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Imperial College London

London

Imperial Biological Sciences 2011

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I didn't do maths OR chemistry and still got an offer! As long as you do at least 2 sciences they'll consider you :smile:

Plus, once you get here, there's a great lecturer who does maths and chemistry sessions, so iz no problem.

Imperial College London

London

Reply 21

Becca1

Original post by KingofSpades

do you need maths for Bio at Imperial? do they put it as "desirable", even?

I don't have maths to A2, but so far haven't found it too bad! You do an online "test" at the beginning of term and if you struggle then they run revision sessions which give you a crash course in the maths you need to know which is pretty helpful (though I found the problem sheets they gave us more helpful than the actual sessions). There have been a couple of times in the biochem module that I've been completely lost with the maths but there are demonstrators in the labs who will point you in the right direction and it's not been too much of a problem!

Original post by AlexB1001

Anyone know about the social life at Imperial?

The social life is really quite good! It's what you make it- the union runs quite a few events and the bar is nice and pretty cheap! Also halls tend to run some good events and there's obviously a lot you can do outside uni. I'm certainly rarely bored here, I spend most evenings with my friends even if it's just watching TV together or going to the bar.

Well done to all those getting offers/ good luck to those still waiting :smile:

Reply 22

el pollo diablo

I have an offer for biochem. It's unlikely I'll be firming Imperial (I didn't even think they'd give me an offer!), but wanted to subscribe just in case I do.

Someone further up the thread asked about GCSEs; I don't think Imperial put much emphasis on them to be honest. I had AABBBBCCC and two of the C grades were for double award science, and they still offered me a place.

Reply 23

AlexB1001

Original post by el pollo diablo

Why wouldn't you firm Imperial? What other universities interest you more?

Reply 24

el pollo diablo

Original post by AlexB1001

Why wouldn't you firm Imperial? What other universities interest you more?

I live with my boyfriend so we'd both have to move and he'd need to find employment (earning enough to support us both plus university for me - I'm not eligible for any financial help or student loans as I already have a degree). Also the whole restructuring thing isn't very encouraging. I'm not uprooting our lives only to find the course I've applied for has had a complete makeover. I'll probably firm Cardiff (still a great university and still a member of the Russell Group). Besides, I want to go into research and where and what I do my PhD in will have more relevance for my future - and for my PhD I WILL be willing to move!

I haven't made a final decision yet. If I was eligible for funding though I think it would be very difficult to turn down Imperial! It's a great university in one of my favourite areas of London. Maybe postgrad. But people turn down Oxbridge every year, so I'm sure I can turn down Imperial! :biggrin:

Reply 25

BlueRingedOctopus

I got an offer for Biology with year in industry yesterday... so happy! :biggrin:

Reply 26

fizzpopbangx

I got an offer for Microbiology today :biggrin:

AAB with the A's in Biology and Chemistry and B in German. :/ I hope I can achieve that.
I will probably be firming Imperial.

Reply 27

sweetpopo619

Offer of AAB for biology with a year in industry. so happy :biggrin:

Original post by BlueRingedOctopus

I got an offer for Biology with year in industry yesterday... so happy! :biggrin:

hey there, (remember me from the durham thread) congrats on the offer. :biggrin:

Reply 28

BlueRingedOctopus

Original post by sweetpopo619

Offer of AAB for biology with a year in industry. so happy :biggrin:

hey there, (remember me from the durham thread) congrats on the offer. :biggrin:

Hey

I knew I recognised your name lol! Thanks :biggrin:

What other unis have you applied to/offers have you gotten? We already have two in common lol :smile:

Reply 29

Scitscat

I got an offer AAB for Bio with a yr in industry too! :biggrin:

but i dont know whether to put imperial or manchester as a firm choice :s-smilie:

what's the course really like to study?

Reply 30

BlueRingedOctopus

Original post by Scitscat

I got an offer AAB for Bio with a yr in industry too! :biggrin:

but i dont know whether to put imperial or manchester as a firm choice :s-smilie:

what's the course really like to study?

Congrats! I'm going to firm Imperial, because it's got such a good reputation :smile:

you can read about the course in the prospectus/ hear about it on the open day, or find a current student on TSR and ask them? The course looks really good, I can't wait :biggrin:

Reply 31

Becca1

Original post by Scitscat

I got an offer AAB for Bio with a yr in industry too! :biggrin:

but i dont know whether to put imperial or manchester as a firm choice :s-smilie:

what's the course really like to study?

