This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

workload at Imperial

Hi =) I'm wondering about the workload at Imperial. How is it compared to other uni? How many hours do you usually spend doing work every week? (If anyone here is a current physics major at Imperial, it will be really helpful. I'm going to do physics msci, if i make the grades :biggrin:

)

Thanks!

Reply 1

hornblower

6

Well, chemistry-wise, they have a heavy emphasis on practical work - they say that they do more practical work than any other place in the country, even Oxford and Cambridge. The admissions tutor was very arrogant about this and told us that if we didn't like the emphasis on practical work, we should go elsewhere.

Reply 2

Hoofbeat

14

kosine90

Hi =) I'm wondering about the workload at Imperial. How is it compared to other uni? How many hours do you usually spend doing work every week? (If anyone here is a current physics major at Imperial, it will be really helpful. I'm going to do physics msci, if i make the grades :biggrin:

)

Thanks!

I got an offer for Imperial Physics (AAB) for the MSci course too! Nearly put it down as my insurance, but in the end went for Warwick as they didnt specify the A had to be in maths, so I thought that it was safer.

The guy showing me around when I had open day/interview told me that if you didnt want to do much work but wanted a good degree then go to Imperial. He said it wasnt hard work at all, esp compared to Oxbridge but he wld still be wanted by employers as its a gd degree! I would imagine there is a lot of work though (I'v also heard quite a bit of practical too) but definitely not as much as Oxbridge.

Where else did you get offers from?

Reply 3

kosine90

OP

i've got offers from nottingham and birmingham as well. i'm also considering several uni in the states. have you heard about carnegie mellon university? not ivy league or anything, but pretty good. and i know that in US, there are a lot of research opportunities and ... in some uni.. also a lot of work.

*ugh..* really confused...

Reply 4

mathsgeek

well from what i hear the workload at imperial is a lot. i know some people doing maths at imperial and they say it is the toughest thing they have done/doing. it is very easy to get a 2.2 from imperial (maths anyway) and a lot of effort needs to be done to get that 2.1 or 1st. also natural intellegence helps a hell of a lot. but maybe physics and maths courses are very different.

Reply 5

kosine90

OP

hmm... on average, how many hours do imperial (physics, if you can) students spend on their homeworks, etc. per week? does anyone know? :tongue:

Reply 6

mathsgeek

well i know a friend of mine does 5-6 hours a day and more during revision time, and hes an average student(2.1/2.2)
but it really depends on how bright u r. i think alevels really can be done by anyone, but a degree from imperial in a hardsubject like maths can not be done by anyone.

Reply 7

Mysticmin

10

mathsgeek

well i know a friend of mine does 5-6 hours a day and more during revision time, and hes an average student(2.1/2.2)
but it really depends on how bright u r. i think alevels really can be done by anyone, but a degree from imperial in a hardsubject like maths can not be done by anyone.

right..so say you find all your A-Levels unchallenging at the moment. And you went to Imperial to do Mechanical Engineering, how tough is it then?

Reply 8

Jojoba86

Hey, I thought I'd sign up to the forums to give you a helpful reply, and finally de-lurk :smile:

.

I'm probably going to put Imperial down as my firm offer for physics (entry this October), and my understanding is that in terms of workload physics is lighter than most subjects at Imperial, about 20 hours a week of lectures and 20 hours of other work. I was told this when I visited, and if you look on www.realuni.com someone seems to suggest this is about right for physics. To compare with Durham apparently there's also about 20 hours of lecutres a week, but not so much work outside lectures. I think stuff gets harder/moer work in later years but I'm not sure.

Remember, this is just from a fellow applicant, I may be talking total w**k,
Ian

Edit: Oh yeah, terms are longer in comparison to Durham, so you'd have something like 80 hours more lecuters a year at a rough calculation (I keep talking about Durham as it was Durham and Imperial I was deciding between).

Also I don't mean lecuters, I mean "contact time".

Reply 9

kosine90

OP

thanks a lot everybody! :biggrin:

is the physics program at imperial great? i know imperial is good for the sciences and is ranked 3 or 4 in the UK, but the in the league table for physics and astronomy, it's ranked somewhere below the top 10 (uhm.. not that it's really important. i still love imperial, but i'm wondering why...)

