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Imperial vs UCL biological sciences

Which one is better overall and/or in terms of specific things e.g. course, atmosphere etc? Need help deciding which to firm
Imperial by far.
The biggest thing to consider is how happy you'd be just spending all your time with scientists. Obviously it's not the case that all scientists have the same interests and will only talk about science all the time, but naturally there is a greater variety of people that comes with a greater variety of subjects. When I was first looking at unis this wasn't even something that crossed my mind at all and Imperial was high on my list of places to apply, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that personally I'd be missing that broad uni experience. People have different requirements for uni and if you want to be in a purely science-focused place and that will help drive you to achieve more, then go for it, but if you feel like actually it would be stressful to constantly be around people doing very similar subjects to you and like it'd be fun to chat to people doing humanities and learn about what they're studying, then consider UCL.
Reply 3
Original post by anonnn1111
Which one is better overall and/or in terms of specific things e.g. course, atmosphere etc? Need help deciding which to firm

Do you have offers from both?
I chose UCL over Imperial (am first year) and I'm not sure if I regret it or not.

Some things to consider:

+Imperial has one of the best bursaries - potential £5000 a year if your household income is less than 60000.
+Imperial has lots of money and advanced technology
+Imperial wants to teach you about business so that you can get a management position
+Great scientific reputation
-Imperial forces you to do extracurricular called Horizons (may or may not be a positive for you)
+Imperial is near the Science, Natural History, and Victoria&Albert museums and Hyde Park, a more relaxed area

+UCL has a big life sciences department with a good reputation
+UCL has some interesting buildings (Cruciform, main quad)
-UCL has a lot more students, so limited study spaces
+UCL is older, not that it makes much difference
-UCL still has a bursary, but it's 'only' £2500 a year
+UCL is near British Museum, as well as British Library
-UCL lots of shops around it but also very busy roads
-UCL lacks money and resources, we have to do lectures in different department buildings (probably because I'm only in first year)

Both are widely respected universities. Just have to take your pick really
Reply 5
Original post by lucymellor
The biggest thing to consider is how happy you'd be just spending all your time with scientists. Obviously it's not the case that all scientists have the same interests and will only talk about science all the time, but naturally there is a greater variety of people that comes with a greater variety of subjects. When I was first looking at unis this wasn't even something that crossed my mind at all and Imperial was high on my list of places to apply, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that personally I'd be missing that broad uni experience. People have different requirements for uni and if you want to be in a purely science-focused place and that will help drive you to achieve more, then go for it, but if you feel like actually it would be stressful to constantly be around people doing very similar subjects to you and like it'd be fun to chat to people doing humanities and learn about what they're studying, then consider UCL.


ah thats a good point thankyouu
Reply 6
Original post by Uori32qu
I chose UCL over Imperial (am first year) and I'm not sure if I regret it or not.

Some things to consider:

+Imperial has one of the best bursaries - potential £5000 a year if your household income is less than 60000.
+Imperial has lots of money and advanced technology
+Imperial wants to teach you about business so that you can get a management position
+Great scientific reputation
-Imperial forces you to do extracurricular called Horizons (may or may not be a positive for you)
+Imperial is near the Science, Natural History, and Victoria&Albert museums and Hyde Park, a more relaxed area

+UCL has a big life sciences department with a good reputation
+UCL has some interesting buildings (Cruciform, main quad)
-UCL has a lot more students, so limited study spaces
+UCL is older, not that it makes much difference
-UCL still has a bursary, but it's 'only' £2500 a year
+UCL is near British Museum, as well as British Library
-UCL lots of shops around it but also very busy roads
-UCL lacks money and resources, we have to do lectures in different department buildings (probably because I'm only in first year)

Both are widely respected universities. Just have to take your pick really

woah thankyou so much for all this info !! :smile: yeah i've heard UCL is a bit disorganised but noo dont regret anything :/theres always the chance of things changing for the better dont worry . Also, what is horizons ?
Reply 7
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Original post by ajj2000
Do you have offers from both?

No, so far i've got an offer for UCL. i'm not assuming i'll get one from imperial but just wanted some info on both incase i do magically end up getting an offer from imperial XD
Reply 8
Original post by Tribulogic
Imperial by far.

ooh how come?

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