Biomedical Engineering at Imperial or Electrical engineering at Bristol

Last year in September 2010 I to applied to Bristol and Imperial for Electrical engineering but was unsuccessful with Imperial without even an interview; however, another department within engineering wrote to me offering me a place for MEng in Biomedical engineering. Now I'm in dilemma: Imperial is my first choice but not exactly the branch of engineering I applied for (although I can see myself doing the course), Bristol is my second choice but with the course I applied for. I live in London, Imperial is more renown than Bristol, and it is my first choice but the course, biomedical engineering is not; Bristol, a good Uni, not in London but the offer is to study my course (electrical eng which is also on UKBA jobs shortage list).

I still haven't accepted either offer yet. Can anyone please help me go in the right direction?

Imperial seems to do everything via email - I asked them whether they will send me a confirmation letter by post, they said no, they will confirm via email! is that normal!?

Anyone knows, studied or studies the course at Imperial?

Thanks

Reply 1

innerhollow

Go with Bristol EEE I say. Imperial is a fantastic university, but it's much more important that you study a course you want to, rather than giving that all up to go to a university simply because it is more "renowned".

Look up the course content for BioMed Eng on Imperial's website. There are similiarities between BioMed Eng and EEE, but a lot of it, particularly projects and labs, will be completely different.

Imperial College London

London

Reply 2

i_hate_teeth

I agree with your point innerhollow. However, there is a chance that the OP may be allowed to switch to EEE after enrolling onto the Biomedical Engineering course at IC.

Reply 3

innerhollow

Original post by i_hate_teeth

I agree with your point innerhollow. However, there is a chance that the OP may be allowed to switch to EEE after enrolling onto the Biomedical Engineering course at IC.

That would be almost impossible actually... I asked at my interview and they said that Imperial generally doesn't accept transfers, and certainly not to its more competitive courses (i.e. AeroEng, EEE, MechEng, ChemEng)

Reply 4

i_hate_teeth

I think 'almost impossible' is slightly hyperbolic. OP I reccomend you talk to the the Biomedical and EEE admissions departments regarding the possibility of switching courses.

Reply 5

arianex

Original post by innerhollow

Original post by i_hate_teeth

I think 'almost impossible' is slightly hyperbolic. OP I reccomend you talk to the the Biomedical and EEE admissions departments regarding the possibility of switching courses.

It's not so much "(almost) impossible" as it is pretty tough - and it would be, given that you sorta specialize almost straightaway with an Imperial engineering degree (which is probably why transferring between streams is quite hard at Imperial.)

But the seniors who took me around Imperial did tell us that yes, they do get a few from BioEng every year who successfully transfer out to the more traditional engineering streams (like yours - EEE). What it entails, though, is an arduous amount of work (their words not mine!) - particularly in terms of Maths, given that you need to offer at least an AS in Further Maths to do EEE at Imperial.

I suspect that transfers from BioEng to EEE involve you having not just your required lab skills (and other crossover knowledge that is from both courses) up to scratch; but to also prove to their departments that you've got the required aptitude in terms of Mathematics to handle their course. Should you end up doing BioEng at ICL with the intention to switch, I'm not sure how many of the first-year modules in EEE are not covered in the BioEng course (and therefore don't know how much you'll have to catch up on :/)

It CAN be done...but in the end, however - and I really hate to break this to you - if they do NOT have any space in your year to take you in as a transfer, then you can't transfer. I'd *definitely* talk to both departments to find out what they're like/expecting with regards to transfers between eng. streams for your year. They're the ones who handle cases like this, so they'll be the ones with the information - and I bet you more than anything you won't be the only one in that year asking them about transfers!

And take this from a BioEng applicant - there are a LOT of BiomedEng students who end up being adept traditional engineers, because BioEng is pretty darn multidisciplinary (having to think about life sciences and chemistry as well as core eng. means they're pretty adaptable peeps, them BioEng students. :tongue:

) Some end up doing mech/EEE as their full-time job right after their BioEng degree!
Also, with job prospects/growth for BME looking just as good as EEE (if not better), it's not a horrible option either - no one's going to think any less of you for doing BME (they're idiots if they do :tongue:

) Plus, if you're doing the MEng at ICL, the 3rd year involves study in *another* engineering department (they cited Mech and EEE! Hooray!) whilst completing group projects under BioEng.

Think about what matters more to you - course, or location? Bristol is also held in very high regard both in the UK and internationally, so no one's going to diss you because you chose them over ICL; and if you can't bear the thought of having to put up with BioEng-related stuff at any point in your degree, then run with it - you'll find ways to adapt to and love the location in the end.
But if it's going to kill you if you don't study at Imperial, and you can make some compromises for the 1st year (plus accept the fact that you *might* not be able to transfer out of BioEng), then stick with ICL. Who knows, you might like the extra variety of science (etc) in the degree a lot more.

PS// A check on Bristol's EEE entry reqs doesn't mention Further Maths as a requirement...is it one of the subjects you're taking atm? If you don't take it (not even at AS level) then I can see why Imperial turned you down and offered you a space on BioEng - you're not the first one to have had this happen to you.