In the last blog entry, I showed you how to optimize your laptop hardware. Now I’d like to show you my three favorite tips for making a quantum leap on the performance side itself.
Learn shortkeys
When you think about what amount of mouse movements we daily do across the screen, you could realize that there is a huge loss of time. Fortunately, there is a free shortcut for most common programs: Shortkeys! Personally speaking, I’m always happy when someone shows me a useful shortkey.
In the meantime, there are also many websites that list the most common shortkeys of e. g. Google Chrome (open tab, switch tab, etc.) or Adobe Reader (marking, commenting etc.). Entire books have even been written about Shortkey’s. But I can’t tell you to what extent these are any good…
Anyways, think about which programs you use frequently and google for shortkeys!
Effort: medium – you’ll have a short settling-in period though! Time saving: enormous! 🙂
Use the Snipping Tool and other little helper programs
Whether you need to copy out a meme or create elaborate summaries of your lecture slides – the Snipping Tool saves you a lot of work. Back in the days, I used to take screenshots of everything and then cut them out with paint. Oh, man, today this feels like the Stone Age to me. Press Windows key, enter snip, press enter button – finished! The program is open. Using Tip one: Windows CTRL + N – and you can cut out what you want to cut!
Another desktop favorite of mine is for example Qtranslate. A double-click is all it takes to understand the unknown vocabulary in the lecture slides! In case of doubt, it is also possible to consult several translation sources.
Last but not least – Sticky Notes! My favorite for listing all the things I want to do on the computer. It helps maintain focus and does not reset after reboot.
Effort: low – once installed, ready for use! Time saving: enormous
Learn to write 10 fingers professionally
I was lucky enough to have already gotten into a professional course in 2006 through my family (with certificate and all the trimmings). After years of practice on the computer, this technique saves me so much time! It was very tedious, but now I have an average typing speed of between 96 – 102 WPM (see screenshots).
On the website 10fastfingers you can measure your writing speed – do you have room for improvement? If so, a training session might be worth considering 🙂 In the meantime there must certainly be online courses for this.
Effort: high, time and exercise intensive! Time saving: enormous
Otherwise, a professional speech recognition software might be worth considering when writing long texts. Huge progress has been made in this area over the past few years. Furthermore, some of my doctoral friends tell me about their successful use of such programs!
Let me know what you think about the tips + what kind of additions you have (again I am curious!)
Many greetings and a good start to the Spring Term
I have some really exciting news- I found out that I am graduating my intercalated BSc in Global Health with a 2.1! I am so relieved and happy! I am now a few weeks into 5th year (yeah don’t ask…we only got 4 weeks of summer).
So with graduation in mind I thought it would be quite timely to discuss how Imperial celebrates its students here…
The medics have our own bits and bobs- we have arts dinner and a sports dinner where we award club of the year/team of the year. Netball won club of the year this year which is so cool! Additionally the medics have our own colours ceremony- where we thank the leaving final years for their dedication to Imperial College School of Medicine. Loads get nominated for colours but only a few can get them every year- it really is an honour. And for anyone that goes above and beyond they may even be awarded an Outstanding Service Award or Fellowship (oooooh!).
I was lucky enough to be able to go to a couple more university wide awards this year which were SO much fun. Imperial really does know how to throw a party.
Sports Awards
The Imperial Sports Awards were held by Sport Imperial on May 11th 2017. It was held in a marquee in the middle of our campus- ideal. We had a Medics Table (quite loud), and had such a blast of a time with Mike Tindall as guest speaker. Medics brought in Club of the Year here too (Netball woo) and we also had Outstanding Contribution to Sports winner being a medic. Go us! Food was delicious and Imperial really knew how to put on a show!
Union Awards
We went in force down to the union building in South Kensington and had a great night. Here, lots of medics picked up Imperial wide colours, and also we picked up a couple of awards for our student activities. Then the Imperial Union laid on a champagne reception for us…a great night!
So all in all Imperial and the unions here LOVE celebrating student achievement and voluntary work. And in return us students really enjoy celebrating staff achievements back- nominating our teachers for teaching awards etc. It is such a lovely environment that makes sure that hard work and dedication is always praised. Not only do you get to join clubs and societies here that you love, but you also get awarded for when you go above and beyond to make sure other students can make the most out of those opportunities too! It’s awesome here.
