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Imperial College London Materials Science and Engineering

Hi! I got in Materials Science and Engineering in Imperial this year, but I'm not sure if it is a good major in Imperial or if the major itself is worth it. I heard a few things about materials engineering, for example it is too niche or it doesn't have a good career prospect. I was just wondering if anyone knows anything specific about it because I can't really choose whether to study in Imperial or in a lower ranking university with a better course.

I applied to:
Durham University - Electrical Engineering
Imperial College London - Materials Engineering
UCL - Finance
UCL - Biochemical Engineering
Edinburgh University - Finance & Business

I'm still unsure about which major to choose, so I wanted to know what other people would choose if they got offer from all of the them. Or would you go to another country to study a different major?

Reply 1

I also got into imperial for the same course and have been having the same thoughts. I applied to physics at kings too and chemistry at st Andrews. So a wide range like you. I think I will enjoy materials more than these other courses but am worried about jobs after but imperial has a good reputation. I heard loads of materials students go in finance after. I also think that it can also be a good thing that it is niche and will be a really interesting area to go into research for. I I think about it, I will be better of career wise with materials than physics as there are loads of engineering or manufacturing companies that will need at least a few materials scientists right? About it being easier to get in to materials science, I think its because not many people know about it as a subject. I didn't even know it existed until this time last year. But I'm not sure.

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
I also got into imperial for the same course and have been having the same thoughts. I applied to physics at kings too and chemistry at st Andrews. So a wide range like you. I think I will enjoy materials more than these other courses but am worried about jobs after but imperial has a good reputation. I heard loads of materials students go in finance after. I also think that it can also be a good thing that it is niche and will be a really interesting area to go into research for. I I think about it, I will be better of career wise with materials than physics as there are loads of engineering or manufacturing companies that will need at least a few materials scientists right? About it being easier to get in to materials science, I think its because not many people know about it as a subject. I didn't even know it existed until this time last year. But I'm not sure.

hi! pls could you tell me what u are predicted, what super-curriculars uve done to show interest in materials, Thanks!

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
hi! pls could you tell me what u are predicted, what super-curriculars uve done to show interest in materials, Thanks!

hi, i applied for one of the course in imperial material department and received an offer. Based on my experience, I did an independet research on how we could use a specific material to treat one of the illness that still doesnt have any cure. And from this research I have shown some motiviation and activites that i did to do further to find out more about the "answer" of my independt research. For example, if you want to how specific material works in a patient you could say i have done some hospital internship and learnt blah blah or one of this professor motived me to think blah blah or you participated to certain conference about the realted topic and learnt blah blah

Reply 4

Original post
by ysl060804
hi, i applied for one of the course in imperial material department and received an offer. Based on my experience, I did an independet research on how we could use a specific material to treat one of the illness that still doesnt have any cure. And from this research I have shown some motiviation and activites that i did to do further to find out more about the "answer" of my independt research. For example, if you want to how specific material works in a patient you could say i have done some hospital internship and learnt blah blah or one of this professor motived me to think blah blah or you participated to certain conference about the realted topic and learnt blah blah

Thank you! I am really not sure how to express my interest tho, could i talk about something to do with robotics? Is that linked to materials in any way? I would want to link it to solviing environmental problems for eg, how could i implement my interest in materials by that? Or maybe somethign to do with nuclear engineering? Thank you so much! Please could you tell me what your predicted grades were? Thank you so much once again 🙂

Reply 5

I am a gap year student so I have achieved A* on math but retaking physcis and chem which I have A and A* predicted.
To answer your questions, I think it really varies with everyone how they write their personal statment. However, for me I chose one specific topic like eg.is it possible to use nanomatieral to treat regenerative diesease? this shows that I have focused on the certain mateiral that interested me and tried to dig very deep about the potential of nanomatieral on the development of the treatment. I think there are many ways to solve enviornmental problem with materials. for example some of the recycled and biodegrdeble materials helped us to reuse materials again for certain use which reduced some of the waste and CO2 emission etc. If you find it hard you can go on and research what are some of matierals that contributed to solve environemtnal problem. I feel like imperial likes creative, critical thinking and very self driven person for their passion so think of the matieral that hasnt really been talked or developed in this world and how you can apply that matieral to certain places or applications to solve the environment problems. For example, lets say you chose nanomaterials and you research how you could make nanopartilce based paint that can be painted on the building which can caputure toxic pollutant in the atmosphere that could improve air polluiton. And to find more definitive evidence you could i read one of the professor article and led me to think blah blah or I went to one of this conference blah blah or you actually did a lab work with some help from your school teacher to prove blah blah. I advice you to research on varieties of materials. You could talk about robotics but you have to think how does the types of matireals is used in robots changed the way they behave and move and eventually do some of the work and could solve enviroenmtal problems. Please ask if you have any other questions!

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
Thank you! I am really not sure how to express my interest tho, could i talk about something to do with robotics? Is that linked to materials in any way? I would want to link it to solviing environmental problems for eg, how could i implement my interest in materials by that? Or maybe somethign to do with nuclear engineering? Thank you so much! Please could you tell me what your predicted grades were? Thank you so much once again 🙂

I think you can write about any extracurriculars you are passionate about. for me, I did IB and I got in with predicted grade 44. I didn’t do any extracurriculars linked to materials engineering since it was a very last minute decision to apply to UK, but I think unless you can link it to materials engineering, it will do! personally, I made my school more eco by helping with the design of the construction of my school. I also did iGEM competition, and those are completely unrelated to materials engineering, but I made connections with how it all led to the development of my interest in materials engineering, and for me that was sufficient enough. I think just try and stand out, but I heard Imperial is giving many offers in materials engineering this year, so you’ll be fine! good luck!

Reply 7

Original post
by ysl060804
hi, i applied for one of the course in imperial material department and received an offer. Based on my experience, I did an independet research on how we could use a specific material to treat one of the illness that still doesnt have any cure. And from this research I have shown some motiviation and activites that i did to do further to find out more about the "answer" of my independt research. For example, if you want to how specific material works in a patient you could say i have done some hospital internship and learnt blah blah or one of this professor motived me to think blah blah or you participated to certain conference about the realted topic and learnt blah blah

Hi! I have made loads of progress in my super-currcilars, i feel liek it is kind of listing in a sense, is it possibel i can send u my perosnal statmnr and you can gice me advice on it?
Original post
by Smallix
Hi! I have made loads of progress in my super-currcilars, i feel liek it is kind of listing in a sense, is it possibel i can send u my perosnal statmnr and you can gice me advice on it?


You should not send your personal statement to anyone that you do not trust implicitly as you have no way to know if they will plagiarise it or post it elsewhere online (where it will then be cached by google and plagiarised). You should also never post your PS in whole or in part anywhere on a publicly accessible part of a website as it will be cached by google and flag as plagiarism.

If you want a review of your personal statement, TSR offers a free PS review service which you can read more about here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4237154 these are conducted in a private section of the website that isn't visible to other users except the PS reviewers and yourself and isn't cached by google and the PS reviewers are DBS checked trained reviewers :smile:

Note also while it's too late for OP I would comment in general that you only get a single PS for all your unis therefore you should apply to the same or exceedingly similar courses at all your unis rather than a random selection as the OP did.
(edited 5 months ago)

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