissertation in May but I found that with the early exams I was in uni Mon-Fri with 9-5 everyday and so not as easy as BScing elsewhere and not a lot of time for revision. Also in each module (3 in total) there are two in-course assessment pieces which make revising even harder!

Positives: you get taught by people who are world renowned, you can get involved in projects that are quite clinical in their nature so you don't have to sit in the lab all day growing cells (unless you want to). Saying that I did choose a lab-ish project! And all the projects have good potential for getting presented at conferences or published.

Hope this helps

I remember reading that imperial do not guarantee accommodation for those who are external -- How many external entry people get halls and what do those people who dont get halls do?