One of my highlights this year at Imperial has been the honour of holding the role of Year Representative. All in all, it has been a lot of work. But it has been immensely rewarding nonetheless.
Here’s the actual job description for a Year Representative:
Act as a voice for your Year Group in Staff-Student Committee Meetings
Collect feedback from your year group
Inform your year group of the department’s response
Liaise with lecturers about tutorials and any other matters
Organise summer revision sessions
Your reward: Free Lunch during Staff Student Committee Meetings (Twice a Term)
Here’s what I’ve got up to, with the help of my fellow Year Rep, Anthony (AKA A Bold Ant):
The actual roles stipulated above and…
Setting up in an informal events committee
Starting a Weekly Update (newsletter featuring tutorial work, exam dates, social opportunities, puns + a fun picture showing what members of our year have got up to that week)
Obtaining content for the weekly update
Emailing the Student Office
Visiting lecturers officers if they haven’t replied to an email
Messaging MatSoc Committee members to check when events will be happening
Creating polls to help MatSoc know which events our year are interested in
Promoting said events via the Weekly Update
The truth is, you put in as much as you get out. There was definitely no obligation to do all of this, but it’s been a lot of fun to do, so why not?
Costume Day No. 2
I also mentioned the events committee. It’s essentially a facebook group chat of 10 or so people. When someone suggests an event, 2-6 of us will pitch in to bring it to a reality. This is the usual process:
1st Pre-lecture Breakfast
Events we’ve run this year have included:
2 x Pre-lecture Breakfasts
2 x Fancy Dress Days
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Christmas Jumper Day & Secret Schanta
Valentines Day Pick Up Lines (Materials Related of course)
Pub Crawl**
Hall Crawl **
Black Tie Cocktail Night** (One of our own in a qualified bartender)
**Definitely not in tandem with the department
Chinese New Year and Christmas Jumper Day
Other events I’ve organised include:
A Christmas Dinner Trip to China Town
A Weekend Trip to Spain 🙂 (Why, you ask? Why not?)
China Town and Materials in Santander 😀
Most of these events have been run completely independently from the department (besides obtaining the room booking for them). But the department was so impressed by our turn out from our first pre-lecture breakfast that they fully subsidised our second pre-lecture breakfast. #materialslove
It’s an amazing privilege to be able to give back to the department and support my fellow students; so much so, that I light up with joy each time I look back on the last two terms. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve had a fantastic time thus far, and I can’t wait until next term.
Firstly, a disclaimer. I am in no way trying to slander Imperial College London and the Physics department. They are being very supportive and understanding of my newly developed situation. This is more of a personal account of what’s been happening in life, because answering the question ‘Hey, you’ve not been around…what’s going on?’ gets tedious a hundred iterations in.
Around June, I had my last two exams of first year postponed to the September re-take period. I spent a healthy chunk of the summer revising and felt on track to do just well enough to be ready for second year. Sitting in the exams, I frantically counted up how many marks I was absolutely certain I would be awarded. Happily sure that I had at least passed, I continued with life.
Skip forward to a holiday to Tenerife with my step-mum and sister. After a great day of diving, surfing and getting ridiculously sun burnt, I got an email telling me I had failed one of the exams with a mark of 37. This was, of course, devastating for someone with the anti-failure mindset fairly common at Imperial and such places. I had a cry, called my senior tutor, had a moan, accepted my fate, and ate an entire Sambuca watermelon. My poor sister and step-mum just decided that leaving me to be was easier than trying to tell me that it wasn’t actually the end of the world. One – because I responded with more crying when she tried, and the other – because she was three and it was bedtime. Luckily this was the last day of the holiday, so the only obstacles between me and my bed was a flight.
Regrouped and at a healthier level of sadness a week later, I found out that my retake next June would be capped at 40%. So, I had to do something for a year, take one exam, get my pass and continue with my course – It all started to seem less terrible and more survivable.
The only thing I could do to improve the situation was fight against the decision to cap the exam. I filled out a few forms, talked to a few people and sent off the appeal application, promptly forgetting it existed. Meanwhile, since I was not receiving student finance, I couldn’t even nearly afford the room I was living in and moved out into a family friend’s spare room. It was very cheap and there was a cat, but it took me about an hour and a half to get to uni. All I needed here was a few societies, some meetings, Outreach work and therapy, so the long commute was worth the low rent. I also couldn’t go live back at home because my room had been redesigned for my little sister and it’s way too far away for a daily commute.
