March 2012 Imperial College London Interview

[Synxervious]

Nah, get the marks first then slowly slowly decide. I have time...

[wannie]

Originally Posted by Synxervious

Nah, get the marks first then slowly slowly decide. I have time...

depends on lifestyle too i guess (and course content/structure!). both are great unis, lesser malaysians go to california though. up to you unless you have an offer from waitlists la. im a graduate but im still leaving them all alone. all we have is time see how la good luck!

[Synxervious]

Just read. You're from Taylor's. Subang, I guess. I'm Hartamas.

California's academic reputation is much better btw. Engineering, rank 3. Social sciences.... Ranked higher than Yale or even Chicago wtf. Imperial.... I have no idea why that's ranked so high in the QS survey. LOL.

And thanks! All the best to you too. Where are you headed? Imperial after all?

[wannie]

Originally Posted by Synxervious

Just read. You're from Taylor's. Subang, I guess. I'm Hartamas.

California's academic reputation is much better btw. Engineering, rank 3. Social sciences.... Ranked higher than Yale or even Chicago wtf. Imperial.... I have no idea why that's ranked so high in the QS survey (and EVERY other survey). LOL.

And thanks! All the best to you too. Where are you headed? Imperial after all?

HOW did you know that I'm from that college? O.o about the ranking, probably because the harder to get in doesn't mean that it's better. It may be harder for us but easier for Americans? And they look at different criteria. I'm going to Cambridge next year. All the best to you too!

[frankchong]

Congratulations Synxervious and Wannie, the universities you got in are fine, they are among the top in the world. How you perform in the future will greatly depend on you rather than which one of the (among the) top universities you go to.
As for as UCB, it is much better than Yale, Chicago ... for science and engineering courses. It has very strong graduate schools. The only draw back of UCB is the large undergraduate population, but if you you are self motivated you should do well. You are going there to learn, not looking for a good baby sitter! Unless your choice is between UCB and Harvard/Stanford/MIT/Caltech (among the American Universities) and you are a very strong student, the choice should be UCB unless you get very generous funding from some of the others. I know there are people who choose Priceton, Yale, CMU ... over UCB, but you should not feel bad. UCB is known to be competitive and some students on the medical track are worried about the grades in UCB may affect their chance to get into a top medical school later on.
As far a liberal arts versus non liberal arts college is concerned, Harvard and Stanford are not typical liberal arts college, they have top science/math/engineering departments too. If you are into performance arts, you will want to go to Harvard or Stanford not MIT or Caltech eventhough there are exceptions in MIT or Caltech. There is also a strong start up culture among the student population in these universities.
Regarding Chem E, Caltech is very strong in Chem E, but there are very few Malaysian Undergraduates at Caltech. However, it could be a good choice for graduate school.

regards,
Frank

[Synxervious]

@wannie: Wah pro. Why are you even posting on the ICL forum then. Don't understand. o.O I know you're from subang because of a previous post you made.

@Frankchong: Honestly I don't care much about how Yale, Stanford, UCB are ranked relative to one another. Hand me Yale or Stanford, and I will work miracles.

And thanks I think the culture of a US school fits me better, lah.

Btw, Wannie, where did you apply to and where did you get wl'd at? I'm trying like a madman to get off the Yale waitlist lol.

[wannie]

Originally Posted by Synxervious

@wannie: Wah pro. Why are you even posting on the ICL forum then. Don't understand. o.O I know you're from subang because of a previous post you made.

@Frankchong: Honestly I don't care much about how Yale, Stanford, UCB are ranked relative to one another. Hand me Yale or Stanford, and I will work miracles.

And thanks I think the culture of a US school fits me better, lah.

Btw, Wannie, where did you apply to and where did you get wl'd at? I'm trying like a madman to get off the Yale waitlist lol.

Why do you want to be excluded from the WL? No harm done, just wait and see la. I still need the imperial offer for some complex reason.

[jordanblx]

Originally Posted by wannie

*waves to say hi* I'm on a gap year too I personally know 5 people who are in the same situation as we are. Though one of them will be taking 3 gap years due to sg NS.

Owh.... hi.... I got my Imperial offer already... but still have to worry about financial problem... aiks...