Blog posts

Tuition Talk

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

After paying the second half of my tuition fees, it’s fair to say that money has been on my mind a lot this week. One of the reasons that I chose to come to the UK for grad school was the cost. Higher education in the US is infamously expensive and, unlike my undergrad degree, I would be taking on the price of grad school entirely myself. Even factoring in the exchange rates, the cost of a UK MSc was still far less than one from back home. Pretty much a no-brainer to study here, right? However, as an international student, choosing to pursue a master’s degree at Imperial rather than another UK university has been its own financial challenge.

Why it is important to prep for uni over the summer

Elizabeth Chan

Biochemistry

What I wish I knew this when I was a fresher

You often hear from older peers or professional guidance about how different university is from school but it’s never really addressed or emphasised strongly enough what exactly is different. Learning the difference early on can make a big positive impact on your overall university experience. University life, in general, takes time to get used to even when it is positive so preparing more beforehand will make the transition from school to university much smoother.

Find a new study method

The way you study at school will not work at uni.

Being a Mac user in EEE/EIE first year…

Ritvik Shyam

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Pre-Imperial Scenario

Back home in my international school in Indonesia, things were really different from Imperial in many ways. One of the most striking differences was the reputation of owning a Macbook. Would anyone here at Imperial even believe that my school in 2015 had actually proposed a rule “strongly encouraging” (practically imposing) the use of a Macbook as opposed to any other device? A lot of parents actually complained against this new policy and drafted petitions against this imposition and as a result, the school silently softened its stance. Nevertheless, my school has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for two consecutive terms (6 years).

My Part-Time Job Story

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

When you hear students talk about how broke they are, I can 100% say they are probably not over exaggerating. For those of us who live in London, this statement is especially true.

Growing up, most of my friends’ older brothers and sisters worked part-time at the local McDonald’s or Subway to make that extra cash during their uni days. Naturally, I also thought I’d follow the tradition and began stressing over whether or not being a cashier at KFC was a respectable job. When I got to year 12 I started thinking bigger.

Tesco’s

I was smitten with myself. None of my other friends had come up with that idea.

Why You Should Do Science Communications

Elizabeth Chan

Biochemistry

There’s this module called Science Communications in my degree and here is why it is unironically great.

Before starting the Science Communications module as part of the requirements for completing my final year Life Sciences degree, I was quite conflicted about needing to do it as an aspiring research-minded scientist.

You do the SciComms module in your final year of a Biology/Biochemistry degree (as they both belong to the Department of Life Sciences) alongside your literature project which is equivalent to your final year dissertation at other universities. At Imperial, there is the advantage of doing a research project alongside your lecturers or other researchers participating in cutting-edge research to make a real difference to the current scientific field rather than working individually or just with your peers.

Falling Behind

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

So this term started off pretty well.

For the first few weeks, I had a routine going – I got up an hour before my 9am classes (a huge change from waking up 20 minutes before), made myself a healthy lunch, actually managed to get some breakfast down and was up to date with deadlines. I had enough time to see friends and go on a fun night out and I also saved some time at the end of the day to read a little just before bed. Boy, was life going great.

Honestly, I don’t really know what happened after the third week.

The thesis idea hamster wheel

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

The option term is going by at light speed, which means that it is nearly thesis time. And while the course conveners have been quick to tell us that we have plenty of time to sort out projects and not to get too stressed out, I have, in fact, been stressing out about it. In particular, the process of choosing a project idea has been intensely frustrating for me. I would describe it as running on a sort of hamster wheel that cycles through several stages. 

Axe throwing

Marek Cottingham

Physics with Theorectical Physics

When I’m not doing problem sheets, or writing lab reports, or reading ‘recommended reading’ so dense with acronyms I just skip entire paragraphs, I try to relax.

Of course, working out regularly and going to Taekwondo really helps in this regard. But sometimes you just feel like it’s become a routine. A routine where being 2+ weeks behind on problem sheets and taking longer then you estimated to complete anything is the routine.

Ergo, it’s great to break that routine. Recently, RCSU – the science subjects union, organised a trip to Urban Axe Throwing. I don’t know how they know these people exist, but it’s fantastic that they put these things together, particularly since as a teetotal I don’t go to socials at clubs or bars.

UCU Strikes: In a nutshell…

Ritvik Shyam

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Introduction

Many of you are aware that since Thursday, the 20th of February 2020, around 50,000 lecturers, technicians, librarians and other academic and support staff at 74 universities are taking part in a total of 14 days of strike action, staggered through February and March, which will potentially affect about 1.2 million students through lost lectures and tutorials. The inclusion of Imperial College London came after the second round of ballet, where a majority of the staff voted for strike action due to pension and pay-related issues. The strike action is due to last till the 13th of March, with a gradually increasing number of strike days each week.

Reflections from the Dissection Room

Kinan Wihba

Medicine

Cadaveric dissection is becoming obsolete among medical schools. It used to feel like a rite of passage but as part of the curriculum update at Imperial, 1st year students solely use prosections for their anatomy learning.

Whether you have seen a dead body before or not, it seldom prepares you to what you will see in the dissection room (DR). Over the last four terms of medical school, we dissected the entire human body so I decided to write a free-form reflection on my experience emotionally.

The reactions from students in the first session ranged from being absolutely fine to fainting.

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