I got called into a meeting by my senior tutor with the subject ‘urgent’ sometime in November. Mildly panicked, I was then told that the meeting would be in the office of the department head, since it was such an important matter. Completely panicked out of my mind, I was introduced to the people present and it was explained to me that I actually never failed and a clerical error had occurred instead. I had actually scraped a 2:1 for the year, which is all I needed to achieve the main goal of staying on the year in Europe course.
I then had two options: wait for a year and rejoin the 2nd years or rejoin my year then, taking the missed lab cycles instead of the tutorials and spending any hope of free time on those tutorials and extra help from my personal tutor and senior tutor. This sounded like being busy to the point of death and I figured it would be just about possible if I hadn’t now obtained another 3 jobs to pay for this all and wasn’t living so far away. I firmly decided to not die for physics yet and wait out the year.
To add to the plot, it then turned out that, although the department takes responsibility, I had also added to the chain of events by wrongly marking one of the booklets in the exam, which was then not assigned to anyone and was simply 15 marks flying around unclaimed in the spreadsheet. This was due to a combination of errors, unfortunate coincidences and general bad luck.
The department has been great since – they are paying for my tuition next year, offering me help and access to the online resources and, as always, I have the amazing support of Mery Fajardo who is a beacon of fabulosity for anyone who knows her. A meeting has taken place to basically change every aspect of the marking system that broke down and to ensure none of the same issues ever occur. Realistically, these things happen in all departments, in all universities and in most parallel universes. It’s just a big fat boo when it happens to you.
To sum up:
If you count marks in the exam and you can see an easy 40 your’e certain you have, don’t just believe that that didn’t happen – at least ask to see your paper.
It’s not the end of the world if you fail!!!
Sambuca watermelons are not designed for a single sitting.
Really focus on labeling your answer booklets correctly. Everyone is mega stressed in exams and things like that are so easy to mix up in that state.
Don’t read important emails until the last day of your holiday.
“Here’s your first summative assignment.”
03/11/15
“1st term’s over! Merry Christmas and a happy new year!”
18/12/15
“Welcome back. How were your holidays?”
11/01/16
“This term’s tough. More assignments and labs!”
15/02/16
“Yeah, I’m going home for Easter.”
23/03/16
“How are exam preparations coming along?”
25/04/16
“The first exam actually went pretty well.”
29/04/16
“I’m really glad they’re over.”
01/06/16
“Congratulations on passing the year. See you in the 2nd.”
19/07/16
I finished my 1st year at Imperial several months ago, and it truly went by too fast. Maybe it’s because as I’m getting older, every other year is a lesser fraction of my life, but who knows in fact.
Besides that, I tried to make the most of it, and in some aspects, I did. That makes me really happy, but there are other things that I wanted to try out or accomplish (like rock-climbing or a more regular club attendance), but did not in the end.
Of my first year at least.
So, from all my highs and lows over this past, eventful and simply wonderful year at Imperial, here are 11 tips for you to own your 1st year.
1.Be the one to say “hi” first
At Imperial, you will come to meet lots of new people from many different places, and make some pretty good friends. I say, be the one to muster up the courage to walk up to the cool guy or pretty girl you have your eyes on, and simply introduce yourself without expecting anything in return.
Be as glamorous as you need to be.
You may end up as friends, or you may not click with that person. Anyway, you will come to develop your courage and conversational skills. Soon enough, you’ll learn how to approach different people and how to start and lead a conversation.
2.Try as many new things as humanly possible
If you’re moving to a large city like I did, then there will probably be many more activities or opportunities available to you as a university student. This may include activities like calligraphy, pole-dancing, kendo, photography, skydiving, or even archery.
Your No. 1 mission is to go to ALL the stalls at the Freshers Fair on October 4th.
In a bigger city, there are also many charitable causes to volunteer for, and many opportunities for a part time job, like bartending or tutoring.
The point of trying lots of new things is to genuinely learn what you’re into and not, rather than saying “I don’t think I’ll like it.”
3.Learn how to learn
The lecture starts, and you pull out your paper and pen, but you see your classmate across the room with a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with his stylus ready to jot notes down on MS Word.
We all have our learning styles – these are whichever helps us learn more effectively. See what things you have available to aid your learning, apply them and evaluate how helpful they are, in order to find out your most effective learning method.
