Schools Imperial College London Interviews?

[BlackPoison94]

Halloz..I'm just wondering if anyone knows what type of questions..or what questions they have asked or likely to ask in their interviews?

Anyone had any experiences?

Thanks!

 

[Mépris]

From what I recall, it varies depending on which subject you're being interviewed for. More often than not, it's very much unlike the Oxbridge interviews, in that it's more of a "hey, let me show you around ICL" kind of thing.

You should note that I *don't* have any first-hand experience with them and have only read through their website quite extensively.

 

[JesseC]

Interviews for undergrad?

A few years ago when I had mine it wasn't too bad. They asked general questions such as 'why do you want to learn physics?', 'what do you think is the most important area of physics and why?'... questions where there isn't a right answer.

If they ask you specific physics question it is unlikely to involve maths. They didn't ask me to do maths, just conceptual stuff like 'what forces are acting on this mug sitting on the table?', 'why doesn't it fall through?', 'what is responsible the opposite reaction force to the weight of the mug?'. (That last one is actually a little tricky!)

Maybe the interview process has changed since four years ago... I think it has more importance to the application process now.

 

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

My friend said that they asked him a question about complex numbers when they interviewed him last year.

I will be interested to hear what the replies to this thread are, too. I will be applying next year and if I am invited for an interview this will be useful.

 

[BlackPoison94]

Thanks everyone for the replies :)

Jesse...apparently they're going rather technical now due to the massive increase in applicants. Ooh, how do you answer the last of your questions?

 

[mal4mac]

If they are like other places they could asking anything - so don't bother planning for it. You can see that from the responses! It will usually be just a 'friendly chat', to make sure you aren't totally barmy. The grades are what count. If you get the grades, they will want to have been nice to you at interview so you will not be scared to go there!

If prof is in a cheeky mood, or bored, he might say 'integrate that!', while pointing at the blackboard to something way beyond A level standard.

Don't panic.

If you can't do it, and are fairly sure it's a tough problem, just smile, and say, 'I can't. I've applied here to learn about stuff like that...' Then, hopefully, he'll laugh and spend the rest of the time being extra nice...

 

[JesseC]

Thanks everyone for the replies :)

Jesse...apparently they're going rather technical now due to the massive increase in applicants. Ooh, how do you answer the last of your questions?

Well then they could ask you about anything that you've learned in your A-level physics or maths up to that point in time. Make sure you're doing your homework :)

Also the answer to the last question is: the force experienced by the Earth due to gravitational pull of the mug is equal and opposite to the force (weight) experienced by the mug due to the gravitational pull of the earth. The wrong answer is: the reaction force from the table is equal and opposite to the weight of the mug, because this is not always true... imagine if you were to tilt the table.

I got the answer wrong at the time, but still got an offer.

Hope you get a nice interviewer who doesn't give you a tough time!

 

[BlackPoison94]

Well then they could ask you about anything that you've learned in your A-level physics or maths up to that point in time. Make sure you're doing your homework :)

Also the answer to the last question is: the force experienced by the Earth due to gravitational pull of the mug is equal and opposite to the force (weight) experienced by the mug due to the gravitational pull of the earth. The wrong answer is: the reaction force from the table is equal and opposite to the weight of the mug, because this is not always true... imagine if you were to tilt the table.

I got the answer wrong at the time, but still got an offer.

Hope you get a nice interviewer who doesn't give you a tough time!

Ah yep...just covered that in Physics today heh.

O I hope so too :P

If they are like other places they could asking anything - so don't bother planning for it. You can see that from the responses! It will usually be just a 'friendly chat', to make sure you aren't totally barmy. The grades are what count. If you get the grades, they will want to have been nice to you at interview so you will not be scared to go there!

If prof is in a cheeky mood, or bored, he might say 'integrate that!', while pointing at the blackboard to something way beyond A level standard.

Don't panic.

If you can't do it, and are fairly sure it's a tough problem, just smile, and say, 'I can't. I've applied here to learn about stuff like that...' Then, hopefully, he'll laugh and spend the rest of the time being extra nice...

Thanks :)

Oh I think I'm going to panic...but I'll just pretend I'm not :P