:smile:

Reply 10

Jojoba86

Subject specific league tables seem a tad dodgy. Sorry to mention Durham again, but when they were showing us around at Durham they showed us the Times league table for physics & astronomy (at which they're join top with Oxford), and then said something along the lines of they were pleased about it, but don't read too much in to it. One of the reasons they said it wasn't too accurate was because Imperial was so low down! It's almost certainely top 3 for physics, they do loads of research!

Anyhow, I reckon the Imperial is pretty good, providing your looking for something more intensive than average. For example, it's the only course I can see that does programming (C++) in the first year and looks like they do more maths for example. The only other course that seems nearly as intensive as this would be Bath's (aside from Oxbridge - but who'd want to go there :tongue:

). And in the later years I expect the research is a great boost to the course. As you can tell I reckon it's gotta be one of the best courses out there, that's why I'll probably take it as my firm offer :smile:

.

Reply 11

kosine90

OP

hi jojoba! thanks a lot! i think i am even surer now that i'm going to put imperial as my firm. hope we'll all make the grades :wink:

Oh, yeah! the programming class! i think nottingham also have one... I just wish it had been in java (as i'm doing java for IB computer science). anyway, java and c++ aren't that different, arent they.. Do you know if we'd be able to also do a more advanced programming in the later years?

i'm looking if i'd be able to do theoretical physics... but if the math is too difficult for me, then i'll just do a 'plain' physics there :tongue:

Reply 12

Jojoba86

I think most of the good couses do programming to some extent, but Imperial's probably takes it the furtherst teaching C++ from year one. Looking at the syllabus looks like you can do fairly advanced stuff (for a physics course) in the later years, check out this link for details http://www.imperial.ac.uk/images/ugs_pdfs/Physics.pdf. Look under the labortory sections for years 1 - 3, especially 2/3 for the more advanced looking stuff.

I was wondering between theoretical and practical too, both sound interesting so it's a hard choice! However whichever you pick I think you can do theoretical modules/normal modules later on, so probably not a life changing choice.

Hope we all make the grades too, and the righ choice of uni!

Reply 13

Kuz

1

hornblower

Well, chemistry-wise, they have a heavy emphasis on practical work - they say that they do more practical work than any other place in the country, even Oxford and Cambridge. The admissions tutor was very arrogant about this and told us that if we didn't like the emphasis on practical work, we should go elsewhere.

Exactly what he said to us...They're all arogant in Imperial!

Tonnes of work I've heard!

Reply 14

Jojoba86

The physics person showing us around and interviewing us was nice and friendly, no air of arrogance at all I thought.

But I wouldn't blame them if they were, what did we all do whilst waiting for our tour? We discussed our Oxbridge interviews!

Reply 15

kosine90

OP

they're arrogant? i really hope they're not! but about the 'tonnes of work' part, it's kind of attractive though... i don't want to actually waste my time there doing/learning nothing while paying a lot of money (*ugh* ...this is what i say now, when i get there, i'll probably whine a lot about the work.. :biggrin:

)

Reply 16

Max Plank

1

Hey, I'm a first year Computer Scientist and my roommate does Physics, the following is true:
a) Physics at Imperial is hard
b) The first term is devoted to Maths...hard Maths (for me anyway!)
c) It's a huge jump from A-level. If you thought outlining the operation of a cyclotron was hard work then it's not for you!

John

Reply 17

BossLady

Max Plank

Hey, I'm a first year Computer Scientist and my roommate does Physics, the following is true:
a) Physics at Imperial is hard
b) The first term is devoted to Maths...hard Maths (for me anyway!)
c) It's a huge jump from A-level. If you thought outlining the operation of a cyclotron was hard work then it's not for you!

John

Is comp sci hard?? oh....is the maths impossible (in the comp sci course) ?

Reply 18

username9816

14

BossLady

Is comp sci hard?? oh....is the maths impossible (in the comp sci course) ?

Ask rahaydenuk.

He's doing MSci Maths and Computer Science at Imperial. He's finding it fine, but he is a genius.

Reply 19

BossLady

bono

Ask rahaydenuk.

He's doing MSci Maths and Computer Science at Imperial. He's finding it fine, but he is a genius.

i know!! that's why i was kinda avoiding asking the fella!!

workload at Imperial

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated