Imperial College London

London

Chemistry Interview at Imperial

I have an interview at imperial for chemistry on the 20th Jan (but it's gonna be on Microsoft teams cos of covid) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or experiences of the process??? Like what type of questions they would ask you or if they asked you things from your personal statement. Thanks in advance!!!

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Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by holly263

My tip, as someone who did a year at Imperial studying a bioscience subject, DON’T go to Imperial. They do not care about their students. It’s a heartless place where unless you’re the smartest in your class, or an international student, no one gives a damn about you and would happily tear you down so they can succeed.

Imperial College London

London

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Original post by holly263

Know your PS inside out. Know why you want to do chemistry. Make sure you read any books mentioned. Maybe do a little wider reading on chemistry. Then lastly make sure you relax for interview and don’t get tense or stressed. When or if they give you a problem in interview explain your thought process.

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Forgot to add Imperial is not an easy place. Everyone there works hard and is smart.

Reply 4

Mr Wednesday

Original post by Anonymous

Forgot to add Imperial is not an easy place. Everyone there works hard and is smart.

Also has one of the highest degree completion rates of 96.8% according to The Complete University Guide, ranked 4th in the UK for that particular metric just behind Cambridge, Oxford and LSE. So its tough, but the vast majority of people get through it.

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/universities/imperial-college-london

Reply 5

j.bram

I have an interview on the same date as you! What are your predicted grades? Because I don’t believe mine will be enough to actually get an offer

Reply 6

Anonymous #3

how did the interview go today? good luck to all

Reply 7

husari

Hi, could u please share ur experience if u don't mind.im up for an interview next week and im not really sure on how to prepare. What questions did they ask? Were the chemistry related questions related to what u answered for the why chemistry question. Was it 20 min exactly and how did the divide the time?Thank u so much

Reply 8

Anonymous #2

I didn’t have an interview for chemistry. General advice.
Know your PS and application inside out.
Know why u want to do chemistry.
Know why u want to go Imperial.
Maybe an idea of what u want to do after graduating.
Don’t say u want to go to imperial because u didn’t get into oxbridge.
Maybe be interesting.

Reply 9

username5510424

Hiya I was interviewed for chemistry with med chem in November and for me they asked about why I wanted to study chemistry (and what I found so interesting about it), then they asked me a bunch of questions relating to A Level content - in my case mostly about spectroscopy as my interviewers were experts in this field - and then a couple of extension questions based on what we’d discussed. Mine ran a little over 20 mins so it took about 25 and they give you the option to ask questions at the end of the interview (definitely a good idea to have a question in mind!). Overall it was very relaxed and they nudge you when you get stuck on an answer so don’t worry too much about that.

Reply 10

FI2403

I hope your interview went well! Did they go deeper with your personal statement at all? And if you hadn’t yet covered something in school is there any way you could tell them during the interview? (but having a go at the questions of course despite not learning it)

Reply 11

Anonymous #3

Original post by FI2403

just say you havent learnt it

Reply 12

j.bram

On my interview it was exactly 20 minutes and they only had time to ask me 3 questions, why chemistry? Why imperial? Then asked me to draw the structure of a compound I hadn’t seen before but it was relevant to my personal statement. I hope this is useful!

Reply 13

Anonymous #4

Original post by FI2403

They haven't asked me about my personal statement. Just what got me motivated to study chemistry and what i found fascinating about it, why imperial and why chemistry in imperial. They asked me questions related to what i answered for what i found fascinating about chemistry. I haven't encountered a topic i didn't take but u could be honest with them and tell them u haven't covered the material yet. Good luck

Reply 14

holly263

Original post by FI2403

In my interview, they asked me to introduce myself and then went to ask me quite a lot of questions about things i mentioned in my personal statement. They then asked me off topic questions that loosely link to the chemistry syllabus to see how i handle unknown questions - they asked me arounf 2-3 questions i think. The interview was 20 mins - but it went really quickly