Imperial College, what's it really like?

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Ideally I would prefer my DCs to make evidence-based decisions for their university choices rather than from whims and possibly unfounded rumours (most arising from classmates with no direct knowledge of places). I realise that I may be fighting a losing battle though.
Imperial College is a bit of a dilemma. My DC applied there for physics without going for an open day. Recently had interview (which did not go badly) liked the interviewer but put off for several reasons. The first is that the tutorial groups are of 20 facilitated by one senior academic and one PhD student. DC is from a state school with very large sixth form classes for the maths and science so would really like smaller tutorial groups at university (as well as good quality academic teaching of course)
The second reason ars the rumours about the lack of social life at Imperial backed by the interview group being almost all international students (with international sounding American accents).
Has anybody got anything positive or reassuring to say about IC?

I don't think you can dismiss such a low teaching satisfaction score, despite the flaws in the methodology. My department would be crucified by the university management if we got those scores. The good news is that with the Teaching Excellence Framework on its way, they will have to pull up their socks if they want to be able to increase fees in the future.

What's so great about being young and with your mates, full of life and released from parental control? Need you ask?

I had mental illness issues to deal with, the people who shared my illness were more my mates than any students. Most of all I wanted to be financially independent b/c I was very scared of how to do that so I needed to face the challenge. Peers...? My Uni had this enormous PARTY (getting very pissed) and frat/sorority reputation, both of which I sneered at, so I didn't feel the love, not many were ever going to be my mates. Fin. independence meant I was released from parents, nothing to do with being at Uni.

The English rite of passage idea about going to university is very odd.

But why assume that international students don't socialise? None of the international students I knew were remotely like that. In fact several of them went a bit wild now that they were so far from home. It took me a few months to get used to the drinking culture (where I come from young people don't have easy/cheap access to alcohol or didn't when I was young) so it took a while to get used to hanging out in pubs.
Again I was at Oxford and there were some truly posh students who were not international and the divide between the very posh U.K. students and the 'normal' ones was quite significant. In fact what I REALLY struggled with was how reserved British people are. So very very hard to break into circles or make friends. I come from a very open and friendly culture (possibly one that you might find overly nosey) and I am still amazed that British people can be friends for ages without ever knowing if they have siblings! (Just as an example). I later went to the US for my PhD and found Americans to be a lot friendlier.

My son didn't apply to Imperial for some of those reasons. he was keen to live away from home and do the university lifestyle thing so wanted a uni where most people lived in halls, where his hobby (kayaking) had a good club, and there were at least 50% UK students and not too posh.
I was a student in London and loved it but in the 90s things were very different to now.

I bloody loved it and was there 8 years.
Plenty to do and in a fantastic part of London (I certainly cannot afford south ken now).
I enjoyed the social life a lot but this is just one experience.
I really liked the people - and am still close friends with many.
By comparison with other friends I visited there was certainly less dramas going on at imperial.
The language teaching was also great and I spent a year in France with students from physics.

OohThatsme Nottingham was n't one of the selected choices on UCAS form, Good to know for others though.

Luchi this is n't a mud slinging contest between UK students and international students. This is about the reality (or not) of the sociability of the Imperial intake, specifically those doing physics.
I do get your point that cultural differences can cause misconceptions and problems in both directions. However I would like to be able to reassure my DC with more than the example of you as a past fun-loving student. The rumours at their school comes from second hand information from past pupils and friends of past pupils.

BTW the size of the physics tutorial groups is smaller in the other universities from which DC has offers although not as small obviously as Oxbridge. One would hope that the quality of Imperial teaching academics (I have no doubts about the Imperial research quality) would make up for the larger groups but nothing has been posted on this thread yet to persuade DC of that.

Thanks 2rebecca and Kennington.
My DC sees London as a plus.

Last point: my imperial physics friends are all rather loaded now
I think being in London helped with the summer internships.

I know imperial very well. I know first hand that the student life is very active. There are over 300 clubs at the students union and the stats show that if you are a member of one you are more than likely a member of several clubs. I can't comment on UG Physics tutorial group sizes but there is always extra help available if you ask and physics at imperial is a very good course. I would definitely not rule it out on the basis of there being lots of international students at the interview day (they've not even been offered a place yet)!

I don't know if Oxbridge still consistently has small tutorial groups. I know that they were under severe pressure and moving towards bigger groups. I had 1:1 or 1:2 tutorial groups but I am led to believe that this is almost unheard of now (again I could be wrong).
Just chatting with some people whose kids are doing Medicine at Imperial. I think the science-y intake of the place means that even your 'home' students are on the nerdier end of the spectrum (I say this as a certified geek/nerd!). The kids in question are British but their parents admitted that they feel under huge pressure and so don't have the social life their friends at other Unis do.

Just to add, imperial has loads to offer socially, the myth of everyone sitting in their rooms working is just that, and London us an amazing place to live.

