Imperial College Design Engineering Interview

Hi all, so I just got an interview of Design Engineering from Imperial.
I'm wondering if someone doing the course can give some advice about the interview.
Is the interview more about maths problems or more about your personal statement?
I saw on the email saying we got a chance to show our portfolios. I don't actually have one, will it make me disadvantaged among interviewee?

Reply 1

bibimbap_

5

Original post by heysummer

Hi all, so I just got an interview of Design Engineering from Imperial.
I'm wondering if someone doing the course can give some advice about the interview.
Is the interview more about maths problems or more about your personal statement?
I saw on the email saying we got a chance to show our portfolios. I don't actually have one, will it make me disadvantaged among interviewee?

hi when did you apply? I am also applying for design eng and slightly worried that I haven't heard anything yet

Reply 2

heysummer

OP

12

Original post by bibimbap_

hi when did you apply? I am also applying for design eng and slightly worried that I haven't heard anything yet

I submitted my application on 6th Oct.

Reply 3

Diana.jydai

1

Original post by heysummer

Hi all, so I just got an interview of Design Engineering from Imperial.
I'm wondering if someone doing the course can give some advice about the interview.
Is the interview more about maths problems or more about your personal statement?
I saw on the email saying we got a chance to show our portfolios. I don't actually have one, will it make me disadvantaged among interviewee?

I got it too! When is your interview date?

Reply 4

heysummer

OP

12

Original post by Diana.jydai

I got it too! When is your interview date?

I have requested an alternative interview slot and that is on 18 Nov. What about u?

Reply 5

Diana.jydai

1

I put mine on 12 Nov. :smile:

Reply 6

heysummer

OP

12

Original post by Diana.jydai

I put mine on 12 Nov. :smile:

Good luck with your interview！I'm pretty nervous tbh.

Reply 7

DEprocrastinate

1

Original post by heysummer

Hi all, so I just got an interview of Design Engineering from Imperial.
I'm wondering if someone doing the course can give some advice about the interview.
Is the interview more about maths problems or more about your personal statement?
I saw on the email saying we got a chance to show our portfolios. I don't actually have one, will it make me disadvantaged among interviewee?

Hello, current 3rd Year Imperial DesEng student here evidently procrastinating from my work by browsing Student Room. Firstly, congrats on getting an interview!

From what I can remember and assuming that the interview structure has not changed too much in the last three years, you can expect something along the lines of (in no particular order):
1. a hypothetical maths question
--> this is about your approach to solving the problem, not the value/answer itself
--> I can absolutely guarantee the answer I gave was not correct but I ran through what steps I would take to solve it, and that's the main point of them asking you
2. a design related question
--> a very open ended question to see how you would approach design
3. an engineering/physics question
--> explain how a given mechanism works
4. an open general question
--> opportunity to talk about your past experiences/may be related to your personal statement

they are testing you on how you respond to available information
--> the interviewer will give you hints/prompts during the questions and they are looking to see how you utilise these hints in adjusting your answer aka don't just ignore them but acknowledge them and apply them to what you're trying to say

And another note being that they may ask you to multitask eg they asked me to sketch while answering
--> they aren't testing you on the quality of your outcome (it's a bonus if you're good but mine was bad trust me), it's more on your willingness to tackle challenges so don't panic

random general tips:
--> show evidence that you're engaging in the convo ie. I made an effort to pick up the pen & paper provided to make notes while I was doing the maths question (no idea how this would work in pandemic times though...)
--> always come prepared with a question to ask the interviewer at the end, as it shows your enthusiasm towards the course and that you're keen to know more [btw I forgot to actually prepare a question so I made it up on the fly (whoops) It was very stressful in that split second so I would definitely recommend putting some thought into it]
--> In terms of the portfolio, don't stress too much. Although I provided one, they spent a solid 10s max flipping through it right at the end and that was it. I know plenty of people in my cohort who didn't bring one.
--> The ones interviewing you guys are all lecturers in our department and they're all very friendly so don't stress too much.

Wow, in the end this answer became quite long and it was nice to go down memory lane. Not sure how helpful/relevant my experience will be since the course has changed somewhat since then but I hope it's of use to you guys. Good luck! I should really get back to my work now...

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 8

Diana.jydai

1

Original post by heysummer

Good luck with your interview！I'm pretty nervous tbh.

Haha, thank you! You too!

Reply 9

Mercy713

1

Ello I also applied to Design engineering, so what did you guys do for the portfolio? Did you made it all finished looking like a professional portfolio or did you just show them your sketches and some pictures?I don't know what to do because my interview is in one week and I have no idea. Did you only put in your original design ideas or also projects that you were guided step by step?

Reply 10

hufieeiwhfihf

12

Original post by Mercy713

Ello I also applied to Design engineering, so what did you guys do for the portfolio? Did you made it all finished looking like a professional portfolio or did you just show them your sketches and some pictures?I don't know what to do because my interview is in one week and I have no idea. Did you only put in your original design ideas or also projects that you were guided step by step?

Hi! I just showed them pages of my A level 3D Design sketchbook (from my phone) to show my skills + originality. Good Luck!

