[Damian23]

Hey guys,

I got a conditional offer by Imperial to read "Materials Science and Engineering"(MEng). First of all, I am German and would really like to study abroad, especially in the UK. The only problem is how to fund this given the rise in tuition fees and the tremendous living costs in London. Is this course worth investing some 60 - 70 000 pounds or not? And what about the reputation? Is this course a well-regarded one? Imperial is always ranked among the top 10 unis in the world, yet I wonder whether these rankings are actually meaningful... are there any bursaries or grants for EU students? So you see, there are plenty of questions I would like to ask, so if anyone could just report something about the course, London, the college and so on I would be very pleased... thx

[Gnakhel]

Good questions, I am interested to know as well!

[Damian23]

Is there anyone out there with knowledge about this issue?

[Choirboy]

Have you done any research at all before you applied?

[Damian23]

Well to be honest... this is plan C. I applied to Cambridge in order to read NatSci, yet I was rejected. Therefore I thought about Imperial and studying physics there but they turned my application down as well, offering me a place at the Department of Materials. How on earth could I have foreseen this development?

[Choirboy]

Right, I see. I'm sorry I cannot help you with the Materials Science course but everything you found out about the funding available for EU students, studying in the UK and London and Imperial's reputation still stands. Good luck with your choice.

[smileatyourself]

(Original post by Damian23)
Hey guys,

I got a conditional offer by Imperial to read "Materials Science and Engineering"(MEng). First of all, I am German and would really like to study abroad, especially in the UK. The only problem is how to fund this given the rise in tuition fees and the tremendous living costs in London. Is this course worth investing some 60 - 70 000 pounds or not? And what about the reputation? Is this course a well-regarded one? Imperial is always ranked among the top 10 unis in the world, yet I wonder whether these rankings are actually meaningful... are there any bursaries or grants for EU students? So you see, there are plenty of questions I would like to ask, so if anyone could just report something about the course, London, the college and so on I would be very pleased... thx

Don't believe everything you read, re league tables.

The French and German degrees are 5-6 years, so they cover a lot more material than the UK degrees.

Heidelberg uni has more Nobel Laureates than any other uni, including Harvard and Cambridge but it not high in league tables because the top are English speaking.

Why not do your degree back in Germany then decide upon postgraduate studies abroad? I think German first degrees, certainly in Scence is much better than any uni in the UK.

[dugdugdug]

(Original post by Damian23)
Hey guys,

I got a conditional offer by Imperial to read "Materials Science and Engineering"(MEng). First of all, I am German and would really like to study abroad, especially in the UK. The only problem is how to fund this given the rise in tuition fees and the tremendous living costs in London. Is this course worth investing some 60 - 70 000 pounds or not? And what about the reputation? Is this course a well-regarded one? Imperial is always ranked among the top 10 unis in the world, yet I wonder whether these rankings are actually meaningful... are there any bursaries or grants for EU students? So you see, there are plenty of questions I would like to ask, so if anyone could just report something about the course, London, the college and so on I would be very pleased... thx

Imperial is a top university, specialising in science. It's located in the best part of London and is well recognised by Europeans, especially the French and Germans.

There are a lot of european quants in investment banks, who studied at Imperial.

[Damian23]

Moreover, I got an unconditional offer by the University of Manchester to read physics. Would you rather recommend an engineering course at Imperial or a physics degree at Manchester? Both seem to be very expensive but Manchester is a cheaper place to live

[xalcro]

Imperial College is much much better than Manchester, if you were going to Manchester I'd recommend staying in Germany over that. XD

There are VERY generous bursaries depending on your household income, Imperial is very rich due to not having to waste money on any arts/humanities. But I'm not sure if that's only for home students. There are also academic excellence awards of £1000-3000 depending on your department, those are available to be won by anyone.

Accommodation will cost you around £5,500/year (can be less, or more depending on quality). Tuition fees should be £9000/year still for EU students? I'm not sure though, haven't kept up to date...

All the Engineering courses at Imperial are pretty hardcore, I haven't heard as much about Materials 'cause they're not as large a department as MechEng or EEE, but regardless I'm sure it is a very prestigious degree.

[ViralRiver]

Just as a note, if you originally applied hoping for physics and got this as a back-up, think carefully if its really the course you want to do. I myself am a major fan of Physics - always loved it, love the physics concepts in my current degree - but when it comes to the materials course - I hate it. So much that I'm currently revising it now, and have decided to go on TSR to get away from it :P .

[Damian23]

Why exactly don´t you like it? Is it just because of the lack of physics? As for me, I do like Physics AND Chemistry and even asked my interviewer why physics degrees at Imperial do not offer the chance to attend at least some Chemistry courses I believe that´s why he sent me to the Materials Department. Moreover, a lot of scientists end up in Materials anyway, cause this area provides a huge range of applications. As a matter of fact, I am quite happy about having been sent to Materials, as their department seems to be cutting-edge contrary to the old, worn out and sometimes "ugly" physics department at Imperial Could you send me a private message telling me more about the Materials course (job prospects, reputation,...)?

[ViralRiver]

To be honest, I'm not the person you want to speak with re: the materials course.

On my course I have a compulsory course called "Properties of Materials" - this is one of my 8 exams for the year. In my opinion, it's all abstract, just memorising etc. Trying to revise is tedious, there are over 1,000 slides, each with about 5 examples of ionic ceramics, elastomers etc and their use. That's too much for anyone to remember. However there is quite a lot of maths in the course and that does interest me. The main chemistry application we've had is looking at the bond strength between two atoms, modelling it as stiffness using Hooke's law etc (which isn't a perfect explanation, but good enough) - this is quite interesting. But the sheer amount of examples, explanations etc really does become tedious after a while.

[Damian23]

Really sounds interesting to me! Nonetheless, I have heard that the Materials course would be the one with the lowest reputation at Imperial? Can you confirm this? And what about the banking sector in London... is it possible to get your degree in Materials Science and work as an accountant after that or do you rather need a Maths course? I personally believe that every course will become tedious after some time due to the lack of variety. Memorising is present everywhere, be it EEE, MechEng or Materials