How competative is Computer Science at Imperial?

6th of October - UCAS received my application
16th of October - I was invited for an interview at Imperial
12th of November - I was invited for an interview at Cambridge

awesome, I'm going to be applying in the next few days!

(OP here)

If anyone cares about how this played out, I got an interview invitation at Imperial pretty soon after sending off my UCAS application. My interview experience was overwhelmingly opposite of that at Cambridge. My interviewer (a researcher/lecturer) was extremely kind - I was asked to think of, and talk through an algorithm to solve a problem based on calculating the area formed by rainfall across a hilly ground. It was presented on a kind of histogram. It was hard to formulate the solution at first but the interviewer gave very helpful hints (without giving away the answer) which led me to answering well enough. Other than that, I was asked about the projects listed in my personal statement, as well as my post-degree plans.

The Cambridge interview on the other hand was on a miserable December morning in a cold room somewhere in Churchill College, with 2 very unnerving professors almost mocking me as I cackle in front of a logic gate problem involving streams and pipelines of water... "exactly... you can't make water out of nothing ._." was the exact quote right before I was told my time was up. (The problem was of moderate difficulty, unless your heart is doing 120 BPM). By the second interview my confidence dropped to the point where I couldn't sketch a simple (sinx)^2 curve to save my life. I was, however, able to tackle the rest of the 7 maths problem selection given to me. I wasn't asked about my personal statement or anything other than the problems presented. Eventually I stumbled to the exam hall where I took a maths test lasting an hour, in the style of a UK maths challenge paper (but harder). Wasn't surprised to see a rejection letter, but hoped that Imperial would work out.

Hope was restored when I eventually received an e-mail:

On the strength of your application, together with your interview performance, we are pleased to inform you that you will shortly be receiving a conditional offer for the course G401 at Imperial College London.

Offer:
A* in Maths
A in Further Maths
A in Computing
A in Economics
A in Extended Project
Grade 2 in STEP 1 or Merit in Advanced Extension Award (AEA) Mathematics Paper

I met my offer and am excited for freshers week starting next Saturday It was hard work and months of very nervous waiting, but it paid off.

On the strength of your application, together with your interview performance, we are pleased to inform you that you will shortly be receiving a conditional offer for the course G401 at Imperial College London.

Offer:
A* in Maths
A in Further Maths
A in Computing
A in Economics
A in Extended Project
Grade 2 in STEP 1 or Merit in Advanced Extension Award (AEA) Mathematics Paper

I met my offer and am excited for freshers week starting next Saturday It was hard work and months of very nervous waiting, but it paid off.

(OP here)

If anyone cares about how this played out, I got an interview invitation at Imperial pretty soon after sending off my UCAS application. My interview experience was overwhelmingly opposite of that at Cambridge. My interviewer (a researcher/lecturer) was extremely kind - I was asked to think of, and talk through an algorithm to solve a problem based on calculating the area formed by rainfall across a hilly ground. It was presented on a kind of histogram. It was hard to formulate the solution at first but the interviewer gave very helpful hints (without giving away the answer) which led me to answering well enough. Other than that, I was asked about the projects listed in my personal statement, as well as my post-degree plans.

The Cambridge interview on the other hand was on a miserable December morning in a cold room somewhere in Churchill College, with 2 very unnerving professors almost mocking me as I cackle in front of a logic gate problem involving streams and pipelines of water... "exactly... you can't make water out of nothing ._." was the exact quote right before I was told my time was up. (The problem was of moderate difficulty, unless your heart is doing 120 BPM). By the second interview my confidence dropped to the point where I couldn't sketch a simple (sinx)^2 curve to save my life. I was, however, able to tackle the rest of the 7 maths problem selection given to me. I wasn't asked about my personal statement or anything other than the problems presented. Eventually I stumbled to the exam hall where I took a maths test lasting an hour, in the style of a UK maths challenge paper (but harder). Wasn't surprised to see a rejection letter, but hoped that Imperial would work out.

Hope was restored when I eventually received an e-mail:

On the strength of your application, together with your interview performance, we are pleased to inform you that you will shortly be receiving a conditional offer for the course G401 at Imperial College London.

Offer:
A* in Maths
A in Further Maths
A in Computing
A in Economics
A in Extended Project
Grade 2 in STEP 1 or Merit in Advanced Extension Award (AEA) Mathematics Paper

I met my offer and am excited for freshers week starting next Saturday It was hard work and months of very nervous waiting, but it paid off.

Did you do STEP or AEA and how hard was it to get the required grade for it? I'm surprised you also weren't asked to get an A* in F. Maths, they seem to be asking for 2 A*s a lot more frequently now.

Well done on getting in and I hope you enjoy your first year!

Thank you for sharing your experienceI decided I would go and apply to both places anyway for the hell of it, but I am really scared ._.If I'm lucky enough to be asked for an interview, I would probably not be able to answer any of those hard maths questions....

The problems themselves aren't EXTREMELY hard - just slightly challenging, but do-able. If there's any advice I'd give for the Cambridge interview, is to keep your nerves under control. I knew this very well and still managed to completely mess up mainly due to nerves. It's very easy to say now, but once you're in there, confidence kinda goes out of the window unless you have a really strong mindset and are able to control such emotions. It also didn't help that my interviewers weren't the nicest of people (perhaps that's part of their act. Although in the second interview, I'm pretty sure one of them was genuinely autistic). Best of luck.

I don't think I am that good at maths to be at Cambridge or Imperial... What happens if I can't do any of the problems ;-; I know they won't be extremely hard, but even without all those nerves, they are still difficult xD

Hi, I am wondering how lucky I would have to be in order to get into Imperial to study computer science.

I am taking maths, further maths, computing and economics, and have achieved an A in all 4 (plus an A in polish which I don't count). I am also doing an EPQ based on computer science.

My personal statement talks about a lot of things I have done in the past regarding CS and generally shows my passion for the subject, especially programming.

What do I have to do to convince the admissions tutors at the interview?

What are some of the other top unis for computer science? I am also applying to Cambridge, but I have no idea about my other 3 choices. I am currently thinking of Warwick, Durham and maybe Birmingham?

I was also considering doing a Mathematics and Computer Science degree but I am unsure whether this is wise. I am thinking about my employment prospects here and wondering if a joint maths degree would open me up a little, although I would prefer to not miss out on too much computer science.