Imperial College Materials Science and engineering interview

Thank you so much! If you don't mind me asking, will I need to show my EPQ at the interview or do I just need to explain extensively about what I've written?

hey! i did a sciency EPQ and i got asked a lot of questions about it. what i found surprising was they weren't necessarily directly related to what i wrote in my EPQ, and was heavily related back to materials. in situations where you don't know the answer, try relate it back to what you know, take a moment to think, or be honest and say you dont know! remember, interviewers want to know your thought process more than anything.

my interview really challenged me on materials that I mentioned other than the EPQ. I think he was really interested to others more due to his personal preference

i feel like we had the same interviewer then lol. vietnamese man thats a senior lecturer?

Hi so I wanted to share my experience of my undergraduate materials science and engineering applicant day at Imperial as it may be helpful to even just one person.
As part of the applicant day, there is a group task, interview, and department tour.
The group task:
- You will be given information on this a couple of days before but you will need to prepare some research on materials that you will then discuss in small groups of around 4-5 people with one professor/phd student that will assess you but likely won't guide the discussion
- Make sure to listen to the people in your group and share your own ideas too!
- There may be a slight debate and you want to make sure you contribute so make sure you do some basic research on leading materials science research at the moment.
The interview:
I found the interview at Imperial very chill which actually really surprised me because of how competitive of a uni it is.
- The interviewer just wants to see your thought process and your passion for materials science!
- They want to know how willing you are to learn and they will guide you in the right direction if you're unsure.
- They will likely ask a couple of questions about why you want to study materials and about things you mentioned on your personal statement
- If you have mentioned a particular material you are interested in on your personal statement, expect to be asked about it.
- They will ask a couple of more physics/chemistry/maths questions that will be on content you learn in your A-levels (especially chem and physics questions)
- If they try to ask a chemistry question when you don't do chemistry just let them know and they will ask a different one. They want you to show off your knowledge and they're not trying to catch you out
- If you've done an EPQ they might ask about it or discuss materials related to it (if you did a sciencey EPQ)
- Have a question prepared to ask the interviewer at the end, it shows your interest and
The main thing is, do not panic! You have made it to the interview/applicant day stage! that is so so good. Imperial's materials science department usually only invite around 50% of their applicants to interview so you've already done really well!
Also the materials department offer most (not all but most - around 70-80%) students from all the applicant days an offer.
But most importantly, enjoy it! I found it a really useful day to ask students questions, meet people with similar interests, and see what the environment at Imperial is like. They are honest about the workload and encourage you to really think hard whether you would be able to manage it. So take the day as an opportunity to see whether you would enjoy life at imperial too.
Good luck to anyone applying!

Hi so I wanted to share my experience of my undergraduate materials science and engineering applicant day at Imperial as it may be helpful to even just one person.
As part of the applicant day, there is a group task, interview, and department tour.
The group task:
- You will be given information on this a couple of days before but you will need to prepare some research on materials that you will then discuss in small groups of around 4-5 people with one professor/phd student that will assess you but likely won't guide the discussion
- Make sure to listen to the people in your group and share your own ideas too!
- There may be a slight debate and you want to make sure you contribute so make sure you do some basic research on leading materials science research at the moment.
The interview:
I found the interview at Imperial very chill which actually really surprised me because of how competitive of a uni it is.
- The interviewer just wants to see your thought process and your passion for materials science!
- They want to know how willing you are to learn and they will guide you in the right direction if you're unsure.
- They will likely ask a couple of questions about why you want to study materials and about things you mentioned on your personal statement
- If you have mentioned a particular material you are interested in on your personal statement, expect to be asked about it.
- They will ask a couple of more physics/chemistry/maths questions that will be on content you learn in your A-levels (especially chem and physics questions)
- If they try to ask a chemistry question when you don't do chemistry just let them know and they will ask a different one. They want you to show off your knowledge and they're not trying to catch you out
- If you've done an EPQ they might ask about it or discuss materials related to it (if you did a sciencey EPQ)
- Have a question prepared to ask the interviewer at the end, it shows your interest and
The main thing is, do not panic! You have made it to the interview/applicant day stage! that is so so good. Imperial's materials science department usually only invite around 50% of their applicants to interview so you've already done really well!
Also the materials department offer most (not all but most - around 70-80%) students from all the applicant days an offer.
But most importantly, enjoy it! I found it a really useful day to ask students questions, meet people with similar interests, and see what the environment at Imperial is like. They are honest about the workload and encourage you to really think hard whether you would be able to manage it. So take the day as an opportunity to see whether you would enjoy life at imperial too.
Good luck to anyone applying!

Hi so I wanted to share my experience of my undergraduate materials science and engineering applicant day at Imperial as it may be helpful to even just one person.
As part of the applicant day, there is a group task, interview, and department tour.
The group task:
- You will be given information on this a couple of days before but you will need to prepare some research on materials that you will then discuss in small groups of around 4-5 people with one professor/phd student that will assess you but likely won't guide the discussion
- Make sure to listen to the people in your group and share your own ideas too!
- There may be a slight debate and you want to make sure you contribute so make sure you do some basic research on leading materials science research at the moment.
The interview:
I found the interview at Imperial very chill which actually really surprised me because of how competitive of a uni it is.
- The interviewer just wants to see your thought process and your passion for materials science!
- They want to know how willing you are to learn and they will guide you in the right direction if you're unsure.
- They will likely ask a couple of questions about why you want to study materials and about things you mentioned on your personal statement
- If you have mentioned a particular material you are interested in on your personal statement, expect to be asked about it.
- They will ask a couple of more physics/chemistry/maths questions that will be on content you learn in your A-levels (especially chem and physics questions)
- If they try to ask a chemistry question when you don't do chemistry just let them know and they will ask a different one. They want you to show off your knowledge and they're not trying to catch you out
- If you've done an EPQ they might ask about it or discuss materials related to it (if you did a sciencey EPQ)
- Have a question prepared to ask the interviewer at the end, it shows your interest and
The main thing is, do not panic! You have made it to the interview/applicant day stage! that is so so good. Imperial's materials science department usually only invite around 50% of their applicants to interview so you've already done really well!
Also the materials department offer most (not all but most - around 70-80%) students from all the applicant days an offer.
But most importantly, enjoy it! I found it a really useful day to ask students questions, meet people with similar interests, and see what the environment at Imperial is like. They are honest about the workload and encourage you to really think hard whether you would be able to manage it. So take the day as an opportunity to see whether you would enjoy life at imperial too.
Good luck to anyone applying!

Hi, I have my interview in a couple of days and I am currently studying for the technical questions. If you dont mind me asking, do you remember what type of chemistry/physics related questions they asked? Was it more olympiad-style or just A level specific, would i also be expected to know organic chemistry to a high standard for the interview? Thanks.

My grades are okayish im from india around 80-85% do i have a chance if my personal statement and interview is good or will i not be offered anything at all

Hi, I have applied for Biomaterials and tissue eng in materials department at Imperial so I also had the same applicant day as material science eng applicants. Based on my experience, they only ask A-level specfic questions for technical questions. You just have to understand the basic concpet of the physics and chemistry off by heart and no need to learn beyond the A-levels topics. I dont think I am allowed to tell you what I was asked but it really vaires between every applicants and you will totally fine if you know the A-level contents well.