Sorry about the lack of blogging over the last 6 weeks, it kind of slips my mind completely when I’m at home!

I’ve spent Easter revising and finishing my humanity coursework, interspersed with meeting up from friends from home if/when our uni holidays collide. Especially now everyone seems to be living out, and now that second year properly ‘counts’, it means that people only tend to be home for a few weeks at a time.

Now I’ve just got 1 week of revision left, then 1 week of exams, then 2 weeks in Sardinia on fieldwork!

The good thing about having our summer exams so early is that it gets them out of the way nice and early, the bad thing is that all my housemates still have exams later on in the term and won’t be fun for ages…

Good luck to anyone doing A-levels, hope you get the grades you want

Firstly, apologies to anyone who has already had their interview and this comes too late for you! Better late than never, and as far as I know, interview days have only just begun (in my department at least). I know for most people, university interviews are the first formal interview they’ve had – and also seem pretty scary! So having been through the interview process myself  I thought I’d just give an overview of what to expect and how to prepare from a students point of view. I had 5 interviews and got all 5 offers so although some of my interviews felt like they hadn’t gone too well, I guess they can’t have been too disastrous!

Firstly, and I know its also probably really unhelpful … but don’t stress out too much! You’ll come accross far better if you weren’t up late the night before cramming stuff. Plus, the kind of stuff you tend to get asked in interviews is either

a) stuff from GCSE sort of level at school that you really should know if you’re seriously applying for your subject

b) the kind of weird obscure stuff that you either know or you don’t…chances of stumbling accross it in a book the night before is close to nil!

However, one thing that it is worth keeping up to date with is current affairs in science – all the little things that have happened in the last 2 weeks, and then all the more major things in the last year or so. (especially anything that relates to topics you mentioned in your personal statement).

Another thing, don’t stress too much about what you wear! I wore smart jeans and a cardigan to my interviews – although there were people there dressed in suits. I went to a fairly casual sixth form though, so I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable in a suit; my advice is just to go wearing something you’d feel comfortable in wearing at school.

A point to bear in mind is also that your interview is partly to see what kind of person you are; not just what you know. So expect to be asked about your hobbies, why you want to come to Imperial or to that course in particular. Imperial seems to quite like ‘well-rounded’ people, as my head teacher used to describe it as – people who manage to do we well in their work, but also find time to enjoy themselves.

Your interview is also a good chance to ask questions. Obviously don’t ask something stupid that you could find out for yourself on Google in a minute, or on the department homepage, but if there is something you were wondering about its a good oppurtunity.

Everyone gets interviewed by a member of acadaemic staff – and one top tip is that researchers love talking to people about their research. So if conversation does start drying up, or there are 5 minutes to fill at the end, its a great bet to ask them about what they research – they’d probably love to tell you!

Bear in mind, even if you think the interview went terribly, you might not necessarily be right! At my Imperial interview I got up and down confused on a graph, nearly died running up 4 flights of stairs in heels after my ultra keen interviewer and then lost his pencil somewhere down the back of his desk – and I still got in!

Afterwards, the best thing to do is just go home and relax. Tell people about it if you want but don’t keep replaying it in your head! You’ll hear soon enough how you’ve done, I don’t think departments normally like to leave you hanging for longer than they have to! I heard from Imperial within about a week of my interview, although I know some people have to wait a little longer.

So good luck to everyone applying!

(and to anyone who gets an interview in Earth Science and Engineering, you might see me as a tour guide/helper on the day! )

And if you have any questions, ask and I’ll do my best to answer them!

-Dawn

As promised … a useful post for prospective students. I know I’m a little late for the main open day last week, but there’s still further open days to come, plus most of this is relevant for other uni open days too.

I guess its kind of up to you how many open days you go to, depending on cost, location, how much time off school you can get and the effort involved with each. Plus its worth remembering that if somewhere interviews you, you generally get shown round then. It is also generally possible to get your own little guided tour of somewhere if you never made it to an open day but later want to.

In the end I went to 3 or 4 open days – which was quite useful as I actually decided against applying to what I thought would be my 3rd choice university. Plus I didn’t really intend to apply to Imperial, but my Mum said I might as well go and see…it ended up becoming my first choice!

So, useful tips

• -Do ask questions about something if you aren’t sure
• -But at the same time, most information will be on department websites etc, so don’t ask the obvious
• -Don’t worry about coming alone, plenty of people will ( I certainly did to all of mine)
• -Remember not to base all your opinions on the student showing you around…
• -Gut instinct IS important
• -Taking notes is good, but remember that the vast majority of what is said will already be on the website
• -Try not to judge the campus on the weather that day!
• -If you have the time, its often useful to wander round the area and see what kind of place it is as well – Hyde park or the museums are just across the road from Imperial

The last thing we often get asked when showing people around is whether we can show them student’s bedrooms. The Imperial policy on this isn’t to, because there are just too many people coming round and also its a bit of a security risk letting large groups of people into halls. However what I can recommend is the student accommodation section of the website – which has 360 views of the rooms. They are quite accurate representatives ( they haven’t just picked the massive ones to show or anything! )

Hope some of that is useful! Any other questions – just ask

Apart from the obvious learning of geology stuff, such as the difference between biotite and muscovite mica … I’ve also learnt so much more!

When you come to uni, something a lot of people realise is that what they think is completely normal is actually something no-one else has ever heard of doing. A lot of these things are domestic related…until many people come to uni, the only way they see something done is the way parents do it at home. For example, before I’d come here, I thought it was completely the done thing to put frozen peas in macaroni cheese. Apparently not. Also, I had no idea you could cook rice in the microwave!

The fact you also live with your friends rather than just seeing them at school has also taught me a lot. I never knew how many different ways there are to react to exam pressure – ranging from my complete indifference, to locking yourself away in the library for the month beforehand or to pulling all nighters the week before!

You learn a lot about the people you live with. I’ve also found out that a lot of the fears I had at the start of the year (mainly revolving around ending up with no friends and spending the entire weekend on my own, sitting in my room with nothing to do) were the same for a lot of other people. We just didn’t want to admit to it at the time.

So, looking back, I have actually developed so much as a person for coming to university, coming here is the best decision I have ever made!

PS – Now I promise to get back to regular blogging, and actually do some useful posts for people thinking of applying/ hoping for a place this October.