Bath, Cambridge or Imperial for Chemical Engineering?

The starting salaries are not proportionate to the work load. Cambridge and Imperial graduates ought to earn significantly more for it to be the better choice.

I rest my case.

Hi, thank you so much for your reply!! I applied for MEng at all three, have you applied for university this year? If so which course?

Yeah at Cambridge I would do Natural Sciences in the first year then move over to the Chem Eng department from year two and onwards. This is probably another slight drawback for me in choosing Cambridge, whether I would enjoy taking natural sciences rather than going straight into Chem eng I'm not too sure :/ That's interesting to know, may I ask what country you are from? And had you heard of Imperial before you applied? Because I've spoken to lots of people recently and the majority hadn't even heard of Imperial before even though it has been rated as a top ten uni fairly consistently and even second in the world in one league table, so I'm hoping it has a much higher reputation with employers compared to the general public ahaha!!

Thank you that was very helpful! Yeah a lot of people have said the same thing, because I've had the opportunity of going to both Cambridge and Imperial, would I regret it if I pass up both opportunities :/

According to http://university.which.co.uk/ Chemical Engineering at Cambridge and ICL both have average graduate salaries of £31K, whereas Chemical Engineering at Bath has a starting salary of £28K.

Chemical Engineering at Cambridge has a student satisfaction score of 88%, ICL 82%, and Bath 92%. This could be due to Cambridge and ICL students having higher standards than the average Bath student.

Cambridge is by far the most competitive and gives the least offers, followed by ICL and then Bath.

Overall, Cambridge is obviously the best choice.

Heavily biased because I firmed Bath for chemical engineering starting in September. The overall satisfaction of the students (100% in the chem eng department) coupled with the disproportionately good starting salary relative to the low work load all speaks for itself

May I ask what accommodation you are in this year? And also I don't know if you have started to look at next years accommodation yet but do you know roughly how much private accommodation/housing is in Bath? The high satisfaction is very attractive indeed Would you say the work load has been fairly low for you so far then?

Going to university shouldn't just be about securing the highest graduate salary. University should be about learning as much as possible, a higher workload will make you learn more.

Some things to think about:

1. Are you 100% sure that you want to do chem eng. Cambridge would give you a year to try either engineering or nat sci, and then specialise in year 2. This could be seen as either a benefit (as worst case you don't like them that much and do chem eng anyway, or you really enjoy them and maybe change your mind) or a negative if you just want to do chem eng.

2. Regarding social life, imo a large part of it is what you make of it. Yes you would have more work to do at either cambridge or imperial compared to bath, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't make time to see friends, go out etc etc.

3. Specifically regarding imperial, are you ok with having to find accommodation that may well be very expensive/far away in later years?

4. Regarding Cambridge, what about the college system and formals do you think wouldn't suit you? Bear in mind that you are not by any means forced to go to formals, it is left up to you whether you want to do that kind of thing or not.

Anyway hope this helped a bit.

Thank you very much for your reply!! I am really appreciating all the help thank you so much guys!! I am fairly certain I want to do chemical engineering, I have really looked into the courses to make sure and it really does look interesting to me But i agree the chance to do natural sciences in the first year is mainly a good thing for me, perhaps one disadvantage is that I'm guessing lectures are going to be all over cambridge? Because several departments run the course so I'm guessing that will mean quite a lot of travelling throughout the day.

In terms of social life, I wasn't so worried about the work load affecting it as I am with the sort of people I would be with. Obviously being very stereotypical but in general I would have thought the social life at Bath is going to be better than at ICL/Cambridge purely because you don't need the excessively high grades to get in. So I am just a little unsure and don't know so much about the social life at ICL/Cambridge.

The cost and distance is a drawback of Imperial I must admit, however I also think that having a reasonably long commute would be good practice for later in life, and if it's done with friends I don't see it being too big a problem. At the moment it takes me a good 45 minutes to get to my sixth form so I think i would be used to it

I think I just prefer modern arrangements but I appreciate that going to formals is certainly not compulsory and I'm sure i would get used to them and would enjoy them, but they seem to be about £12-15 and two to three times a week which I can see getting very expensive over the course of the year :/

Thank you that was very helpful

May I ask what accommodation you are in this year? And also I don't know if you have started to look at next years accommodation yet but do you know roughly how much private accommodation/housing is in Bath? The high satisfaction is very attractive indeed Would you say the work load has been fairly low for you so far then?

I have this dilemma of Imperial or Cambridge thank god I found this thread.

I really need to know how 'dreadful' imperials social life is because that is the only think now stopping me from making a descision. Will Cambridge, I know it sounds absurd, have a better social life than imperial?

Hey again.

Yea Ive already sent all my applications for 2016 entry. Ive applied to study EEE in Imperial and Bath and Mechatronics in Manchester, Southampton and Bath again. I have recieved offers from both courses from Bath and the one from Manchester and I had my interview with Imperial last week.

I live in Hong Kong so I've only managed to visit one university (Imperial) in the UK and that was only because of a summer school. At Imperial, I got to live in the campus dorms for two weeks and (to some extent) experience life as an Imperial student. I definitely want to study in Imperial but I honestly wouldn't mind Bath if I dont get an offer.

So have you made up your mind yet or are u still thinking it through? It is a huge decision to make but im sure you'll make the right one at the end. Good luck!!

I firmed Bath for next September, that is, I will start the course in September! All of the accommodation options on campus are outstanding though, from what I have seen. Irrespective of where you live, Bath looks excellent!

The rest can be answered by this helpful Bath fellow: @SeanFM

You can go to formals as often or as little as you want. Absolutely not necesary to go twice a week...

Accommodation at Cambridge is guaranteed for your degree (pretty much, depending on college), Imperial is very much not and will be siginificantly more expensive. Bath is also more expensive than Cambridge.

Oh and the average UCAS points at Bath is on a par with Cambridge & Imperial. The student academic profile is not hugely different.

I rest my case.

I ultimately rest my case.

According to http://university.which.co.uk/ Chemical Engineering at Cambridge and ICL both have average graduate salaries of £31K, whereas Chemical Engineering at Bath has a starting salary of £28K.

Chemical Engineering at Cambridge has a student satisfaction score of 88%, ICL 82%, and Bath 92%. This could be due to Cambridge and ICL students having higher standards than the average Bath student.

Cambridge is by far the most competitive and gives the least offers, followed by ICL and then Bath.

Overall, Cambridge is obviously the best choice.

On the nights when there are formals is there the usual catering option available too? Or would you have to self cater on formal nights if you choose not to go to them?

Yeah I've noticed the same things about the accommodation, that is one of the good things about Cambridge, that it's guaranteed for your whole course while Bath and Imperial are just first year I have heard Cambridge is much less independent however because of this? A few have told me that you are treated more like boarding school students rather than university students if someone could clear this up for me that would be hugely appreciated

Thanks for your response

There is a formal hall (usually an old hall), a normal hall (often in a modern dining hall), and a buttery (cafe) - all depending on your college. Which college is your offer?

Thank you for your reply! Yeah so many people have suggested this combination but I'm just still unsure on what the social life will be like at Cambridge!! And also the intensity of the course there, the sort of people I would meet etc. Yeah unless i choose Bath as my first choice i will definitely put it as my insurance, about Imperial when you say you have heard about it, do you know people who have gone there? Or is this from what has been said online about it?