Well done on the offer!
I'm a first year on the microbiology course but everyone on the biology stream has a common first year. The course is very broad and the first year is split into four modules; Biochemistry, Ecology Behaviour and Evolution, Cell Biology and Biology of Organisms. The lectures for each of these modules are spread across the year in 2-3 week blocks. You have 2 one hour lectures a day (with 9am starts the norm) plus maybe a tutorial, lab or problem class but these vary according to the module. The work load is pretty high and you do have to be quite organised as you could be doing a lab report for biochemistry at the same time as writing an essay for cell biology for instance. They chuck you in the deep end here very quickly, we were set an essay in the second week and there doesn't tend to be a huge amount of guidance given- just the title and a little bit of background information- so you have to learn how to write a scientific essay and read journals objectively very quickly and you're also expected to go away and read around the lectures quite a bit, as obviously not everything can be covered in 1 hour.
I do enjoy the course a lot- though that depends very much on which module we're studying! There are some really good lecturers who make even really dull topics interesting (I was dreading stats week but actually found it really interesting as the lecturer was great). Like I said, the workload is high and it is something to think about before you firm Imperial but there's still plenty of time to socialise too.

Hope that's a little bit of help- I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have :smile:

Reply 32

kung

Original post by Becca1

I see you study microbiology... could you name some of the books you're studying from because it would be nice to know how interesting /difficult/ expensive are some of those books... :smile:

Reply 33

Becca1

Original post by kung

I see you study microbiology... could you name some of the books you're studying from because it would be nice to know how interesting /difficult/ expensive are some of those books... :smile:

We take the first year with all the biological sciences students, so there aren't really any specific books we use just for microbiology (that I know of yet anyway!), but this year I got 'The Molecular Biology of the Cell' by Bruce Alberts and 'Biochemistry' by Voet & Voet both of which were around £45. They recommend you getting Molecular Biology of the Cell and then for each module there'll be a recommended source text which you can get easily from the library. To be honest, I've only really used the books a couple of times, though they are both interesting and definitely useful for reading around the lectures, so I'd wait and see how you get on for a couple of weeks into term before buying them- they have lots of copies in the library anyway!
THe Selfish Gene by Dawkins is one that you really do need to get, it costs around £5-6. I personally didn't find it a particularly interesting but it is useful when it comes to the evolution lectures!

Reply 34

eddie90

Got an offer for microbiology (after 5 and half months of waiting :O )
AA (Biology and maths)
and B (physics)
This may seem like a rather superficial question but, what is the girl to guy ratio in the biological fields at Imperial? aha :P Also do you think I would be able to go into a masters in genetics with a microbiology Bsc?

Reply 35

alterbridge06

Original post by eddie90

We were told the actual numbers but its around 70 girls and 50 guys this year.

Reply 36

Ceecee

I've firmed imperial for Biology..looking forward to it now :smile:

Can't wait to move to London etc. its going to be soo much fun !

Reply 37

davec_2012

Hi guys,

I got an offer for Biosciences of AAB (in biology, chemistry and maths) - too bad they dont count my English Lit.

i'm torn between firming Imperial and Birmingham? because i know Birmingham has excellent social scenes does anyone know what nightlife in Imperial is like?

plus of course there is the gender ratio to consider - or is it not that much of an issue?

O and congrats to all on their offers :biggrin:

Reply 38

alterbridge06

Original post by davec_2012

i'm torn between firming Imperial and Birmingham? because i know Birmingham has excellent social scenes does anyone know what nightlife in Imperial is like?

plus of course there is the gender ratio to consider - or is it not that much of an issue?

As I've heard countless times, the social side of university is what you make it. As I'm sure you know London has a massive nightlife if you were to leave campus.

Gender ratio could be an issue if, again, you don't leave the campus as the whole of London is not a sausage fest.

Reply 39

psoliver

Hello everyone,

I got an offer back in November/December of AAB.
A in Biology, and AB in any order in Chemistry and Physics.

Looking forward to being in London in October, hoping it'll be a great experience the course et al! :smile: