Ask an Imperial College London Student!

Hi @usycool1, i know imperial has campuses at charing cross, Hammersmith etc for medical students. Are these proper buildings/campuses for medical students with appropriate facilities or are they just sort of joined to the hospital? Also are there much lectures/exams in 5th and 6th year or is it mainly clinical placements all year long?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 22

Original post by thedecorator33

Hi @usycool1, i know imperial has campuses at charing cross, Hammersmith etc for medical students. Are these proper buildings/campuses for medical students with appropriate facilities or are they just sort of joined to the hospital?

It depends on which hospital you're based in but pretty much all of them do have areas for students. They vary in what sorts of facilities are there, though.

Charing Cross has the Reynolds bar which has a bar (obviously :tongue:

), a gym, library, computer room etc. There's also a swimming pool and sports hall in the hospital. Same in Hammersmith Hospital minus the bar. St Mary's has a lot of stuff as well but there's a lot of drama happening there so I don't know what will happen.

Chelsea and Westminster also have a student common room, lecture theatre and library. There's also a cinema there for patients (sometimes if you're lucky you can use it and it has latest movies currently in real cinemas iirc, and they sometimes put a lectures there) and live music playing, but that's for the general public.

Northwick Park, Hillingdon and Ealing have areas libraries and study areas for students. St Peter's has a postgraduate education centre which is shared by doctors and medical students, but they also have a separate medical student common room as well (which is shared by St George's as well).

There are some places like the Royal Brompton which don't have any areas for medical students though. But they are super specialised and hardly have students there unless you choose to do a student selected placement there. It's OK for Brompton though, as it's about 10 minutes away from the South Ken campus so you can go there or just hang out in the doctors offices/staff rooms.

That's all off the top of my head. Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary's have larger areas for students. Most of the others also have decent areas though.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 23

Schoolboy101

Hey so im a offer holder and I'm wondering how is the social life at imperial like do people go out much? What do people generally do?. I've heard that the general stereotypical idea surrounding it is that imperial has less of a work-life balance compared to unis like UCL but I'd prefer not to speculate and get a view from an actual current student. As a future medic, I feel like (although I will be studying :smile:

) my life outside of the studying could potentially be a factor to think about especially with such a long degree.

Reply 24

Original post by Schoolboy101

Hey so im a offer holder and I'm wondering how is the social life at imperial like do people go out much? What do people generally do?. I've heard that the general stereotypical idea surrounding it is that imperial has less of a work-life balance compared to unis like UCL but I'd prefer not to speculate and get a view from an actual current student. As a future medic, I feel like (although I will be studying :smile:

) my life outside of the studying could potentially be a factor to think about especially with such a long degree.

I think the social life aspect is one of the biggest misconceptions about Imperial (for the school of medicine at least - I can't comment on the rest of the college). They have 2 weeks of Fresher's events for medical students, and put on a wide range of activities from fancy dress boat parties along the Thames to chill nights to the infamous Reynolds Show. There are also lots of events that are put on throughout the year. There are also over 300 people in the year so you are bound to end up meeting people who you'll get on with. What people do varies between their interests - but you will almost certainly find people who share the same interests as you.

It gets a bit harder in clinical years because everyone is based all over the place but that's probably the case anywhere. But then you'll end up meeting even more people who you'll be on placement with and will almost certainly find social activities to do with them. It's not like you can't go to events organised by the medical school then either - it just gets a little bit harder because of how far you may be based and having to be in for long hours.

Reply 25

OP

Original post by Schoolboy101

Hey so im a offer holder and I'm wondering how is the social life at imperial like do people go out much? What do people generally do?. I've heard that the general stereotypical idea surrounding it is that imperial has less of a work-life balance compared to unis like UCL but I'd prefer not to speculate and get a view from an actual current student. As a future medic, I feel like (although I will be studying :smile:

) my life outside of the studying could potentially be a factor to think about especially with such a long degree.

So this is something I feel does depend on your course because either physics has an easy first year or I've just been lazy with regard to work. What I hear from people in other courses is that it certainly is possible to maintain a healthy social life and take part in societies and sports and all that, but it takes a bit more effort. I've definitely had the time to go out, but how often you do so depends on the people you know and how outgoing they are.
As for what people actually do? Going to clubs is a pretty big thing, there's sports night at the union on Wednesdays, for me most of my socialising was meeting up with friends in halls to play cards or video games or just to chat.

Reply 26

daviddavidlu

3

Hi, is it possible to change to Mechanical or EEE after receiving an offer from aero?

Reply 27

thedecorator33

Original post by usycool1

It depends on which hospital you're based in but pretty much all of them do have areas for students. They vary in what sorts of facilities are there, though.

Charing Cross has the Reynolds bar which has a bar (obviously :tongue:

), a gym, library, computer room etc. There's also a swimming pool and sports hall in the hospital. Same in Hammersmith Hospital minus the bar. St Mary's has a lot of stuff as well but there's a lot of drama happening there so I don't know what will happen.

Chelsea and Westminster also have a student common room, lecture theatre and library. There's also a cinema there for patients (sometimes if you're lucky you can use it and it has latest movies currently in real cinemas iirc, and they sometimes put a lectures there) and live music playing, but that's for the general public.

