Imperial - recent experiences?

[clappamjunxion]

My son has 5 engineering offers which are all great for different reasons. He knows which will be his reserve choice (and would be very happy with it) but needs to decide which of the other 4 to firm - they are Imperial, Bristol, Bath and UCL. We live in London so finances are not part of the decision - he is mainly choosing based on the course and the experience.

Imperial needs two A-stars, so is a higher risk than the other 3, which need one.

He knows Imperial has the best league table position, but the others aren't far behind for his engineering discipline.

One concern he has about Imperial is the teaching staff - he has spent the last two years with one subject teacher who speaks very broken English, and has found that difficult. When he visited Imperial, two of the talks were given by lecturers whose English was very difficult to follow. The admissions tutors emphasised what an international course it was. Our older son is at another London uni and has found similar with one or two of his lecturers. Is this a common issue experienced at all universities or is it likely to be more of an issue at Imperial?

To be honest I think some courses at Bath have the same problem. My DS has had to teach himself a lot content due to not being able to understand his lecturers.

You can have difficulties with understanding lecturers anywhere, including people whose first language is English. Some of our lecturers were absolutely shite and it was very difficult to understand what they were mumbling on about and they weren't speaking in broken English or with a strong accent.

The lecturers who were speaking at the open day might not even teach him and if they do he might understand them better with time and if he doesn't he can read around the subject himself or ask for clarification from the lecturers themselves or in tutorials.

I don't think he should let this put him off unless he doesn't really want to go to Imperial or is worried about missing the grades and so he's looking for a reason to choose somewhere else instead.

What's the likelihood of him getting two A stars? And what's his insurance offer and does he want to go there, because if he misses the grades for Imperial it's unlikely they'll accept him. Would he be better off choosing one of the others for that reason?

I suspect it will be an equal risk at most universities. I work in universities and this isn’t uncommon anywhere.

Two my of DC study at Imperial and they don’t complain about this. Lectures are live, streamed, and recorded. There are tutorials if students need extra help. They cater to a wide range of bright, neurodiverse students and are pretty good at offering support when students struggle.

I have a DS in his 2nd year studying engineering at Imperial and he has found the teaching great and wouldn’t want to have gone anywhere else. I asked him your query and he said “Yes sometimes the accent takes a little while to get used to but no one complains they don’t understand - just have to pay more attention and as lectures are recorded they can be watched over again at a slower pace if needed”. Imperial is the best for engineering but they don’t take any grade reduction come results day so make sure insurance is slightly lower grade requirement regardless.

For those of you with DC at Imperial, do you think it is worth the extra cost and challenge of living in London? DS has an offer in computing , but he slightly prefers the maths and computing course at Warwick, so he's in a real quandary deciding, as Warwick will be easier to live and cheaper. But Imperial is Imperial. He's also very quiet so I'm worried he'll get lost at Imperial. (Sorry OP to hijack this thread)

I think prestige wise at least for these courses WW and Imperial are cheaper

My DC studies CS at Imperial and is having a whale of a time. He has a mix of International (mostly very well off) and domestic student friends. Also, because Imperial is well off, all domestic students who receive more than the basic maintenance loan, get some sort of bursary.

Thank you. Is he in first or subsequent year. Do you mind me asking where he lived / is living? I think a London uni will be an amazing experience for an young adult , and although he is quiet he is not daunted by London or a possible North Acton commute...he just seems to be torn about the course at Warwick.

In his first year he lived in Kensington very close to Imperial. He shared a room. Now he lives further away but continues to have a good time.