DH went to Imperial a few years ago. Similar subject to Physics. It came across to me as Geek-central, but DH made some good friends there. The social life is what you choose it to be. He was involved in one of the sports clubs, and was president of it for a year and also went to the CU.

There are enough students living in London to have a social life. He really enjoyed his time there.

Re tutorial groups, he also had a personal tutor there. He says if you want that smaller group contact then to ask for it.

He graduated with a fantastic degree - top of his year and his job enables me to do voluntary work. He doesn't regret going there at all! Hope this helps! Good luck to your DC

I went to Imperial but graduated in 2000. From memory there were lots of clubs, active student union. I loved being in South Ken, loved things like the night roller blading groups through London. It certainly wasn't all work and no play and Back then it wasn't mostly overseas students - it was a good mix. Most of my peers have gone on to have incredibly successful careers. Does the Imperial student union have a website - might get a flavour of extra curricular activities from that?

Lots of useful insights, very helpful thanks.
badg3 no they may not have been offered a place yet but I imagine the odds are in their favour. It is also possible that they are much more social when they are not faced with an interview.

Following with interest as my DC has just been offered a place for Engineering for 2017. I have all the same concerns as the OP. Any more opinions?

I studied science and have many colleagues that studied at IC. It is very well regarded in science fields.

There have several campus, one in London very well located and one in sunningdale Which is more remote but social life when I went there was great.
The second reason ars the rumours about the lack of social life at Imperial backed by the interview group being almost all international students (with international sounding American accents). trying not to take offence in this as it is your opinion but also dont understand, international students are more likely to socialise as they dont have families here

Weird statement

Evergreen you don't need to take offence please see up thread. The description of accents was how DC knew others were international rather than UK. They did n't talk enough to give any more information where they were from.

Well done to your DS jeanne16.
Is he keen or has he other favourites?

I meant DC, rather than DS . I've introduced another stereotypes already in this thread.

Regarding the International students, there does appear to be a large contingent of Asian students at Imperial. The impression they give is of a very hard-working group of students who are not necessarily the most sociable. Please feel free to shout me down, but I think this is a commonly held view.

jeanne, a friend's son graduated from Imperial three years ago. In an ICT/computing type degree. Since gone on to get a good job, but regretted choosing Imperial despite its status as one of the best unis in the world. His main gripe was the large contingent of overseas Chinese/Hong Kong students who were only interested in work, and not at all in socialising, joining clubs etc. He had student digs in London (could've lived at home), but found it very hard socially. He very much advised his younger siblings against studying in London.

Chinese students enjoy socialising with other Chinese students. Why? Because if you travelled halfway around the world to live, wouldn't you enjoy going home to speak in your native language and eating something homely and familiar, especially if you'd been dealing with technical issues in a foreign language all day?

Then there's things like finding boyfriends/ girlfriends (huge marriage pressure in China to get married before mid twenties), the fact that Chinese students tend to socialise differently (KTV/ Karaoke are firm favourites) and the fact that many international students live in different accommodation to home students as they can get 52 week contracts so they don't have to move their stuff into storage in the summer.

All these things could contribute to the OP's DC feeling excluded if they were in a minority of home students. Perfectly reasonable concern to have when choosing a uni.

I went to Imperial during the 2000s and had the time of my life. Utterly superb teaching (Chemistry), small tutor groups (3-4 people in each group), brilliant social life (met DH and loads of friends I am still in constant touch with). The union is extremely active and the clubs are extremely well run and resourced. It really set me up for life.

That said, it is not for shrinking violets, or for people who need a very nurturing environment. You are expected to help yourself, and to recognise if you need help, and if you do it was readily available. I do have friends who dropped out after either failing or struggling, and went on to succeed at other well respected unis, but it did knock their confidence a bit.

There is a big overseas contingent, and the medics kept to themselves when I was there but most people have no problem finding their tribe. The major disadvantage these days is the cost of living and difficulty in living close to SW7.

He very much advised his younger siblings against studying in London

Leeds I would just say that there are many reasons for not studying in London , but to extrapolate that from e.g. Imperial is not quite fair. I suspect the general atmosphere at say, UCL, is different from Imperial, or indeed SOAS or LSE because to some extent those are niche institutions. (Big niches maybe but can't think of a better way of putting it. I hope you see the point I am hamfistedly trying to make.

compounded by studying subjects such as theoretical physics where students have the reputation to be more introverted anyway ... wants to have some fun with fellow students

Ahem! I'm a physicist and have to say at university I wasn't surrounded by introverted physics students who didn't want to have fun. We had a fantastic time, and a great social life. We may have done the odd nerdy thing like SciFi fancy dress parties. We weren't any more introverted as a collective than any other student group.

Right so Imperial. I've never studied at Imperial but I have lectured (as a visitor) there. It is an excellent university for physics. I personally wouldn't go to a London university because of the cost and the vastness of it. But it has a world class reputation.