Northwick Park, Hillingdon and Ealing have areas libraries and study areas for students. St Peter's has a postgraduate education centre which is shared by doctors and medical students, but they also have a separate medical student common room as well (which is shared by St George's as well).

There are some places like the Royal Brompton which don't have any areas for medical students though. But they are super specialised and hardly have students there unless you choose to do a student selected placement there. It's OK for Brompton though, as it's about 10 minutes away from the South Ken campus so you can go there or just hang out in the doctors offices/staff rooms.

That's all off the top of my head. Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary's have larger areas for students. Most of the others also have decent areas though.

haha what's happening at st marys? Are lectures recorded and is attendance to lectures mandatory (e.g. you have to sign in?), also is 5th and 6th year mainly clinical placements throughout the year or are there still lectures?

Reply 28

Original post by thedecorator33

haha what's happening at st marys? Are lectures recorded and is attendance to lectures mandatory (e.g. you have to sign in?), also is 5th and 6th year mainly clinical placements throughout the year or are there still lectures?

The Medical School building at St Mary's is being sold. Most of us med students are very unhappy about it - it has a lot of historical significance. Placements will still take place there though and students are being told that they'll invest in resources elsewhere but who knows what will happen. It won't affect me as I'll graduate by then but it's something which will affect you guys.

I don't know how many lectures happen now in the first few years as the course has changed a lot since I was a 1st year - but they were mandatory when I was in those years and they probably still are now. They had random attendance checks where you have to scan your ID badge before/after a lecture. Most lectures are recorded unless the lecturer hasn't given consent.

Yep, 5th and 6th years are pretty much placements throughout the year. You will have the odd lecture here and there but a) they usually aren't with the whole year and b) they're very rare. Also, currently in 5th year, there is a pathology course at the start of the year which last around 4 weeks and consists of lectures (but I've heard rumours they're removing that course). But as I say, most of it is placement.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 29

thedecorator33

Original post by usycool1

The Medical School building at St Mary's is being sold. Most of us med students are very unhappy about it - it has a lot of historical significance. Placements will still take place there though and students are being told that they'll invest in resources elsewhere but who knows what will happen. It won't affect me as I'll graduate by then but it's something which will affect you guys.

I don't know how many lectures happen now in the first few years as the course has changed a lot since I was a 1st year - but they were mandatory when I was in those years and they probably still are now. They had random attendance checks where you have to scan your ID badge before/after a lecture. Most lectures are recorded unless the lecturer hasn't given consent.

Yep, 5th and 6th years are pretty much placements throughout the year. You will have the odd lecture here and there but a) they usually aren't with the whole year and b) they're very rare. Also, currently in 5th year, there is a pathology course at the start of the year which last around 4 weeks and consists of lectures (but I've heard rumours they're removing that course). But as I say, most of it is placement.

ah yeah that's quite said tbh. for first year is the majority of teaching done at south kens. and are there much clinical placements/gp visits in the first year? sorry for the bombardment of questions haha just tryna make sure I'm prepared for the course.

Reply 30

Original post by thedecorator33

ah yeah that's quite said tbh. for first year is the majority of teaching done at south kens. and are there much clinical placements/gp visits in the first year? sorry for the bombardment of questions haha just tryna make sure I'm prepared for the course.

The course has changed a lot since I was in 1st year so my answers may not be fully accurate. My understanding is that now, there is a GP visit every week or so and there's a hospital placement in 1st year too. Before, we had about 50% teaching in South Ken and 50% at CXH. I'm not sure if that's changed now, though!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 31

cwren

1

Original post by Sinnoh

Hi everyone. :wavey:

What with open days this summer being cancelled, here's a kind of AMA thread for everyone considering Imperial.
I'm a first-year undergrad studying physics. I'll be happy to answer any questions about the uni in general, and of course about the physics course (which has just been restructured!)

Hi!! Thanks for doing this :smile:

I've got an offer for Civ Eng for September. I did 4 A-levels, and my mental health wasn't great due to the workload and essentially having no time. I'm worried that at Imperial I won't have enough time to socialise, relax, cook, etc. and it could be overall be too stressful. I was wondering if you had any advice about this and on how much free time people generally have?
Thank you!

Reply 32

juru2020

1

Hello,
I was wondering what the introduction period (freshers week) was like for imperial. Were there any welcome activities for all of the different halls so you can meet your hall mates?

Thank you xx

Reply 33

harper_

10

Original post by cwren

Hi!! Thanks for doing this :smile:

I've got an offer for Civ Eng for September. I did 4 A-levels, and my mental health wasn't great due to the workload and essentially having no time. I'm worried that at Imperial I won't have enough time to socialise, relax, cook, etc. and it could be overall be too stressful. I was wondering if you had any advice about this and on how much free time people generally have?
Thank you!

Hi, this has already been answered a couple of times in previous posts, see above.