And I mean whichever method aids your learning. (Taken during our Halloween dress-up)
Personally, writing things down helps my learning a lot. I vary from using pen and paper to a laptop depending on the pace at which the lecturer speaks. If lecture notes are already provided, then I would print them or work on an iPad or other device to edit the .pdf file.
4.Not everything is a competition
If you’re sportive, you may understand the competitiveness of a race – from start to finish, your efforts are invested into the steps you need to take in order to win. But at university, I don’t believe there should be competition where your academic performance is to be compared to those of your classmates. Sure, you may want to get good/great grades, but don’t seek to get the best grades.
When I started my 1st year, I felt I had get (one of) the highest grades in my year group. I did for our first summative (graded) assignment. Afterwards, however, I felt unnecessarily stressed in trying to maintain that standard. Instead, I felt I was not performing as well as I knew I could. Took me a while to realize and accept this as I am within a group of students who normally perform academically excellent.
5.Figure out what you want out of your time at uni
You may be starting your studies at university because you want to become a doctor and open up a hospital, or you want to contribute to the development of bionic prosthetic devices (this one’s mine). If your goals are crystal clear to you, and advancing your education at university is the next step, then figure out the following steps you need to take to get to your goal at whatever pace you want.
However, you may not be 100% sure about what you want. And that’s fine. Your first step is not to worry too much about it. Then spend some time exploring the many opportunities available to you. One of them must resonate at your frequency. When you’ve got it, take massive action on those first steps and accelerate towards your goal.
6.Keep a budget and track your expenses
As you’re moving out of your home, leaving your parent(s) or guardian(s), you will need to be on top of your finances if you want to survive.
Just kidding, you will definitely survive! However, knowing exactly where you’re spending your money allows you to cut back on the unnecessary costs and save up for what really matters to you.
Want to purchase a new computer/camera? Then start saving up a couple pounds a day by, for example, making your own food rather than buying food at the cafeteria.
7.Don’t be afraid of disappointing anyone
Give it your honest, best shot. You’ll realize you’re more capable than you think.
In your years ahead at university, you will come to face great challenges that will test your will. These may be mostly academic, but they may also involve another person, group, business/company, etc. Whatever the case, lose the fear of what anyone will think about you if you don’t get that job, or fail the test, or not end up as the top student, or simply lose.
Honestly, it’s a toxic feeling that will eventually break your will, no matter how try you hard to fight it. I experienced it during my exams. As I was afraid of disappointing one particular person, I did not perform as well as I really could on two exams. I’m glad I still passed both, but I learned my lesson the hard way.
But I didn’t lose. No. Battles are only lost if you learn nothing from them. But I definitely did.
You may be asking yourself how. I asked myself that so many times. It all boils down to accepting yourself as you are at any moment, and simply focusing on the task at hand and nothing else. Sounds easier said that done; it is, but it also becomes easier with practice.
8.Be encouraged, rather than discouraged
Here at Imperial, you will come to meet people who have a deep passion about what they do – whether that is their degree course, a sport, or even an art – and they’re really good at it.
But instead of “comparing your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20” (Yahya Bakkar) and feeling discouraged, talk to that person about their passion and learn from them. Ask them what makes them passionate, and how they’ve been able to keep at it for however long.
So if you share an activity as a mutual interest with someone else, learn from that person instead of distancing yourself from the activity altogether. Trust me, I understand that it could be quite scary being honest, but if you truly want to grow in that area, then have faith it will all be alright, because it will.
9.Cherish your time at university
Make friends and spend valuable time with them.
I was once hiking through the Seven Sisters Country Park toward Eastbourne, and I came to meet a UCL graduate. Curious to know what advice she had for a fresher like me, she told me this: Cherish your time at university.
She helped me to remember the position I am in, that after 3 years I may start working for a company and may no longer get to experience the spontaneity and liveliness of a university campus. I have come to know that I greatly enjoy it, and I will dearly miss it.
So I give you the same advice as you’re about to start uni. From start to finish, spend every second doing something significant to you, be happy and appreciate what you’ve got.
10. Do more than the expected minimum
While being around London, I once met an Imperial alumnus who studied Physics and later on went to do a PhD at Oxford in Physics as well. At such encounters, I always try to ask for advice a new student like me could use. He told me that though I receive a minimum amount of work in my course, which is expected of me to complete/do, to go beyond that and seek further knowledge.
