Just finished MSc Applied Maths at Imperial. Will keep things generic here but happy for people to DM and ask further questions. I did very well in the degree, average of 80% overall, barely got a Distinction. Below are my thoughts regarding the teaching quality, assessments, culture etc. I strongly recommend you read this in its entirety if you are considering (applying to) this course.

Coming into the degree from non-maths background outside the UK, it was tough. Professors did not recognise that not everyone in the room was a 4th year mathematician, so often brushed over the 'easy' stuff. If you ask them for help, they just recommend some books and say cover it in your own time. You have choice over the modules you do, but many of them are quite literally inaccessible if you are new to maths, which by the way, should not be a surprise given its a masters degree open to engineering undergrad students also. From this part, they did very poorly to even make it any different from a regular maths degree. Its just a degree where you get put into the same classes as the 4th year undergrads, god knows why they charge more. The only masters part of it is that they make the masters students do an extra 'mastery' question, and make exams slightly longer for it, and require a research project in the summer, which I'll get onto.

Onto teaching quality. It's a mixed bag. Some really great professors who go above and beyond, others I have no idea how they got there. For instance, reading off a presentation, struggling to answer student's questions or ignoring them, and simply setting coursework found online with no effort given. Other professors refuse to really 'teach', they just speak. For the nerds in the class its fine, but again for those coming from a non-maths background, its hard to keep up. Some professors also gave off really weird attitude. E.g., asking for something in an email and getting a passive aggressive response, or simply refusing to do basic things like share lecture notes. I will also add here about strikes, because we had quite a few days of them. What really frustrated me wasn't the absence, but how they often did nothing to correct for their days off and expected us to catchup. Not to mention how they would stand outside campus and ask for support, like we aren't already paying tuition fees and not receiving the tuition we paid for?

Modules for the course are varied, a mix of computational and theoretical. Going in you think you may have lots of choice, but you don't. Comp modules have tight deadlines so you really cant choose as many as you want to, and theory modules often have prequesities that you don't have. Changing module is not easy either, they will literally make you suffer if you chose the wrong module (which by the way is pretty easy to do as you can't really figure it out in the timeframe they give) rather than give you the option to change.

Finally, assessments and culture. They were challenging. Some papers were unique, others were just lazy copy-pastes from textbook problems. The culture around the place is really dead. It's quite hard to change the culture of an institution, but to put it in one word - arrogance. Staff support was quite literally non-existent, I only remember once seeing the support officers or advisers (whatever they're called) during freshers, other than that I'm not sure what they do during the year. A friend of mine had a health problem in the week leading up to her first exam, and she wasn't given appropriate adjustments. Also had friends who were told one thing but ended up being completely wrong, like advice on exams, or arrived to an exam room only to find out their name wasn't on the register and had to scramble to get it fixed. Very simple jobs just not done correctly.

As I end my educational career and go onto work life (which I'm happy about, the Imperial name opens up many doors), I realise how broken universities are as insitutions. Professors and PhD students doing 'research', which can now be done by AI much more efficiently. Students paying thousands to travel overseas in hopes for a piece of paper that helps you get a job. Not just for this course but for all the postgrads, think carefully about whether its worth it for you.

TL;dr: don't do the course if you didn't do undergrad maths. Don't do the course if you're not willing to self-study most of it. And don't go to Imperial if you're not an arrogant nerd. DMs open :)

For all Mechanical Engineers at imperial, I’d like to know what offers you were given and what extracurriculars did you take and put in your personal statement. Thank you!

Hi everyone! I’m from Melilla, Spain, and I’m currently in the first year of Bachillerato. I’m hoping to apply to Imperial for Mechanical Engineering in autumn 2027, for 2028 entry. My grades are on track to meet the requirements for Spanish applicants, but I know that meeting the minimum doesn’t necessarily make an application competitive.

I’ve been interested in engineering for a while, especially mechanical design and motorsport. At the moment I’m part of a STEM Racing team as a design engineer, and I’m also taking part in the maths olympiad. Outside school, I’ve taught myself some CAD, Python and C++, built a few basic ESP32 projects, and read Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down and The Design of Everyday Things.

