Ask a current chem eng student anything!

Ah yeah you're right. For some reason I thought that the UCAS application only had predicted grades, it's been a while haha

Hi guys
I'm entering my final year here at Imperial. If you guys have any questions regarding the course/Imperial feel free to ask!

Hi! I'll be joining Imperial this coming October and I'm planning to get myself a new laptop before term starts. Would a normal laptop with i7 processor and 4Gb RAM be sufficient for a chem eng student in Imperial? Are there any specs requirements that I should take note on?

Btw any recommendations on what to prepare or read on so that I won't be starting my first uni lecture in a huge shock after a long gap from my A-levels? Many thanks

Hi I'm thinking of applying to Imperial for 2015 entry. How expensive is the accommodation in London once you move into a shared house in later years rather than halls as I've it's really expensive to live there? Oh and what is the mysterious "mastery" module that is studied every year?

Sandwich year or summer 12 week placement? or neither?

Imperial doesn't officially offer sandwich years but I've heard about one or two people doing them before. IMO a summer placement is the way to go as you have the opportunity to be offered a job at the end of the placement, you get a feel for the industry and you get enough experience to impress employers with. For me, I'd rather graduate and earn a graduate salary than delay that by one year and do a sandwich year where you earn much less.
I don't see a significant advantage of a sandwich year over a summer internship.

Would the chances of employment after graduation differ a lot, whether doing an sandwich year/summer internship or not doing either of them? And would a MEng/Msc, make a difference in huge way in one's career? Thanks.

There could be a slightly higher chance of getting a job offer from the company you are doing a year placement with than if it were an internship. I'm not too sure if it would make a difference if you're applying to other jobs though. I'm just basing this on the fact that most of my peers get jobs secured without having done any placement years.

Yeah it does make a difference initially. A lot of companies (engineering) would prefer for you to have an MEng before applying, so this would give you an edge over others. You would also be paid a higher starting salary if you join with an MEng degree compared to a BEng. If you do the MEng it makes it much easier to become a chartered engineer and you skip most of the exams required. Being a chartered engineer will allow you access to higher positions in a company and you'll have more responsibility so I'd say it makes a difference.

It all depends on where you live, how many people you live with and whether or not you will share rooms. South Kensington is very expensive around the £200+/week price range.
It is possible to find cheaper accommodation (£120ish/week) but you will probably be living further out like in Hammersmith.
Personally, I know most people pay between £120-£250/week and they live from 2 mins (walk) from uni to 30 mins (bus).

The mastery module is an exam that you have to take and pass (pass mark is 80%) every year. The exam doesn't actually count for marks (except in the final year), it is just pass/fail. It includes the so-called 'mastery modules' for each year, i.e the modules that are core for that year. The pass mark sounds very high but the questions are substantially easier than actual exam questions and 95% of people pass the first time round (you can retake the exam).
It's fairly good as its a few weeks before actual exams so it forces you to prepare earlier than you would have.
They give you a lot of preparation for it in first year by having mastery deliverables (problem sheets for mastery that you have to hand in), a Christmas test and a spring test.

GCSE's A*A*AAAAABBBBBB
AS AABC (Maths Chem Physics Bio respectively)
A2 Don't know predictions sorry
Where should I avoid? What are my chances? Any advice?
Thanks so much

How did you get MATLAB on your mac?

I see, and what is more of a valuable qualification MEng or MSc? And why? Appreciate the help

They're both valuable. MSc is usually if you are looking to study something more in depth though.
This thread has info on it.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=709767

Could you tell me a bit about the Year Abroad feature if you know much about it? I'm looking on the website but there doesn't seem to be to much information. I may be getting the exchange with the year abroad mixed up, but can you choose where you want to go? (I'd really like to go to Sweden )

Yep you can choose to spend your 3rd/4th year abroad. As far as I know, the year abroad and the exchange is the same thing. They seem to have used the term interchangeably within our department. Yes, Sweden is available.

You can choose from Europe (brackets indicate the language of instruction):
Delft (English)
KTH Stockholm (English)
RWTH Aachen (German)
EPFL Lausanne (French)
ETH Zurich (German)
Grand Ecoles: Nancy,
Toulouse (French)
Barcelona, Valladolid (Spanish)

USA:
University of California
Columbia University (New York)
Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)

Australia/Asia:
University of Queensland (Brisbane)
University of Sydney
University of Melbourne
National University of Singapore