Imperial Offers 2011

Anyone else been rejected from Oxbridge and got into Imperial, and are sort of happy about it?

Living in London, I kind of wanted to stay there, and to be honest, for Biology (my course) I don't think Imperial is any worse than Oxbridge at all. It's like the difference between Harvard/Yale and MIT in America. Oxbridge is more 'traditional' and 'well-rounded', but Imperial is specialist, and known for being damned good.

I just knew if I got into Oxford (was very close to it, the tutor at my college said out of 40 applicants, I was just displaced by one of the 6 chosen...) I would have to go, and now its nice to be able to actually make an educated decision to go to my remaining universities (I got offers from Warwick, Bristol, UCL and Imperial).

Is any aeronautical engineering offer holders here do IB?
What condition have you guys got?
I remember the offer condition was stated in the Imperial's aeronautics department website as: 39 overall with 6s in Maths and Physics. But suddenly they changed it to 7s in Maths and Physics! My offer condition was 7s in Maths and Physics so not a big deal for me, but it is a bit strange..

Yeah. For some reason, I've really liked Imperial for a while, probably because it's in London. For my subject, I see it on the same level as Oxford, though to a lot of people it doesn't have the same amount of prestige (but who gives a **** what my second cousin's mother thinks?) I guess it's harder to get into Oxbridge than Imperial but I've accepted the fact that I wasn't good enough to get in, and in any case, I don't think it would have suited me very well. If I had gotten in, I would have had real issues in deciding because it would have been tough to turn down the offer, even though I knew I'd rather go to Imperial.

Nice choice of unis btw, 4/5

Anyone else been rejected from Oxbridge and got into Imperial, and are sort of happy about it?

Living in London, I kind of wanted to stay there, and to be honest, for Biology (my course) I don't think Imperial is any worse than Oxbridge at all. It's like the difference between Harvard/Yale and MIT in America. Oxbridge is more 'traditional' and 'well-rounded', but Imperial is specialist, and known for being damned good.

I just knew if I got into Oxford (was very close to it, the tutor at my college said out of 40 applicants, I was just displaced by one of the 6 chosen...) I would have to go, and now its nice to be able to actually make an educated decision to go to my remaining universities (I got offers from Warwick, Bristol, UCL and Imperial).

Same here. My brother went to Oxford and really struggled with the workload, and I was worried that if I did get in then I would have the same problem, and I would get very stressed out and not enjoy the whole university experience.

I am slightly worried that I would have the same problem at Imperial, but at least I am free to make my own decision. As it happens, I do have a very difficult decision to make.

Anyone else been rejected from Oxbridge and got into Imperial, and are sort of happy about it?

Living in London, I kind of wanted to stay there, and to be honest, for Biology (my course) I don't think Imperial is any worse than Oxbridge at all. It's like the difference between Harvard/Yale and MIT in America. Oxbridge is more 'traditional' and 'well-rounded', but Imperial is specialist, and known for being damned good.

I just knew if I got into Oxford (was very close to it, the tutor at my college said out of 40 applicants, I was just displaced by one of the 6 chosen...) I would have to go, and now its nice to be able to actually make an educated decision to go to my remaining universities (I got offers from Warwick, Bristol, UCL and Imperial).

Rejected Chemistry at Oxford for Imperial , any other female chemists around?

None yet

also how come people are still posting on TSR at 2AM?
...What?

Rejected Chemistry at Oxford for Imperial , any other female chemists around?

*raises hand* Count me in, too! I mentioned my thoughts on it right here and here actually.

Non-academic criteria/quirks aside, for my subject, I probably would've been better off with Imperial anyway. At Oxford I would've virtually touched nothing Biomed Eng related until the 3rd year; whereas they gently ease you into it at Imperial from the first year onwards with some MedSci related topics (thank you, Professor Bull; you sold it for me! )

And the fact that Imperial were more accepting of the whole package (admittedly I'm not the best academically, though I do alright - I love my extracurriculars too much :P) compared to Oxford is another selling point.