This means that, for example, though your lecturers will assign problem sheets for the next session, do not only complete those, but also seek extra problems from the list of supplementary books. And more! Your lectures will probably be a collection of specific details from different sources, like mines were, but do search for those reading materials and read up on extra details, which may help you understand the whole subject!
Remember to never do less, but more.
11.Love and develop yourself
I am beautiful no matter what I wear, do or have.
You are a body, mind and soul, and you can develop all of these three with appropriate training.
Body: As a university student, gym memberships are normally cheaper, so set up a routine, go with a more-experienced friend, or whatever else may work out for you and build the beautiful temple that is your physical body.
Mind: Here you will come to learn new things that will challenge all that you’ve learned previously, which you also may find truly interesting. If so, invest the necessary amount of time to expand your knowledge and understanding of your degree course or anything else that may interest you.
Soul: As for your soul, happiness is key. Carefully pick the activities you take part in, the people you spend time with, the places you visit, and how you spend your time in general. Make sure that whatever you’re doing, you are genuinely happy or know that you will be happy after having finished/overcome something.
Note that I am not an expert in any of the three. I am still learning of ways to develop myself in these aspects, and I’ve come to realize that there is also no deadline. Anyway, for further inspiration I would suggest meeting those that are experienced in person, or following them online.
As I post this, it’s September 30th and the final batch of freshers arrive at the halls tomorrow. For my 2nd year at Imperial, I chose to be a hall senior and have worked with the other hall seniors, sub-wardens and wardens of the Woodward Buildings (and the Costume Store this year!) to organize a fortnight of daily events that we’re sure our freshers will enjoy.
This year, I aim to be much more consistent with my studies and extracurricular activities, which also includes blogging. Though my 1-year term as an Imperial blogger is coming to and end, and I am uncertain that I will get the opportunity to continue. Though for the length that this blog is up, I’ll try to promote it as much as I can. If I could help to spread some advice to at least 1 fresher, I’ll be more than happy! 😀
If you have found any of these tips useful in any way, please let me know in the comments! I like comments. 😀 It lets me know people actually read this stuff (because I have no way to track views) and appreciate it enough to say it or ask a question.
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’ Nothing describes life at university better than this quote by Dickens. Here at Imperial, I had the best experiences in my entire life and, frankly, not so good ones. But the highs definitely outweigh the lows. So here is my perspective of life at Imperial.
How university differs from high school:
Quite simply, it is all down to you. Whether you want to attend lectures, tutorials (aka seminars) or solve the problem sets, it really is all up to you. There is a greater sense of maturity which could either be good or bad. You have to depend on yourself, there is no one opening the curtains in the morning and nagging you to go to lectures; you just have to do it. Which means you might be tempted not to do it all. You bear the responsibility of getting an education here; you have infinite resources at your disposal and it is up to you to take full advantage of them.
There really is no spoon feeding; if you don’t understand something go to office hours, ask your tutors. Your lecturers simply do not have the time to ensure that everyone has understood the lecture; it is a tight schedule. With that being said, there is a great amount of support system, your tutors namely who help you with problem sheets and answer most of your questions. As well as the lecturers themselves; you can pop in during office hours to clear any doubts or just e-mail them.
There are deadlines; hard deadlines. If you don’t get it in before, say, 4:30 p.m. on a Friday it is a ZERO! No marks deducted, just zero. So you better hand it in on time. And, this being Imperial, there is at least 101 things to complete each week. Different courses have different workloads, but at the end of the day they are all designed to challenge you, some more than others while a few will have you pulling your hair once in a while. Stress inevitably has an omnipresence here but I honestly can’t imagine my life without it (will I finish this on time? How many problems do I have to solve before the tutorial? Did I finish my lab report?). I like the adrenaline rush I get when I hand in an assignment just in time and, observing mass hysteria first hand when people scramble to get things done, is perhaps one of the most hilarious thing I have seen. Well, perhaps not for the students who are racing against the clock! You learn to adapt quickly with the stress and just get on with it. Eventually.
Becoming independent:
This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of university life. There is nobody here to take care of you, you need to do that for yourself. It was a very daunting prospect for me, I must confess, especially coming from a home where everything was taken care for me (I didn’t even make my own bed). Which was perhaps not a good decision made by my parents-to spoil me so. So if I could do it, it will be a piece of cake for you. Even now, after four month of living alone, I am astounded that I managed to survive. I would never have done anything by myself were it not for the fact that I had no other option. It is either doing the laundry or have nothing to wear, washing the dishes or eating from plastic plates, buying groceries or having no milk for breakfast the next day.
