Do Imperial College students have part time jobs?

[creambunz]

My DC attended a virtual insight session today for an engineering course he's applying to at Imperial, and someone asked this question. There were two international students on the call, and they looked a bit bemused - they said they didn't know anyone with a part-time job. The admissions tutor backed this up by saying they'd be expected to be available for lectures between 9-6 each day and will need lots of personal study time, so it's probably not the right option for people who "want to party every night or work part time". This may be true, but I thought the answer was delivered with very little empathy towards listeners who might not be able to afford to study in London without a part-time job.

If you have a DC at Imperial, do any of their friends work part time?

A weekend job would be fine surely

Some commentary here. Union to push for more part-time work opportunities for students

My son was at KCL rather than imperial.

Most students did something to earn money but most kept it out of term times or at least reduced significantly during term times.

My DS worked in a bar in his summers. Others got internships or worked at Tesco or at pubs.

Three or four clubbed to together and set up an online tuition agency which offered tuition via zoom for a level and gcse maths.

A few had jobs in term time but it did substantially reduce the time they had available for studying.

Ds is in his second year of Imperial. He has a very flexible job and mainly does it in holidays and it’s very light part-time; he sometimes does a little during term time if needs must. He’s also one of the editors of Felix, which takes a lot of time and is quite involved in other hobbies, so it can all be managed.

The Student Union will employ students in eg bars, cafes and gym and most of these posts will be reserved for students to work 5-20 hours a week in term time.

I think the amount of work is so high that it will be hard to have a part time job while study during term time, unless it is just a few hours and a bit flexible

I think they were honest and straightforward; most people know that the amount of work students have to do at IC is crazy so holding a part time work and trying to support yourself will be hard, unless it is very few hours and very flexible, and mostly in school holidays.

DC is at Imperial doing CS. More than half of the students on his course are international who can afford the huuuuge fees and they don't work.

DC does occasional things like tutoring, babysitting, bartending in the holidays etc. Imperial also provide grants for anyone with parental income below 60k. They are up to £5000 each year and provide an alternative to having to work in term time which isn't encouraged.

DD is at IC doing Med, she has weekly tutoring as part time job.

Yes, there is time for part time work, flexible hours are best and/or holidays. Kids we know work as tutors and in fast food places or retail where they tend to do the unpopular shifts ie evenings and weekends. Most do about 7-15 hours a week. It's a good little earner particularly as the minimum wage for 18 year olds is about to go up.

Some courses are very full on though so there might not necessarily be time to do day shifts.

Their job isn't to be 'empathetic' towards potential students who might struggle to afford the course without a PT job, though -- they need to give them accurate information, as they see it, about whether course requirements will allow for PT jobs. In fact, I'm sure many do find time for PT, flexible work, but the students and staff on the call wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't make it clear it is a fairly full-on course, so no one who needs to work 30 or 40 hours a week to get by should apply.

I was at Oxford where people tended to try to concentrate most of their paid work outside of termtime, because terms are so short and the workload can be brutal. Some people managed, however.

It is dependent on time in lectures and labs but DC and friends at KCL all have pt jobs eg tutoring, hospitality and flatmate at Imperial has a ft job in the holidays as v full days in the week .

Tutoring can pay well and Imperial College students are sought after to help with STEM GCSEs and A levels.

Another thing that works well is to sign up to work at events in the run up to Christmas, and in the summer. (Can't remember the names of agencies but someone will know.)

Best job to get at this unis would be a part time research assistant role.

I have a child studying engineering at Imperial and they don’t have time for a part time job. None of their friends have jobs either.

A family member was there years ago and it would have been difficult then to manage workload and do that. He worked throughout his a levels though, and had industry sponsorships and placements as well as local work in the holidays.

Watch out though. First and second years can be tough as this is when you need to pass the technical stuff that enables you to pick third year options. I also understand that on some degrees decisions on whether you can proceed to the fourth year integrated Masters will be made at the end of the second year.

Also it is not unusual for there to be exams or coursework due after the Christmas holidays, so some of the vacation needs to be earmarked for revision. .

Some irrelevant answers on here. KCL isn’t the same as IC. Imperial is renowned for being high level and demanding, with similar grade expectations and workload to Oxbridge. My friend had a DC there who had no time for part time work.

Sounds like the lecturer’s answer was simply factual.