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Imperial arrogant??

Imperial are seen as being terribly, arrogant, pricks by just about everyone. Do you think this stereotype holds water? I talked to this guy from there and he thought so.

Reply 1

Nutter

16

Just because their uni's name has the word Imperial? :rolleyes:

In a nutshell: No.

It is what it is - a stereotype.

Reply 2

Crazster

16

Imperial peeps are nice :smile:

.

Reply 3

Robusty

and r u from imperial?

Reply 4

Socrates

17

There is a guy who used to be at Imperial (ran the debating soc there) and is now at SOAS. Seems rather pretentious, even though I've only spoken to him a few times. Maybe its just the way he speaks, but he comes across like that...

Reply 5

Crazster

16

Robusty

and r u from imperial?

UCL0_o./

Reply 6

deq

Crazster

UCL0_o./

The older generation of students/staff are/were nice... not sure of the current gen but didn't hear anything positive

Reply 7

pkchips

1

Socrates

There is a guy who used to be at Imperial (ran the debating soc there) and is now at SOAS. Seems rather pretentious, even though I've only spoken to him a few times. Maybe its just the way he speaks, but he comes across like that...

I know him, he is not a typical imperial student at all :smile:

. He hated it here.

Imperial students, like me, are mostly really nice people and really easy to get along with. (I think :p:

lol)

Reply 8

Socrates

17

He doesn't really like it at SOAS either. He seems pretty much a Tory to me; and SOAS isn't the place for Tories really...

Reply 9

thomasp

7

When I was researching unis to apply to for Aero engineering (must have been 3 years ago now :eek:

), I sent Imperial the same e-mail I'd sent about 10 other universities just asking for further information which wasn't (easily) covered in prospectuses or websites.

I got a pretty rude (you might even call it arrogant) e-mail back from them as I had used the wrong form of "practise" in the context of "to practise the piano". Imperial firmly told me that I had used the noun instead of the verb (for those who don't know, one has an 's', the other has a 'c' - the Americans spell both with a 'c').

While they may be been right to correct my grammar (I doubt any of the other universities - including Cambridge - even noticed!), the way they told me was just impolite. And considering how much first impressions count....

I also got a chance to talk to one of their admissions tutors face-to-face at a HE fair, and their attitude certainly fitted in with what I read in my e-mail, and this "Imperial = arrogant" stereotype. They actually made out that they were more selective for my course than Cambridge! In fact, I think they inferred that they were better than Cambridge.

Anyway, I never applied to them.

Reply 10

Nikuhiru

I had the opposite experience to you Thomasp. I found that the Aero department was actually quite helpful when I e-mailed them and talked to them. I've also found this from the lecturers that I've spoken to, now that I'm here - they're not all completely arrogant.

So far I've met only a handful of arrogant people but I think it's more to do with them rather than the fact that they're in Imperial - in fact most of the people I've met are actually generally quite nice people.

Although I guess I'm not an outsider looking in, so perhaps I can't see it but I think this stereotype is false - most people seem to be generally quite polite and helpful!

Reply 11

thomasp

7

This could well have been the general undergrad admissions tutor, I can't remember... Or that person's now been fired :biggrin:

When you're researching for a uni, the last thing you want is a nasty e-mail telling you your grammar sucks.

There's also someone on my course who dropped out of Imperial (doing Aero) and came to Loughborough because they couldn't stand the people (students and lecturers) at Imperial. They're loving it at Loughborough.

Reply 12

pkchips

1

thomasp

This could well have been the general undergrad admissions tutor, I can't remember... Or that person's now been fired :biggrin:

When you're researching for a uni, the last thing you want is a nasty e-mail telling you your grammar sucks.

There's also someone on my course who dropped out of Imperial (doing Aero) and came to Loughborough because they couldn't stand the people (students and lecturers) at Imperial. They're loving it at Loughborough.

lol, one of my mates from school went to loughborough and he can't stand the people there :tongue:

isn't really enjoying it much.

Probably personal preference :smile:

.

Reply 13

billydisco

3

i would say Imperial people are different in that, you could hear a lunchtime talk about politics or international affairs- very unlikely to be football.

I wouldnt say we're stuck up, but more so proud of our achievements. Everyone is nice to eachother, its probably just the competitive nature of the place.

Reply 14

Shushi

11

This is completely stereotyping. You can meet people who are arrogant everywhere you go. They might be well spoken and well mannered (mostly) but that's no indication of how picky they are. Everyone I know from Imperial are as nice as you can get, then again everyone has their own standards...

Reply 15

Realist101

13

thats true about standards.

Reply 16

Mikesev

10

Socrates

There is a guy who used to be at Imperial (ran the debating soc there) and is now at SOAS. Seems rather pretentious, even though I've only spoken to him a few times. Maybe its just the way he speaks, but he comes across like that...

I know the guy you mean, he's was a frieind of mine when he was at IC. He's a good bloke, although he was an avid New Labourite so I can see how he would be a tory now.

And in response to the question, yes I do think on the whole IC students are quite arrogant and I include myself in that as well at times. But then IC has a very self-promoting culture, we're forever being reminded how smart we are, how much we have coming to us if we work hard, how the investment banks are going to pay us $$$ etc. So it can be difficult not to be at times. But on a personal level I think that we're as friendly as anyone else.

Reply 17

ashy

17

We're not arrogant, we're just better than everyone else! :p:

(joke!)
As Mikesev says, we're told a lot that we'll have great jobs etc when we graduate, why we should work hard and so on, and to be honest most people here are incredibly smart: but most (not all) are still very friendly and sociable. If we're arrogant it's because we've been programmed into thinking that way, but I don't think most of us mean it! If that makes sense...ah well who knows!