However, there are times when I miss having everything taken care of, to be able to lounge all day in bed without having to get takeout (no, after four months of living alone, I still haven’t learned how to cook. At this stage I have accepted the fact that I may never cook!). But knowing that I could do it all without anybody’s help is my most empowering, and surprising, achievement.
70% is the new A*:
Studying at Imperial inevitably means that you are surrounded by many great minds. It is quite difficult to find your identity because you are no longer the ‘smart kid’ and perhaps intimidating to know that no matter how hard you are working you are nowhere near the top of the class, as was the case back in high school. Though there are moments when everybody is just as lost as you are and you feel relieved that you are not the only one.
A small, but necessary heads up, when you see 70% on your test paper, you do not sulk, you party! You may be used to getting 90%+ in high school but that will not happen in university, at least not in as a regular a basis as back then. And it is OKAY. It is not meant to be easy, it is meant to be much more challenging, training you to really use your understanding to solve bizarre problems (perform a material balance on a tree??!!).
Being a first year studying at Imperial you would most likely live at South Kensington; the best place to live in London. I may be partial but having museums at your doorstep, Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park a mere 5 minutes’ walk away and Oxford Street and Harrods (for a bit of shopping) a 20 minute walk away is absolutely brilliant. Yes, it is more expensive than other places but it is definitely worth it. There is so much going on from plays to art exhibitions to comedy, there really is no excuse for you to stay in during the weekend (except perhaps to complete your coursework that you have been putting off for ages and the deadline is in two days!!).
To summarise, university is where you learn how you can cope with life. Setting up a bank account, finding new accommodation for the next year, paying bills is just a small part of what you learn how to do now as opposed to having your parents do it. It is not just about academia, although that is main reason you are here (at least I hope it is!), it is a character building experience. A priceless experience.
It has been all hush hush and rumours for a while about the Teddington situation. For those of you that don’t know, Teddington is the home of the Imperial Medical School’s sports teams for almost a century. It is a sports ground that is historic and means a great deal to the Imperial Medics past and present.
Having talked to many alumni and students it seems that everyone has been devastated by the news that all student activity will be suspended at Teddington after Imperial purchased a new sports site.
Dariush Hassanzadeh-Baboli – President of the Imperial Medics Union (ICSMSU) and Maredudd Harris the Clubs and Socs Officer sent the entire medical school an email earlier in the week …”The first time ICSMSU heard about the news was the same time as the rest of the students at Imperial College. Both the Faculty of Medicine and ICSMSU are unhappy and disappointed at the lack of warning, let alone consultation, with regards to moving ICSM Sports from their home ground of over 80 years. Such big decisions, that disrupt the history and traditions of our medical school, should not be made without the students being consulted.”
Since then, surveys and petitions have been abundant. My news feed on Facebook and twitter is covered with alumni and students standing up for the history of our medical school sports teams.
Teddington is wrapped in tradition and pride. Lord Beaverbrook, a consultant, bought the land in 1935 and gave it to St Marys (which later merged with other med schools to form Imperial). This was bought at the request of Lord Moran (the Dean of Medicine at the time!). Since then thousands of students have played on the land and have created memories that have been passed on through generations of sports teams. Even on the first day I went to Teddington in freshers I already began to get a sense of the homely feel of the grounds.
The prospect of travelling up to 2 hours from clinical sites in future years to get to a new sports ground seems like a bit too much. Doing sports already is a big ask for me, but when a massive commute (and thus expenditure on travel) is involved it’s just not going to happen. And this is probably true for a lot of students sadly. We should be doing everything we can to encourage sports not discouraging…surely!?
So now it seems everyone, old and new, is coming together to support the cause. Alumni from Imperial and Marys that are now located around the world are getting in touch to show their support. Everyone is coming together to keep a bit of Imperial that we all love and want to hold on to.
Imperial Medical School is full of an incredible heritage and history that doesn’t deserve to be destroyed. I really believe that the traditions of Imperial should be embraced and celebrated for ages to come.
