Imperial or UCL?

OP

Original post by Okorange

UCL - this is arbitrary, both schools are so similar so its tough.

I know.. Its so hard to decide.. :s-smilie:

Reply 4

OP

Original post by Juichiro

If you want to receive frequent male attention -> Imperial

If you want to be surrounded by roughly equal numbers of males and females -> UCL

It depends on what you want.

Okay thanks.. It really is a tough choice I'm leaning more towards UCL... By any chance do you know which one is easier to get into? :smile:

Reply 5

Both fantastic. But Imperial is stronger. UCL is much easier to get into. But again, both are fantastic.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by ShafTJB

Both fantastic. But Imperial is stronger. UCL is much easier to get into. But again, both are fantastic.

Oh okay thank you.. I'm probably leaning in towards UCL... but both of them have very high entry requirements..

Reply 7

Peregrine falcon

1

Original post by ShafTJB

Both fantastic. But Imperial is stronger. UCL is much easier to get into. But again, both are fantastic.

UCL easier to get into? More people in my year have been accepted at Imperial and rejected from UCL than vice versa, so I'm guessing the whole easier to get into thing is very subjective. Same thing in terms of strength; for medicine, it can be argued that UCL is attached to specialist hospitals so provides a better teaching experience, or that their wide range of intercalated degrees makes it easier to intercalate in something you enjoy. My point being they're so close apart it's impossible to say which one is better from an objective perspective. I do agree that they're both fantastic though.

OP, both are difficult to get into, with a higher rate of pre interview rejections than other, non-BMAT London unis (to be expected though). However, this also means they have a higher rate of post interview offers, with about 65-70% of interviewees offered a place compared to around 50% for King's and Bart's, as examples. Whichever one you go to, you won't be lacking. The only thing that should sway you is personal preference. I only chose to apply to one BMAT uni and ended up going for UCL because they have societies that I'm interested in (look up their student union website for a list), have students doing all types of degrees rather than just science (I like the idea of getting to know people doing something completely different to me) and are the second best globally for what I want to intercalate in. But it was a very hard decision, because Imperial is AMAZING and looked like such an awesome place when I visited it. It's the little things that made my mind up for me. So my advice would be base your choice on the personal, non academic things they have to offer because academically they are neck and neck. That or apply to both if you feel confident in the BMAT, I actually regret not doing that, but only do it if it's a risk you're willing to take. Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 8

AnnekaChan173

18

Original post by shooting_stars

Okay thanks.. It really is a tough choice I'm leaning more towards UCL... By any chance do you know which one is easier to get into? :smile:

lel, they're both great med schools, neither is particularly easy to get into.

UCL tend to go for more all rounders, though. Imperial as far as I know have high BMAT cut offs and I don't think UCL has one. But if I were you, visit both universities, look at both courses. If you like both, apply to both. No-one said you can't apply to two BMAT unis. Risky when they're so similar in this case, but not impossible. Personally I'm applying to Imperial next year because I fell in love with the ICSMU clubs and societies, and how the medics seem like such a close unit, with the whole mummies and daddies link system with older years. But then again, I still haven't visited UCL. Most of my friends who applied this year got one or the other.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

Peregrine falcon

1

Oh and if it's any help the standard offer for UCL is A*AA whereas Imperial is usually AAA, so if you do really well at AS, like high A grades, you could technically get away with B grades at A2 and still meet an AAA offer, whereas because an A* at A level requires 90%+ at A2, you HAVE to do really well at A2 to meet an A*AA offer (much to my current disdain :/), so you may want to keep that in mind too

Reply 10

OP

Thankyou guys.. Its really helpful.. I have actually visited both and I really do like both.. Imperial has the 'posh' vibe to it and UCL seems really friendly and welcoming.. I'm currently in the process of my AS exams so it all depends on these grades. My GCSE stats were 9A*s 2As and I'm predicted 4As for AS. I just have to make sure the A's are above 90% this year so I can hopefully get A*s next year. It really is such a tough choice choosing between the two.. So I think it's all down to the interview after you get the grades and the BMAT.. Does anyone know which has the 'harder interview stage'?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 11

Peregrine falcon

1

Original post by shooting_stars

Thankyou guys.. Its really helpful.. I have actually visited both and I really do like both.. Imperial has the 'posh' vibe to it and UCL seems really friendly and welcoming.. I'm currently in the process of my AS exams so it all depends on these grades. My GCSE stats were 9A*s 2As and I'm predicted 4As for AS. I just have to make sure the A's are above 90% this year so I can hopefully get A*s next year. It really is such a tough choice choosing between the two.. So I think it's all down to the interview after you get the grades and the BMAT.. Does anyone know which has the 'harder interview stage'?