Reply 34

OP

Original post by cwren

Hi!! Thanks for doing this :smile:

I've got an offer for Civ Eng for September. I did 4 A-levels, and my mental health wasn't great due to the workload and essentially having no time. I'm worried that at Imperial I won't have enough time to socialise, relax, cook, etc. and it could be overall be too stressful. I was wondering if you had any advice about this and on how much free time people generally have?
Thank you!

So in first year at least (can't say for other years) you will definitely have time for all that you mention. I had two flatmates doing civ eng and I don't recall them being overloaded with work, and they kept up hobbies, but it also depends on how productive you are on your own. Doing 4 A-levels you're probably good at that, but then you've pretty much got a 6 month summer holiday now and it's very easy to lose those habits.
If you want to save time on cooking, then the best advice I can give is to meal prep.

Original post by juru2020

Hello,
I was wondering what the introduction period (freshers week) was like for imperial. Were there any welcome activities for all of the different halls so you can meet your hall mates?

Thank you xx

Yeah definitely, at my hall (Woodward) there were quite a few events happening in the first two weeks

Reply 35

KieranMalandain

10

Hiya, thanks a lot for doing this, appreciate it. Was just wondering what the Woodward halls are like and the surrounding area in North Acton? I’m looking at doing physics too !! Also, what’s the first year physics course like? You said of course that quantum isn’t covered in 1st year anymore, what other stuff is covered?
Cheers again! Kieran

Reply 36

OP

Original post by KieranMalandain

Hiya, thanks a lot for doing this, appreciate it. Was just wondering what the Woodward halls are like and the surrounding area in North Acton? I’m looking at doing physics too !! Also, what’s the first year physics course like? You said of course that quantum isn’t covered in 1st year anymore, what other stuff is covered?
Cheers again! Kieran

Woodward's great. It's the best-equipped hall and it's also the cheapest, the only drawback is the location. Also since it's so damn big it could be easier to make friends. Commute to uni is 35 mins each way, but you get used to it and there's a nice walk from Queensway station to the campus.
North Acton itself is a bit miserable though, there's really not much to do at all in the immediate area but there are shops close by including a massive Asda so it is convenient just for day-to-day stuff. Westfield shopping centre is two stops away on the tube so that's nice.

With the physics course, I think the difficulty does sneak up on you. If you've done further maths you'd be forgiven for falling asleep in lectures for the first half of the first term, but don't get complacent because the new stuff will come along and it will be hard.
Content-wise - best way I can describe it is it's like a continuation of A-level further maths with added labs and computing, plus a few more applied topics like electronics and optics. Fourier analysis has been moved to first year, it used to be at the start of second. If you want to get some basic intuition about that there are some excellent 3Blue1Brown videos on youtube, but it's definitely still harder than he makes it look. The first term has some pretty introductory mathematical methods plus some mechanics and stuff on harmonic oscillations, while there's a bigger range of topics in the second term - fourier, electronics, vector calculus, E&M, optics. Also a surprising level of overlap.

As an aside, whilst in A-level you might have been told to just memorise a method or an equation or a formula, the lecturers have been very much about "don't try to memorise this, you should be able to derive it". So that's a notable difference from school.

Reply 37

KieranMalandain

10

Original post by Sinnoh

Woodward's great. It's the best-equipped hall and it's also the cheapest, the only drawback is the location. Also since it's so damn big it could be easier to make friends. Commute to uni is 35 mins each way, but you get used to it and there's a nice walk from Queensway station to the campus.
North Acton itself is a bit miserable though, there's really not much to do at all in the immediate area but there are shops close by including a massive Asda so it is convenient just for day-to-day stuff. Westfield shopping centre is two stops away on the tube so that's nice.

With the physics course, I think the difficulty does sneak up on you. If you've done further maths you'd be forgiven for falling asleep in lectures for the first half of the first term, but don't get complacent because the new stuff will come along and it will be hard.
Content-wise - best way I can describe it is it's like a continuation of A-level further maths with added labs and computing, plus a few more applied topics like electronics and optics. Fourier analysis has been moved to first year, it used to be at the start of second. If you want to get some basic intuition about that there are some excellent 3Blue1Brown videos on youtube, but it's definitely still harder than he makes it look. The first term has some pretty introductory mathematical methods plus some mechanics and stuff on harmonic oscillations, while there's a bigger range of topics in the second term - fourier, electronics, vector calculus, E&M, optics. Also a surprising level of overlap.

As an aside, whilst in A-level you might have been told to just memorise a method or an equation or a formula, the lecturers have been very much about "don't try to memorise this, you should be able to derive it". So that's a notable difference from school.

Okay brilliant. Yeah, I’d had a look into the different halls and Woodward looked really nice, and also a lot cheaper than the others - of course a big part of it haha. So ofc you’ll have your room, if you’re not at the library would you normally study here, or are there study rooms? And are there like common rooms or something like that?
RE travelling, I’m guessing you can just get a season ticket for that instead. Also, do you pay for the accommodation year-round or just during term time?

I’m currently lower 6th so have just finished maths a-level and moving onto further maths after the holidays. The topics seem great, and cheers for that channel link, I’ll definitely be having a look at that.

Sorry for quite a few questions, thanks for doing this again!

Reply 38

OP