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Imperial medical biosciences or King's biomedical sciences.

Hi, I'm currently reconsidering my firm and insurance ucas choices and am having great difficulties choosing which uni I'd like to go to. Please help.

Some context, I'm staying at home for uni, the commute to imperial is 1 hour 20/30 mins, vs 1 hour for kings. I've listed some pros and cons of each below

Pros of imperial:
more lab focused with one full lab day a week - I think that could be very fun + valuable for employers
high world ranking and great for stem
would open up options for further study
I like the fact I could do a work placement in 3rd year

Cons of imperial:
I've heard bad things about the flipped learning approach used for the course, and I'm unsure whether I would benefit from it
The longer commute seems very daunting to me (but ik I'd get used to it)
lack of flexibility to transfer to another course if I don't think biomed is for me


Pros of kings:
can easily switch to any other biomedical course after common year 1 - I think this is good since I'm still not completely sure if biomed is for me (considering switching to pharmacology)
shorter, more manageable commute time
I can take a year abroad which would be fun and great experience

Cons of kings:
not great ranking in STEM compared to imperial
not as lab based

Reply 1

honestly i'm struggling with the same thing as i got offers from both too. i also don't think imperial has the best social life and paying 30k to teach yourself feels like a stretch to me
however when i went to the offer holder day the students were saying the lab skills they learnt much more advanced than other unis teach and the opportunity to get work placements is really good
i think its worth going to imperial because there's better career aspects. i'm also worried about the flipped learning but also listening to a someone talk for 4 hours in a lecture doesn't sound great either lol

Reply 2

Original post by menaalh
honestly i'm struggling with the same thing as i got offers from both too. i also don't think imperial has the best social life and paying 30k to teach yourself feels like a stretch to me
however when i went to the offer holder day the students were saying the lab skills they learnt much more advanced than other unis teach and the opportunity to get work placements is really good
i think its worth going to imperial because there's better career aspects. i'm also worried about the flipped learning but also listening to a someone talk for 4 hours in a lecture doesn't sound great either lol

feels so reassuring to have someone in the same situation as me, thanks for the advice. After speaking to a family friend doing medical biosciences at imperial, I'm more certain I want to go for imperial. Though flipped learning requires a lot of discipline, my friend said for many students, they prefer it over tradition teaching methods. I think it defo depends person to person.

I've heard good thing abt the labs at imperial, when I went to the King's offer holder day I was kind of shocked how little labs there were (they mentioned like 2-3 times a term), in comparison to imperial where there would be likely labs every week from 2nd term onwards. I defo think imperial can be more enriching labs wise and to get a good work placement in 3rd year like you mentioned.

You mentioned the social life thing, and I'd agree it's probably better at King's compared to imperial, but ig a lot of social life is also how much effort you put in to socialise and join societies and stuff.
Either way, it would be great for us to link, have you decided where you want to go? perhaphs I'll see you next year!

Reply 3

Kings college london raaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

Reply 4

No but fr, I do Math at kings (final year) and I think social life is what you make of it. I have a friend who does Med at Imperial and she is literally always out of clubbing and has an incredible social life. So please don't let that affect your choice.

I think the important factors are teaching quality, course flexibility and future options. It sounds like you're setting yourself up for failure to think about transferring out of the course but I have had so many people I know transfer/drop out after first year. This happens across unis. First year gives you a better idea of how the course actually is and it's good to keep your options open. You're super young and it's okay for you to not have it all figured out, keep your options open. Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 5

Also I'm def super biased, so take this with a pinch of salt but I have a friend in healthcare (nutrition and dietetics) who has done his undergrad at kings but is doing his masters at imperial. In his experience, the uni ranking/name doesn't matter as much. He hasn't seen a significant difference between the two unis. But keep in mind that he is mainly only looking at working in the NHS so maybe that factors in, not sure. There might be a massive difference bw idk Middlesex uni and Imperial, but the gap is much smaller bw Kings and Imperial.

Reach out to people on linkedin who do this course and see what they have to say about the uni and course structure. That would probably be a better way to help make this decision. I wish you the best !!!

Reply 6

Original post by fanta12345
feels so reassuring to have someone in the same situation as me, thanks for the advice. After speaking to a family friend doing medical biosciences at imperial, I'm more certain I want to go for imperial. Though flipped learning requires a lot of discipline, my friend said for many students, they prefer it over tradition teaching methods. I think it defo depends person to person.
I've heard good thing abt the labs at imperial, when I went to the King's offer holder day I was kind of shocked how little labs there were (they mentioned like 2-3 times a term), in comparison to imperial where there would be likely labs every week from 2nd term onwards. I defo think imperial can be more enriching labs wise and to get a good work placement in 3rd year like you mentioned.
You mentioned the social life thing, and I'd agree it's probably better at King's compared to imperial, but ig a lot of social life is also how much effort you put in to socialise and join societies and stuff.
Either way, it would be great for us to link, have you decided where you want to go? perhaphs I'll see you next year!

no problem, i'm glad that you feel more sure now, i agree flipped learning needs discipline but i definitely don't have the attention span for lectures lol
i've already firmed imperial! tbh i just thought i would definitely regret picking kings over imperial at the end of the day imperial is an amazing uni and yeah the social life thing, i'm sure there'll be opportunities to socialise

but wow i didn't know kings only had 2-3 labs per term?? imperial has a lab every week, they were showing us the timetable of a typical 1st year biomed student and its like a whole day 9-5 in the lab.