Perhaps I've just shot myself in the foot here by saying in short that I'm generally not good enough for Oxford academically ("so you DON'T deserve a place anyway, arianex you loon!" )

'Academics', at least in the sense of how well you do at school, is completely irrelevant. Firstly the fact you got into Imperial means you must be in the top fraction (academically) of the country. Secondly it really makes me sad when people think their rejection from Oxford is because they are not good enough! Ever heard of sampling error? It's a mistake due to a unrepresentative measurement. When Oxford interviews you for the sum total of an hour (at least for me), how is that ever going to give an accurate image of your capabilities?

In fact, I have a family friend who happens to be a tutor at Balliol College (wish he could have got me in haha) and he said Oxford accepts that they will be turning down some seriously good candidates in the place of some 'less good' ones. Regardless, our stories have a happy ending, because we're ending up with a university that is honestly (no bitterness involved) seen as equal, if not actually better, than Oxford (for science).

It is annoying that for now, we won't get the recognition that we honestly deserve (in my school only the 'Oxbridge' offer people are properly congratulated), but if you check out another thread on this forum (I think called 'Oxford vs Imperial' or something), someone posts a table showing that Imperial has the highest average graduate salary of any UK university! So we get the last laugh

To be honest, we'd probably be happy at any 'top-level' university, and it is silly for me to say "I never wanted Oxford anyway". But our 'Plan B' happens to be just as good as 'Plan A' - I mean, bbyzee93 just wrote that she rejected Oxford for Imperial for Chemistry, and it's the same story for a lot of people I know!

None yet

also how come people are still posting on TSR at 2AM?
...What?

conditional offer of AAA for aerospace materials at Imperial...
other offers from UCL and Manchester.

for the fact of it, I am also rejected from Oxford... and bristol.

Added

Welcome to The Reject Gang!

mech eng A*AA

Hey, can you do me a favour, can you please separate chemical engineering and chemistry from your offers list, two complete different courses. Cheers

Excuse my fussiness.

You're right about sampling error, though (not trying to brag here) I never implied I was crap/not good enough academically - "not good enough for Oxford" actually meant more of a "probs decent academic, but 'fit-wise' perhaps not for Oxford" thing. Though because Oxford interviews are academically focused, it's easy for people to think that a rejection means "ZOMG YOU'RE SHORT OF HALF A BRAIN CELL TO BE PART OF OUR UNI - YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH ACADEMICALLY. GTFO."

I was also just stressing on how Imperial's "look at the whole picture" approach with admissions was much nicer than Oxford's attitude of "we don't want 2nd rate historians who happen to play the flute" - you can quote their admissions tutors on that! And I -did- "harp" (no musical pun intended) on how I was more at ease with the former compared to the latter

Just to illustrate: my reaction to Joe Cole's decision email from Oriel was like this - "Oh. Rejected. Okay then, I'M GOING TO IMPERIAL FO' SHO'! " The folks weren't even miffed or disappointed, it was all neutral in our household (as if Oxford was "just another university" - die-hard fanatics of Oxford might kill me now and call me bitter, but that's the best way I know how to describe what happened )
TBH I applied to Oxford more as an "it's good, so why not ei?" thing - and also because it was somewhat expected of me from my school (feh); but upon closer scrutiny (after UCAS was processed, and the visits) I was like, "wait up - Imperial's BioEng dept and environment is waaaay better for me!"

The turning-down of good candidates for "lesser" ones doesn't just happen at Oxbridge; it's too common at places like Harvard and MIT as well. I bet that you can create a totally new incoming class out of the rejects that would've been just as good - if not better - than the ones who were accepted.

So to clear this up: unlike you (I think, correct me if I'm wrong), Oxford was never really Plan A for me because it was joint first-choice with Imperial from the start (I never felt bitter or bad/disappointed about not getting in!) Though indeed it's a shame that only people who get into Oxbridge are properly given pomp and circumstance in schools too. But like you said, no matter. It shouldn't be the so-called prestige of a place that determines your worth.

PS// Even if I had gotten into Ox, I wouldn't have firmed it rightaway. I would've still deliberated long and hard before making a decision and would've still picked Imperial, based on the facts about the courses. Never mind the fact that money would've been an issue if I did that: most scholarship programs in my country (I'm Malaysian) are of the opinion that Ox > Imp and will give out scholarships for the former than the latter more readily.

They're blatantly preparing for the insomniac nights we await at Imperial

I saw your avatar. A Lost fan?! At Imperial?!

I guess I will be seeing you in another life, brother!