I just can’t stay away. I received a really good comment on an old post recently which I wanted to give a decent, long answer to publicly as I think it asks some great questions which will be relevant to many people thinking about choosing their firm and insurance universities very soon! The comment was thus:
Hi, I’ve got an offer to come to Imperial this year to study Biology, I’ve already got my grades because I took a gap year, but I am torn between choosing York and Imperial primarily because York has been ranked higher for student satisfaction and I’m worried going to Imperial I may slightly miss out on the ‘student experience’ living in London. I just wanted to know how you’re enjoying the course there and how good the support from tutors is and everything? I’d be really grateful if you got back to me. Cheers!
I’m going to answer this in three chunks. Numero uno…
The ‘Student Experience’
Imperial is a very academically rigourous university and your exams in first year do count so studying has to be a major priority whilst you are a first year. You’ll find that most people at Imperial study very hard and have lots of lab reports and problem sheets and projects to be getting on with (not trying to put you off, it’s just the truth and it sets you up well for good academic habits later on). As such, from my experience anyway, there isn’t so much of a big party/drinking culture at Imperial as there is at a lot of other universities. For me personally, this isn’t a problem as I don’t drink and I’m not interested in clubbing. I have a lot of friends who enjoy this aspect of university life and if you want to go out and experience London night life, you will find others who want to do that too. There’s also the legendary sports night at the Union on a Wednesday which many of my friends go to every week and love. Imperial, like most other places, has tons of societies, clubs and teams which also form an important part of your student life, and the Union and your departmental society organises loads of events like balls and club nights throughout the year. I feel that I have an excellent ‘student experience’ at Imperial, made up of my societies and hobbies, Union events, hall events and hanging out with friends. If the partying aspect if what you mean by student experience, it does exist at Imperial but be aware that not everybody will be interested in it and it’s not as pronounced as some other universities.
Biology Course Itself
The great thing about undergraduate biology at Imperial is that you take courses in all the core aspects of biology in your first year so you get a decent grounding in all areas before you specialise. Obviously there are certain areas I enjoy more than others but despite how much I hated studying, say, the life cycles of various fungi, it’s actually been really useful to start seeing links between different areas of the course. There are some truly excellent lecturers and I’ve found that most of them are very approachable and are always happy to answer questions by email, or if there’s something more serious going on, to have a one to one meeting. We’re also grounded in basic lab skills very early on which is very useful. Most of the lecturers are doing, or have done, amazing research themselves which means we’re being taught by people who are literally on the cutting edge of their field.
Tutor Support
This is a tricky one as I want to be honest without coming across to harshly! There are two types of tutorial in biology, academic tutorials which focus on a problem sheet relating to your lectures that week, and personal tutorials which are usually one to one and are there to talk about your progress, exam results and any problems you have. The academic tutorials are great as you get to look at different topics in detail, in a small group which allows you to have your questions answered personally and in depth rather than having to go through email. Sometimes you’re set an essay after the tutorial and you can contact the academic tutors via email whilst writing the essay to receive guidance and ask questions. Conclusion: I think our academic tutorial system is pretty great. That said, I think the personal tutorial system leaves something to be desired. I don’t think we meet often enough with our personal tutors and I’ve found it hard sometimes to know what to do in situations where I need help on a more pastoral level. I think this is something which could do with an overhaul in the biology department. There is also a senior tutor assigned to the biologists who you can go to if you need support from someone a bit higher up and I’ve found my senior tutor to be absolutely excellent in this capacity. I had a rather unpleasant experience with an acdemic tutor who was quite insensitive to a health problem and when I asked the biology undergraduate office for help with this, my senior tutor immediately set up a meeting with me to discuss it and find a solution. Conclusion: There are lots of very good points about tutor support in the department but there are bad points which I don’t want to lie about.
Phew that was long. I hope this helps the original commenter and anyone else with similar questions. Drop more comments if you have more questions, and have a lovely and blessed Easter!
There have been a few phrases that I have adopted since coming to University and they have been detrimental to my bank account balance and lifestyle choices. ‘I am treating myself‘ or ‘I deserve this’ have been absolutely awful. When I walk into Sainsbury’s and see a large Lindt bar on the shelf calling my name I manage to convince myself I need or deserve a treat…which is never, ever the case.
Another great phrase is ‘you’re only a fresher once’. Because…it’s true. It is an excuse to do pretty much anything ridiculous as you have the excuse that it is all part of a ‘fresher experience’.
However, this week for RAG Week I have had to confront a new phrase: ‘It’s for charity’. This one tugs at the heart strings and has led me to do some ridiculous things this week all in the name of charity.
‘Shall we go out tonight’
Normal reaction- I’m so tired and have important lectures tomorrow.. I can’t.