Reply 11

Mercy713

1

Original post by hufieeiwhfihf

Hi! I just showed them pages of my A level 3D Design sketchbook (from my phone) to show my skills + originality. Good Luck!

Oh! Okay noted and tq!

Reply 12

BloodSweat&Beers

2

Original post by hufieeiwhfihf

Hi! I just showed them pages of my A level 3D Design sketchbook (from my phone) to show my skills + originality. Good Luck!

I'm assuming you're talking about an interview over video call due to the pandemic.
Would you have been allowed to share your screen in order to show off your portfolio?
I'd need to be able to do that if at all possible.

I've got the interview tomorrow and am pretty nervous.
Thanks.

Reply 13

hufieeiwhfihf

12

Original post by BloodSweat&Beers

I'm assuming you're talking about an interview over video call due to the pandemic.
Would you have been allowed to share your screen in order to show off your portfolio?
I'd need to be able to do that if at all possible.

I've got the interview tomorrow and am pretty nervous.
Thanks.

Hi!
Im pretty sure you can sharescreen your portfolio with your interviewer but just incase it goes wrong you could send them your portfolio in advance so they can screenshare while you talk through it. Good luck with your interview!

Reply 14

BloodSweat&Beers

2

Original post by hufieeiwhfihf

Hi!
Im pretty sure you can sharescreen your portfolio with your interviewer but just incase it goes wrong you could send them your portfolio in advance so they can screenshare while you talk through it. Good luck with your interview!

Thanks!
I'll probably report back here after the interview and share my experience, to help any others who haven't had it yet.

Reply 15

JanaWodud

1

Hi I just received my interview invite and to be honest I have no clue how I am going to answer any of the problem solving questions. In regards to portfolio, I don’t have that either, is it about our proposed designs?

Reply 16

BloodSweat&Beers

2

Original post by JanaWodud

Hi I just received my interview invite and to be honest I have no clue how I am going to answer any of the problem solving questions. In regards to portfolio, I don’t have that either, is it about our proposed designs?

Hi!
I had the interview yesterday. Mine went really well I think. Fingers crossed I guess.
The biggest piece of advice I could give anyone who's going to take this interview is to study product design questions. My knowledge from DT A level studies was heavily drawn upon throughout.

From the rough copy/pasted format of the pre-interview task they sent me, I reckon that they ask each candidate a slightly different pre-interview question. However, just in case they don't, I'm not going to reveal exactly what I was asked, and that goes for any of the questions..

In my pre-interview task, I was given a scenario, and asked what things would to be considered when designing the specified thing.
An example question I have made up that's roughly in the same format as the one I was asked is:
"A book-printing company is facing greater fluctuations in demand for their products due to the coronavirus pandemic. They are considering changing the service they offer to try to stabilise these fluctuations. What factors would they need/want to consider?"
For this, I would talk about digitising their services, so that people can access their products regardless of the current lockdown state; perhaps expanding their product range to cover seasonal products (in order to increase demand at certain times of year); considering their customer-base and adjusting their products accordingly (such as manufacturing and selling lower quality / cheaper books if many customers can't afford the current ones); and so on...

Definitely use your 15 preparation minutes wisely (don't realise you need the loo during the time like I did lol). I'd say that you want 4 or more separate talking points, or perhaps 3 really fleshed-out ones. We spent about 6-8 minutes discussing my answers to this during the interview.

The next questions I had no time to prepare for. They want to see how you think on your feet, both with topics you know and ones you don't know so well. The next two questions I was asked, after the pre-interview task, were based on pictures/diagrams the interview was screen-sharing. They were typical DT questions, such as "Why was X feature designed that way?". Pretty standard stuff. You can talk about functionality, material, ease of manufacturing, cost, etc.
The question after that was meant to throw you off I think. I can't specify what it was exactly, but it was relating to the diagram the interviewer was screen-sharing. I found it pretty difficult, especially due to pressure of having to formulate my answer for the interviewer quickly.

The penultimate question was another one to completely throw you off. It asked me about a completely random and unrelated physics/maths topic. You can't really prepare for this.

The last question was simply, "What's your favourite subject?". I said DT.

After this, there were a couple of generic university interview questions. You can probably guess exactly which ones. I would recommend preparing answers to all the questions that you're likely to be asked.

Next, I was given the opportunity to show off my portfolio. The interviewer sounded like they were expecting a verbal description, but was perfectly happy to allow me screen-share a few files. I showed a pre-prepared extract from my A level DT coursework. The website says you're only given 2 minutes maximum for this, but there wasn't a timer or anything. I think I spent about 3 minutes presenting. When I was finished, I asked if the interview had any questions about what I presented. That's quite important to do.

Last, I was asked if I had any questions for the interviewer. I asked two pre-prepared ones relating to the course material as found on the uni website.

I hope this helps anyone yet to take the interview. However, please don't take my advice as gospel; the experience I had will be different to yours.
Good luck everyone!

Reply 17

Fab5

5

My interview seemed to be very rushed. Wonder if anybody's experience has been similar and why was it so.