Still waiting to hear back from Imperial

Applying for computing. So I sent in my application on the 16th of October and did the admission text on the 26th, yet I haven't heard anything back from them. I'm not sure how I did on the test. I'm going to say a bit above average, but my personal statement is good, considering I got an interview at Cambridge and an offer from Queen Mary, and I'm also predicted A*A*A*, with an A* already in the bag. I also contacted them, asking that considering the amount of time that has passed, does it mean I got rejected, and they said if you have not heard back it means your application is still under review. Do you think this is normal? Or does it mean I got rejected?

Before my post, I would like to point out my timeline for getting into Imperial for CS:

27/09 - Sent off my application
09/10 - Received admissions test invite scheduled for three days' time
12/10 - Admissions test (which I felt was REALLY REALLY easy)
10/11 - Interview invite for 29/11
24/11 - Cambridge rejection
29/11 - Interview day for Imperial (which I think was OK on the whole but one shaky question).
18/12 - early Christmas present in the form of an offer.

Brother, I'll be real with you here. Just because you got an interview for Cambridge doesn't mean you have an amazing personal statement (granted you will have shown merit on it though because it's still part of the applicant process). They will definitely look far more into your admissions test score.

How do I know this? 5 A* UCAS predictions, 9999999988 at GCSE (8s in English Lit and RS) and a decent personal statement that got me an offer for CS at Imperial. The only thing that stopped me getting a Cambridge interview was the admissions test, which I've mentioned what happened in mine so many times on this site that I'm not going to bother typing it all out (and it's extremely unlucky what happened). I scored 4.5 on TMUA and got rejected pre-interview (even though I was scoring 7.5 in practice).

Furthermore, Cambridge genuinely doesn't care whether you have much of a Computing background or not because they are far more focussed on people having mathematical foundations (as the course is theoretical and definitely more focussed on people who are trying to get into further study and research rather than industry) as they believe that you can develop the CS stuff any time you want while it's harder to instil Maths into students who have a stronger CS background.

Imperial, on the other hand, because it has a focus on both theory and industry, wants you to have both a strong mathematical foundation in addition to sound programming and/or logical thinking skills. Imperial doesn't just use the admissions test as a verdict to determine whether a student is apt for them or not - they also use the personal statement equally so in that sense, it's different to Cambridge (though I'm sure personal statements will be compared in their process, but to a lesser extent).

How did you find your Imperial admissions test? I think that this will be a good verdict for whether you have good chances of interview. Also, home student or international? (I'm home).

If you are international, do not worry because I have a friend who is an international who applied for this course and did his admissions test on 16th October and hasn't heard anything from Imperial since completing it.

If you are home, I would say that most likely your application has been put on hold, either due to a comparatively weaker personal statement or a comparatively lower admissions test score. I know it's not both otherwise you would have been rejected, like one of my other friends. The fact that they are looking at candidates now who applied after you (November onwards for interview on 25th Jan) suggests to me that you have low chances of being invited to interview so I'd say not to keep your hopes up too much. This isn't me trying to put you down either, Imperial faces 20 applicants for 1 place. If you don't perform on the day, chances are you won't get an interview from them. It's like what happened with me at Cambridge (but rather than performance, it was more related to my own eyesight looking at the wrong end timing).

Also, how did your Cambridge TMUA go? How was the interview? What college? I wish it could have been me but I am happy with Imperial.

I received their standard offer of A*AAA with grade 2 in STEP II.

I thought imperial just wasn't sending any rejections until all interviews are done

I thought imperial just wasn't sending any rejections until all interviews are done

That's not true, I got rejected on November 27th for JMC

I'm so sorry! Did they give you a reason as to why? One of my friends got a straight up UCAS update after getting rejected from Mechanical engineering.

Oh hey I just realised you replied to my thread. It goes like "71 in MAT, rejected interview from both Oxford and Imperial".

Anyways they didn't give a reason, just the standard "applicants were very competitive" and stuff. I still don't understand why they didn't even invite me for the admissions test -_-

Hi brother, I completed the computing interview on 28/02/2024. During the interview, I was asked some general questions. I was also asked to describe a project I mentioned in my personal statement, which I did very well I think. I got two questions in the problem-solving part. I performed very well on the first question. But for the second question, I didn't figured it out although the professor gave me hints. Do you think I will be rejected from the Imperial College.