ive decided imperial and then queen marys is my insurance. what are you thinking for ur insurance and what are the grades of your imperial offer?
its so nice to meet someone also doing biomed and i hope to see you next year too, whats your name if you dont mind me asking? also im commuting too!! :smile:

Reply 7

Original post by menaalh
no problem, i'm glad that you feel more sure now, i agree flipped learning needs discipline but i definitely don't have the attention span for lectures lol
i've already firmed imperial! tbh i just thought i would definitely regret picking kings over imperial at the end of the day imperial is an amazing uni and yeah the social life thing, i'm sure there'll be opportunities to socialise
but wow i didn't know kings only had 2-3 labs per term?? imperial has a lab every week, they were showing us the timetable of a typical 1st year biomed student and its like a whole day 9-5 in the lab.
ive decided imperial and then queen marys is my insurance. what are you thinking for ur insurance and what are the grades of your imperial offer?
its so nice to meet someone also doing biomed and i hope to see you next year too, whats your name if you dont mind me asking? also im commuting too!! :smile:


sorry for late reply been busy doing literally nothing and forgot to check the app, yh the attention span thing defo, I zone out so easily in bio lessons, which are barely an hour. Hopefully flipped learning will encourage me to learn better through lectures asw and keep me disciplined.

So happy you picked imperial, makes me feel more firm abt me firming it as well, I feel the same. I mean yh with kings I asked the lecturer when I went to the offer holder day and I was shocked by how little it was, since I am looking forward to labs!

Okay so my insurance is still kings. This is crazy risky but both have offer requirements of AAA. I've heard tho, that kings is more lenient and will allow you a grade below, I'm not completely sure. I mainly did that cause those are the only 2 unis I'd wanna go to out of my offers of imperial, kings, Queen Mary's and brunel. I'm also not opposed to taking a gap year in case i dont meet the grades, I just wouldn't be prepared for one.

My name is Fatima. What abt urs? I'm commuting from the met line and getting onto the picadilly line from kings Cross to south Kensington, perhaps our commutes somewhat overlap?

Also are you on the imperial medical biosciences snap group, I'm on it cause I didn't want to miss out on some socialising but doesn't seem to be much going on there except freshers week tickets which I'm not rlly interested in. If not I wouldn't mind sharing some form of social media so we can chat privately. If ur okay with that ofc. This is so exciting to know someone in the same situation.

Reply 8

Original post by fanta12345
sorry for late reply been busy doing literally nothing and forgot to check the app, yh the attention span thing defo, I zone out so easily in bio lessons, which are barely an hour. Hopefully flipped learning will encourage me to learn better through lectures asw and keep me disciplined.
So happy you picked imperial, makes me feel more firm abt me firming it as well, I feel the same. I mean yh with kings I asked the lecturer when I went to the offer holder day and I was shocked by how little it was, since I am looking forward to labs!
Okay so my insurance is still kings. This is crazy risky but both have offer requirements of AAA. I've heard tho, that kings is more lenient and will allow you a grade below, I'm not completely sure. I mainly did that cause those are the only 2 unis I'd wanna go to out of my offers of imperial, kings, Queen Mary's and brunel. I'm also not opposed to taking a gap year in case i dont meet the grades, I just wouldn't be prepared for one.
My name is Fatima. What abt urs? I'm commuting from the met line and getting onto the picadilly line from kings Cross to south Kensington, perhaps our commutes somewhat overlap?
Also are you on the imperial medical biosciences snap group, I'm on it cause I didn't want to miss out on some socialising but doesn't seem to be much going on there except freshers week tickets which I'm not rlly interested in. If not I wouldn't mind sharing some form of social media so we can chat privately. If ur okay with that ofc. This is so exciting to know someone in the same situation.

hi ive got an offer from imperial too for biomed. if u wouldnt mind sharing, what snap group!!

And also will be commuting!

Reply 9

Original post by aamina.hs
hi ive got an offer from imperial too for biomed. if u wouldnt mind sharing, what snap group!!
And also will be commuting!


add me on snap (@fantaslm) and I'll try add u, sorry I am kind of **** at using snap, but I'll try my best

Reply 10

Original post by aamina.hs
hi ive got an offer from imperial too for biomed. if u wouldnt mind sharing, what snap group!!
And also will be commuting!


very comforting seeing so many people commuting! I was feeling nervous abt being only one not living in imperial student accommodation

Reply 11

Original post by fanta12345
Hi, I'm currently reconsidering my firm and insurance ucas choices and am having great difficulties choosing which uni I'd like to go to. Please help.
Some context, I'm staying at home for uni, the commute to imperial is 1 hour 20/30 mins, vs 1 hour for kings. I've listed some pros and cons of each below
Pros of imperial:
more lab focused with one full lab day a week - I think that could be very fun + valuable for employers
high world ranking and great for stem
would open up options for further study
I like the fact I could do a work placement in 3rd year
Cons of imperial:
I've heard bad things about the flipped learning approach used for the course, and I'm unsure whether I would benefit from it
The longer commute seems very daunting to me (but ik I'd get used to it)
lack of flexibility to transfer to another course if I don't think biomed is for me
Pros of kings:
can easily switch to any other biomedical course after common year 1 - I think this is good since I'm still not completely sure if biomed is for me (considering switching to pharmacology)
shorter, more manageable commute time
I can take a year abroad which would be fun and great experience
Cons of kings:
not great ranking in STEM compared to imperial
not as lab based

Hi, I got the same problem but Imperial or UCL, did u go Imperial? let me know how it is pls if u see this

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