DS fixated on going to Imperial College..

[BaconAndAvocado]

He's currently in Year 10 doing his GCSEs and wants to go on to do a Chemical Engineering course at Imperial College.

I know very little about it, apart from it being one of the top universities for Chem Eng courses (I think!)

DS is now talking about re-taking a Chemistry module, for which he got an A, because "Imperial College only want A* s at GCSEs"

Is this true?

DS has Asperger's Syndrome and Imperial has become a bit of a recent obsession. Whilst I'm incredibly proud that he already has a path drawn out for himself, I realise that the likelihood of him gaining a place there is small.

Should he put pressure on himself and re-do the module to try and get an A* or would it not make any difference if he already has an A.

Thanks in advance

[2rebecca]

I wonder what they do for Scottish students, my son is considering Imperial for mech eng (but will probably stick to Scottish unis). There are no UMSs up here, you just have your standard grade and higher results and for imperial would get a provisional offer based on advanced highers. I presume they just look at your highers and predicted grades.
My son is being put off unis with alot of overseas students because he wants to have a social life and lots of clubs as well as study.
Imperial does sound a bit hot housy, good if you want to do pHds etc, may suit someone with aspergers.

[BaconAndAvocado]

he can't find his own arse with both hands that rings a lot of bells here!

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

Bacon when you accompany him to the Open Day, you should get plenty of chance to find out what their pastoral support is like. I think it varies a great deal from Uni to Uni. It isn't a factor for my DS1 this September but DS2 is going next September and he has Asperger's. It's a factor for us because while he's a very clever person, some days he can't find his own arse with both hands. I dread him festering, unwashed, in a room alone. So it will be a major consideration when we go to open days.

Well done your son for going for it, though! It's great when they 'come good' after being told they were naughty and lazy in primary school

[boomting]

Open days are fine at any age - universities are invariably keen to get people interested young - some start outreach work in Y5.

FWIW I'll be working university open days this summer and I (and my colleagues) are more than happy to see people planning ahead.

[BaconAndAvocado]

He went to a Science Fair recently, which is where he got the idea for Imperial!

[tiredaftertwo]

I think Imperial had a science fair (for the public) a few weeks back, and I think they do other public engagement-type events. Perhaps he'd like to go to some of that sort of thing (sorry if you do all that already)?

I'd be proud too - good luck to him!

[savoirfaire]

You may need to register for the Open Day. I think Y11 would be ok, but again the university could advise. Sometimes they have taster days for younger students.

[BaconAndAvocado]

Thanks harriet for a sweet post!

We are incredibly proud of him, particularly as his difficulties have held him back in the past at school.

[BaconAndAvocado]

Would it be a good idea to go to an Open Day whilst he's in Year 10 or 11?

[savoirfaire]

Please do speak to the admissions or Outreach team rather than just going with what people on StudentRoom say. There are loads of misconceptions around. Going to open day is a great idea - perhaps go to one or two others so he can get an idea that there are other wonderful places to go as well and that he won't have 'failed' (IYKWIM) if he doesn't get an offer from Imperial.

[sandripples]

Imperial told us they reserved about 40% of places for full fee paying overseas students. DS says that's about correct - however he's mixing with a good range of fellow students and he wasn't used to a multi cultural environment. The Chinese do tend to stick together i think, but there are plenty of other people and cultures, and they all have to mix for their various types of team-work.

[BaconAndAvocado]

Yes, that's true. We're quite a long way off!

[musu]

But I assume he'll want to make friends on his course? That was the problem. Chinese students just didn't mix and spoke amongst themselves in class, unless they had to address the class. Wish I could remember the detail but I think the student ended up moving courses because of it.

[BaconAndAvocado]

DS isn't big on "integrating" due to his Asperger's.

[musu]

I would check how many overseas students they take. I can't remember the course but I know someone whose dc was unhappy on their course because they found it hard to integrate with the majority (who were Chinese).

[BaconAndAvocado]

Thanks fallen I think I get it now.

DS is revising hard for his Biology exam in his room as I write this. He really has pulled out all the stops recently

[TheFallenMadonna]

No, they're not. My point was that you can get an A without getting an A in every module, as long as tour UMS total is over the A* boundary. So there might be no need to retake the module.

[BeckAndCall]

But it's not quite true for Imperial that UMS at GCSE are what count ( which is the stage the OPs DS is at).

My recollection from DS's year ( so may be out by 4 years) is that they ask for UMS scores for AS level, but not GCSE, (same as cambridge) and that their offers can also be expressed as UMS scores for each module - even requiring 100 UMS for each module. My recollection is that this is what one of DS's friends was offered. But that was for maths, not chem eng.

I don't think UMS at GCSE are declared.

[sandripples]

I've had two DCs go through High School to uni and never did get the hang of UMS points! (I'm not suggesting they don't matter - clearly they do. I just found it all a bit baffling.)

[BaconAndAvocado]

Oh, I think I know what you mean. The fact that he only needs to get a certain grade in one module to get an overall good grade? If that makes sense?

[TheFallenMadonna]

His chemistry teacher will be able to explain it to him. And you! Easier to see when you have the actual numbers in front of you.

They'll be on his results slip, if you have it.

[TheFallenMadonna]

It's sort of the points for the exam. A raw score (the actual mark) is converted into UMS. The UMS for each component of the course are added together, and need to exceed a certain boundary for an overall grade.

[BaconAndAvocado]

thefallenmadonna, what is UMS?

[TheFallenMadonna]

I went to Imperial back in the days when they made BBC offers!

As a Science teacher now, I'd get him to look carefully at UMS rather than grades. If he has a high A UMS, then good results in his other modules and in his CA will pull him over the boundary, without him having to dilute his revision efforts by retaking a module.

It's not grades for modules, it's UMS that counts!