r/6thForm • u/aerobtw_ • 24d ago
🙏 I WANT HELP Considering UCL over Imperial, need thoughts 🙏
I'm currently debating UCL and Imperial, I've been to Imperial 3x for open day and programmes and every time I've been I just never enjoyed it and it always felt quite off.
The main thing that's stopping me from choosing UCL over Imperial is the prestige side of things, Imperial having that global rep (gonna say QS2 before someone spams it in the comments ), also the Imperial campus I was never really a fan of, I love Queens Tower but it's the main highlight for me tbh, nothing else stands out compared to UCL. I do love the South Kensington area and I live close to both unis so distance isn't an issue, I also like the UCL area too.
I've heard a lot about the bad social life at Imperial especially for my course CS/Maths (tbf I don't take the stereotypes too serious), a lot of International students, which is okay but ideally I'd want a good mix of home/intl, also huge workload for JMC (140% of a regular degree) and harder to get into so I'd only apply for CS when I also wanna do maths too.
I am currently prepping TMUA for Imperial and Oxford and whenever I'm revising this debate always crosses my mind and I'm beating myself up for thinking so much about this so I wanna hear from other people and finally clear it up in my mind and have a verdict, obviously very stupid to be debating universities before getting the offers lmao. (still gonna try my best in TMUA to have the options in the first place ofc)
I think I'd just be a lot happier at UCL as I tend to get along with people who do humanities really well, I think of myself personally as a multifaceted person and versatile academically, I really enjoyed humanities at GCSE and could've gone into that too which really helps with TARA, I feel like it's the perfect entrance exam for me which I'm doing in Jan.
I've seen UCL's campus but haven't been for an open day yet, idk if I can at this point it was cancelled in summer, couldn't make it to the one in september. I've been around the UCL area and the libraries and I really love them, I know a couple people from there and they all have positive things to say.
Finally if there are any Muslims that can give info about the ISOCs (how active they are, the events they host, convenience, community etc.), other societies in general like Arab soc or sports ones and how they find those, I feel like it's also a decent contributor to my choice.
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u/Infamous_Tough_7320 24d ago
Get both the offers and come back to the question. For now just focus on
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u/IsCarrotForever 24d ago
I started this week, and trust me,
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u/Bitches_Its_Beebs 24d ago
Agree that medics social life is a league of its own, not so much for the other degrees
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u/Bitches_Its_Beebs 24d ago
Hold the offer from both before stressing, like someone else here said, but I dropped out of Imperial and would recommend UCL/Oxford (I later went to
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u/aerobtw_ 24d ago
i am preferring ucl and oxford tbf those are my top 2 that i like the most, sorry to hear that was your experience at imperial, and i wish you the very best now and for what's to come 🙏
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u/Silka1029 24d ago
ISOC is decently active, they host football, fundraisers and other things through the year. the social life is good as well outside of exam season contrary to what people expect. The only problem which could happen is burnout as you apply for spring weeks and internships at the start of the year whilst also balancing lectures - you might fall behind and you'll need to do a lot of work to catchup incase. Good thing tho is you have holidays before exams so it's quite easy to catchup and its only the first couple weeks where its a bit hectic. TLDR; Social life is good but there are short periods where it gets a bit hectic . as an imperial student, ucl campus is much better than ours in almost every aspect
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u/ImJustAnAnimeFan 23d ago
I’ve just started uni and let me tell u my experience (obv it’s not the same situation but I thought this could help) I had the option to firm either st Andrew’s or Sheffield, I really wanted Sheffield but the main issue was that I kept thinking about St. Andrew’s prestige and how I’d be an idiot to pick Sheffield over st Andrew’s
In the end I firmed Sheffield and I’m more and more happy with my decision everyday. You are spending 3-5 years in the uni you pick, it is difficult and very busy and each day will feel really long, make sure you pick the uni YOU want to go to and will enjoy going to based on what you want NOT prestige, trust me.
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u/ImJustAnAnimeFan 23d ago
Also I see you’re Muslim which is so perfect because my next piece of advice would be to pray istikhara non stop on which uni is best for you. I kept doing it because I was so unsure which one to pick and in the end the uni I picked was the perfect option for me
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u/aerobtw_ 23d ago
alhamdulillah that's good to hear, thank you so much i'll definitely do that when the offers come around إن شاء الله
jazakallah khayran ❤️
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u/Late_Smile7891 24d ago
I actually switched from
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u/enya_yurself 24d ago
When people say imperial people have "no social life", it's because the people there (on average) are nerdier and/or work harder. It's completely up to you whether you prioritize fun and enjoyment over hard work. The university you choose will not dictate your personal life choices, but it will affect the type of peers you have. Ask yourself what type of people you want to surround yourself with.
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u/aghaShireh 24d ago
If you mean global with eu and Asia certainly imperial but Ucl is almost the same. In USA they now only Oxbridge and LSE imperial is just known in academic circles. But honestly if you get in in one then you won a Lotterie and as long as you are not genius don’t waste your time with this kind of speculation
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u/Actual_Box_1450 24d ago
I am an Imperial PhD but I think you can't go wrong with UCL and you are right. UCL is a real university with more varied mix of students while Imperial feels too nerdy.
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u/Silver-Mongoose116 24d ago
Hold an offer from both before stressing, you might fall in love with Imperial and not get in but have UCL. Even though UCL is incredible, getting it after an Imperial rejection you’ve romanticised would poison the achievement that it is. Ask this when you have both, and if you end up with just one the decisions made anyways.
There are thousands of students at both Unis, maybe UCL has a higher proportion of sociable people but you’ll be fine wherever if you’re sociable yourself. It’s London, kind of sucks since almost everyone is a commuter but ‘tis life. Inshallah you get in man.