I’m trying to plan the next year without just collecting activities for my application. I’d like to work on one substantial CREST Gold project during the school year, then do a separate, smaller engineering project in the summer. I may also be able to shadow engineers at a wastewater treatment plant, an incinerator and a power station. For work experience, I’m looking at options such as Williams F1, Safran and Leonardo, as well as virtual programmes. I’m especially interested in F1 or robotics, but I’m based in Spain, so I’m not sure which UK opportunities might accept me or whether travel and accommodation would make them impractical.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have applied to Imperial Mechanical Engineering, especially international applicants. What would you focus on over the next year? How much time should I spend preparing for the ESAT, and are there particular kinds of projects or work experience that helped you understand engineering better? I’d also be interested to hear whether a strong personal project is more valuable than trying to fit in several short placements.

I’m not expecting a guaranteed route into Imperial — I’m just trying to make good use of the time I have and choose activities that are genuinely worthwhile. Thanks!

I have some friends from my undergrad visiting for Halloween, and we’d like to go out on the evening, but I can’t really figure out where to go.

I kind of assumed it would be like my undergrad where the union bar throws a big 31st party, but as far as I can tell that’s not open on the 31st?

Does anyone have any recs for clubs etc that London students will be going to 🙏

Hey guys,
I applied for MiM 27fall round 1 and completed my shortlister interview few days ago, I felt kinda messed up the interview (Q1-Q4 fluent enough, but Q5 slightly off topic).
I am wondering how does that affect the assessment, wondering if any current student or alumni could share their experience about the r1 admission rate after interview, thx!

Hi everyone! I’m from Melilla, Spain, and I’m currently in the first year of Bachillerato. I’m hoping to apply to Imperial for Mechanical Engineering in autumn 2027, for 2028 entry. My grades are on track to meet the requirements for Spanish applicants, but I know that meeting the minimum doesn’t necessarily make an application competitive.

I’ve been interested in engineering for a while, especially mechanical design and motorsport. At the moment I’m part of a STEM Racing team as a design engineer, and I’m also taking part in the maths olympiad. Outside school, I’ve taught myself some CAD, Python and C++, built a few basic ESP32 projects, and read Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down and The Design of Everyday Things.

I’m trying to plan the next year without just collecting activities for my application. I’d like to work on one substantial CREST Gold project during the school year, then do a separate, smaller engineering project in the summer. I may also be able to shadow engineers at a wastewater treatment plant, an incinerator and a power station. For work experience, I’m looking at options such as Williams F1, Safran and Leonardo, as well as virtual programmes. I’m especially interested in F1 or robotics, but I’m based in Spain, so I’m not sure which UK opportunities might accept me or whether travel and accommodation would make them impractical.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have applied to Imperial Mechanical Engineering, especially international applicants. What would you focus on over the next year? How much time should I spend preparing for the ESAT, and are there particular kinds of projects or work experience that helped you understand engineering better? I’d also be interested to hear whether a strong personal project is more valuable than trying to fit in several short placements.

I’m not expecting a guaranteed route into Imperial — I’m just trying to make good use of the time I have and choose activities that are genuinely worthwhile. Thanks!

Mine shows “with department” Inspires Scholarship Task: Global Health Management (MSc 1YFT) was my last task!

Applied R1 for imperial’s MSc in strategic marketing, has anyone gotten the interview yet? Thanks

I have submitted the form for this scholarship and received shortlister link to complete the assessment. Is anyone aware of what to expect?

Im an international applicant. Ive applied to Mechanical Engineering in Imperial, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Engineering in Cambridge (St. Johns).

IGCSE - 4A* 3A 1B

A level predicted - 4A* 1A

IG - Math, Additional Math, Physics, Chemistry (A*)
Econ, CS, Hindi (A)
First Language English - FLE (B)

AL - Math, Further Math, Physics, Chemistry (A*)
General English (A)

My ESAT score is around 6.0 overall

Has anyone received their offers for engineering from any university and when can i expect interview offers or admission offers from the ones i’ve applied to?