I don't know about the Imperial interview, but my UCL one was with a panel of three interviewers. Two asked questions, one just observed. The ones asking questions were very friendly, the only thing unique to UCL's interview process is that you do get asked about your BMAT essay (which you get a copy of). It's difficult to say how hard interviews are at either university because both are panel interviews where they try to tailor each interview to the applicant, with a mix of general questions and questions specific to the interviewee (like the BMAT essay ones). You'd need someone who was interviewed at Imperial to post to get a view of both sides, but I felt that my UCL interview was alright in terms of difficulty, but it may have had something to do with my interviewers being friendly

Reply 12

AnnekaChan173

18

Original post by shooting_stars

Thankyou guys.. Its really helpful.. I have actually visited both and I really do like both.. Imperial has the 'posh' vibe to it and UCL seems really friendly and welcoming.. I'm currently in the process of my AS exams so it all depends on these grades. My GCSE stats were 9A*s 2As and I'm predicted 4As for AS. I just have to make sure the A's are above 90% this year so I can hopefully get A*s next year. It really is such a tough choice choosing between the two.. So I think it's all down to the interview after you get the grades and the BMAT.. Does anyone know which has the 'harder interview stage'?

It's harder to actually obtain an interview for Imperial, but if you get to that stage, there's a 60% chance of getting in, since they try to get rid of as many people as possible using BMAT cut offs lolol. If you went to one of the open days, you might have seen their mock interview? The questions seemed relatively standard and I think there's a current student (not sure if a medic or not) who's also on the panel. What I've heard about UCL interviews is that they base a lot of it on your PS and BMAT essay, and it can really range - some of my friends had very work experience heavy interviews, while others had more scientific interviews.

Reply 13

Original post by Peregrine falcon

UCL easier to get into? More people in my year have been accepted at Imperial and rejected from UCL than vice versa, so I'm guessing the whole easier to get into thing is very subjective. Same thing in terms of strength; for medicine, it can be argued that UCL is attached to specialist hospitals so provides a better teaching experience, or that their wide range of intercalated degrees makes it easier to intercalate in something you enjoy. My point being they're so close apart it's impossible to say which one is better from an objective perspective. I do agree that they're both fantastic though.

OP, both are difficult to get into, with a higher rate of pre interview rejections than other, non-BMAT London unis (to be expected though). However, this also means they have a higher rate of post interview offers, with about 65-70% of interviewees offered a place compared to around 50% for King's and Bart's, as examples. Whichever one you go to, you won't be lacking. The only thing that should sway you is personal preference. I only chose to apply to one BMAT uni and ended up going for UCL because they have societies that I'm interested in (look up their student union website for a list), have students doing all types of degrees rather than just science (I like the idea of getting to know people doing something completely different to me) and are the second best globally for what I want to intercalate in. But it was a very hard decision, because Imperial is AMAZING and looked like such an awesome place when I visited it. It's the little things that made my mind up for me. So my advice would be base your choice on the personal, non academic things they have to offer because academically they are neck and neck. That or apply to both if you feel confident in the BMAT, I actually regret not doing that, but only do it if it's a risk you're willing to take. Hope this helps :smile:

See, I see the opposite. On a general perspective, I know far more students with AS grades CCC who had gotten an offer from UCL, and overall, know loads more people who have gotten rejected by imperial and got the offer from UCL. I'm not shunning, but Imperial is a harder uni to get into. My UCL offer came 3 days after applying, but my Imperial interview came 2 months after.

OP: UCL is still extremely fantastic so wherever you choose to go, you'll be great. And for Med, well, they're both extremely hard. You should go for either, I again, suggest Imperial as their offer is a tad lower, and KCL because I know 7 med grads there who got into medicine with BBB AS and ABB A2s- their medicine entry exam results were above average. KCL is good for giving out the best, achieveable offers. Medicine is medicine at the end of that day, it is the one degree that doesn't need the university you are going to- to be strong in rep. Once you start, people will respect you for actually doing the degree.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

Okorange

17

Original post by ShafTJB

Both fantastic. But Imperial is stronger. UCL is much easier to get into. But again, both are fantastic.

Shaf you don't know anything about medicine can you leave this sub-forum alone? UCL and Imperial are around the same difficulty for medicine, maybe for other degrees Imperial is better but for medicine some would even give UCL the slightest edge.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

Nucleotide

Imperials BMAT cut off 2014 was 4,5 4.6 2.5B so roughly half marks. I think that increased this year.

Ucl have no BMAT cut off but they want you to be around the average which was in 2014 something like 5.5 5.6 in sec 1+2. That's what they told me at least

So it actually seems harder to get into ucl than imperial.+ the fact ucl want an A* in bio/Chem as a minimum requirement.

Either way ucl and imperial are both good go for which ever one has the best feel when you visit

Reply 16

Original post by Okorange

Shaf you don't know anything about medicine can you leave this sub-forum alone? UCL and Imperial are around the same difficulty for medicine, maybe for other degrees Imperial is better but for medicine some would even give UCL the slightest edge.

You love following me around. Killer stalker. It's funny, I know quite a few relatives doing med, alongside friends- so I think I do know enough. Stalker.

Reply 17

Okorange

17

Original post by ShafTJB

You love following me around. Killer stalker. It's funny, I know quite a few relatives doing med, alongside friends- so I think I do know enough. Stalker.

You just happen to be on all the forums I frequent... Your knowledge sure hasn't helped you since you used your own case as an example of why imperial is better when its not even medicine.

Reply 18