RAG Week reaction- It’s for charity…why not!
‘Go on stage and have a race to eat a burger covered with Gin with a stranger’
Normal reaction: eww no
RAG Week reaction- It’s for charity…why not!
‘Run around London dressed as a superhero and complete challenges (like interrupting a date and flirting with one of the people on the date).‘
Normal reaction: No, that’s not really acceptable human behaviour?
RAG Week reaction- It’s for charity…why not!
‘Shall we get on the circle line tube, but instead of having a destination we just get off at every stop and go to a pub…and let’s start at 10am.‘
Normal reaction: Do you need help, are you an actual alcoholic?
RAG Week reaction- It’s for charity…why not!
You get the picture… It’s been a great week full of fancy dress and outrageous events. It has been a week full of these ‘excuses’ to do things and I have noticed them more and more as I got to the final few days. I have come to adore and appreciate the phrases and will be sad now that the ‘it’s for charity’ excuse has gone.
However, just remember…if you think you do deserve a treat, you convince yourself you are doing something good for charity or you are just embracing the fresher experience you must be prepared to be in potentially very embarrassing situations (e.g. waking up drunk midweek and proceeding to send drunk videos…to everyone).
P.S. Below please find a Promo Video of a Hot Dog (my friend) being interviewed for Channel 5 during RAG Week…It was for charity.
If you have been following my blog for any period of time you will know that I frequently like to talk about the lack of women at Imperial. As most of my friends will tell you, this is something I feel pretty strongly about (no for real, even if they care 0% about the gender ratio, I rant about it so often they will still be able to tell you why it can be hard to be a woman here). I do think it’s important for Imperial ladies to stick together and to know what to expect so here we go, from one female to fresher to (hopefully!) another.
1. Don’t be surprised if you move in and find that there are only a couple of other girls on your floor/in your house. My kitchen actually defies The Ratio as there are 6 girls and 1 guy but this is because they don’t house girls in the basement or ground floor of Fisher so the girls are concentrated on the upper floors. I could write a whole blog post about why I disagree with this policy but I’ll save that for another day… Anyway, don’t be surprised to find yourself surrounded by lads. It’s unlikely there will be no girls so make an effort to find them and get talking!
2. Don’t be surprised if you overhear boys talking about how there are no hot girls on their courses. This is the most ridiculous thing that an Imperial guy can come out with. Guys who say this will probably also deny the fact that not enough is being done to encourage women into scientific and engineering careers. They’re massive fools. You are not here to act as eye candy for them, you’re here because you worked damn hard to get in to a world class university and get an amazing degree in an exciting field.
3. Make an effort to make close friendships with girls. A lot of my best and closest friends at Imperial are guys and I absolutely love them all but I think it’s really important to have girl friends here. I have an equally amazing group of lady friends who I can talk to about anything and just get stuff that the boys don’t.
4. Talk to older students about their experiences being a woman in your field. I’ve been lucky to meet a few older students doing awesome stuff in biology and I’ve found it really useful chatting to them about how they’ve found it pursuing their masters and doctorates.
5. Join a girl club! There are a few societies and clubs at Imperial for girls and people who support girls! WSET , FemSoc and stuff like Robogals, who organise for school pupils to come in to Imperial and learn to build lego robots in a bid to increase the exposure of young girls to the possibility of pursuing engineering. I’m not currently in any of these societies as they just weren’t right for me this year, but they do really good work and are well worth checking out!
Being a lady scientist is pretty great and education for girls about all the possibilities the world of science, medicine and engineering holds for them is improving all the time. You should definitely be proud of being a female student at Imperial at this time. Sounds pretty cheesey but you’re paving the way for the girls who will come after you. For more advice, check out Mala’s post about surviving Imperial as a girl.
On the website 10fastfingers you can measure your writing speed – do you have room for improvement? If so, a training session might be worth considering 🙂 In the meantime there must certainly be online courses for this.
Chinese New Year and Christmas Jumper Day
museums at your doorstep, Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park a mere 5 minutes’ walk away and Oxford Street and Harrods (for a bit of shopping) a 20 minute walk away is absolutely brilliant. Yes, it is more expensive than other places but it is definitely worth it. There is so much going on from plays to art exhibitions to comedy, there really is no excuse for you to stay in during the weekend (except perhaps to complete your coursework that you have been putting off for ages and the deadline is in two days!!).