Cost £28.99 per ticket tho lol and weather was ass, but the photos were lit and the ceremony was beautiful

Im looking to apply to Imperial JMC, and i was hoping students could answer some questions about the university:
1. Is the social life as bad as people make it up to be?
2. Is the high international demographic a good or bad thing? ( do they stick together and form their own cliques )
3. How expensive is 1st 2nd and 3rd year? I would get full loans and 4.4k bursary. But rent and london overall is expensive. Im aware 1st year is the cheapest year due to being in halls and shorter contract, so i would be helpful to know general costs for all years
4. For any Maths/CS/JMC students, how do you find your job prospects? Are they as good as you hoped and did you have enough time to prepare for internships? If not what would you have done differently
5. Is it possible to balance a social life, getting a first for uni and internship prep?

Thats all my general questions, no pressure to individually answer all of them. I would greatly appreciate anyones input even just for a specific question

am I being desperate?

This is my first time applying for a master’s abroad (2027–28), and, I’m OVERWHELMED.

My_qualifications: I’m an MBBS doctor from India with 65% marks. I run a small social-impact startup, have a substantial social media following, and want to work at the intersection of healthcare systems, global health management and innovation. 3 years work ex in India & remote jobs abroad. My goal is either imperial/oxford but I prepped everything by myself watching YouTube and creating agents on Claude.

I’m currently applying to 12 courses across 8 UK universities and 7 fully funded scholarship programmes.

I started preparing in June 2026, when I first learned about Chevening. I knew almost nothing about the process back then. Over the next few months, I researched universities, scholarships, eligibility criteria and deadlines. By September, I’d discovered the Commonwealth Master’s and Shared Scholarships, along with other funding opportunities I hadn’t even known existed.

I’ve even built AI bots to keep me updated on new scholarships alternate days cuz I’m terrified of missing an opportunity.

The thing is, I don’t personally know anyone who has gone through this journey. When I speak to alumni, I hear things like, “I only applied to Oxford and Imperial and got in.”

And I genuinely wonder HOW. 😭

How do people apply to just two universities and two scholarships and get through? Do they have exceptionally strong profiles, great mentors, or are they simply more confident in their applications?

Meanwhile, I’m trying to create as many viable options as possible because I cannot afford to pursue an expensive master’s without full funding.

My biggest fear is spending an entire year preparing applications and still ending up without an admission or scholarship.
I’d love to hear from people who’ve been through this, especially Indian applicants who secured fully funded UK master’s scholarships.

How many universities and scholarships did you apply to?

Is 12 courses across 8 universities excessive?

How competitive is a 65% MBBS profile when combined with entrepreneurial and social-impact experience?

If you got into Oxford, Imperial or another top university with full funding, what do you think made the difference?

Do people even try for so many full ride scholarships?

i got a 4 in French, 5 in english language and biology, 6 in maths, Cs, Business, English lit, chemistry and physics. i am doing Maths, Chemistry, Economics and EPQ at a level. Will my GCSES ruin my chances of getting into EFDS at Imperial? i am planning on resitting maths and english a level and also self-learning further maths to increase my chances to being accepted. Please can you give me your thoughts, thank you!

how is imperial already sending interview invites for non-esat courses? i havent gotten mine is that a bad sign lol

I applied 28th Sept to be considered for round 1 deadline, still shows “with department” wanted to know if anyone has the same status . My boyfriend applied for Strategic Marketing and got a interview meet last week so now I am stressing lol

I’m currently an IB student planning to apply for Imperial College London’s Economics, Finance, and Data Science course for the 2027 intake. My predicted grades was 42/45, with a Math AA 7, Economics 7, and a Language A 6 for my HLs. However, because I do not have a science HL (although I have a 7 predicted for Physics SL) my college counselor told me my admission is going to be less competitive, and I recognized all of the people who got in to imperial EFDS has like two sciences and maths HL. Does anyone know someone who got an offer from EFDS without a sciences HL? 😭

Iam prospective PhD student from India, I wanted to know available nearest options. Actually I don't like living in crowded areas, Iam also thinking of living in remote places relatively cheap, but travelling would be a burden ?

Anyone knows a vacancy. ?

Hi, I’ve applied to materials science at Oxford and chemical engineering at Imperial UCL and Manchester. For my 5th option, I was thinking of imperial materials, as that’s what I applied to at Oxford. Can any students tell me what it’s like and if they enjoy the course at imperia? thanks

Hi, I just got my invite for the material science interview and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice they could give x