Blog posts

The ICCAs 2022

Yee Tong Siow

MEng Mechanical Engineering

As someone who is involved in the A Cappella community, The ICCAs (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) is one of the most exciting events in the year for collegiate A Cappella groups around the UK and US. For those who are wondering what exactly is the ICCAs, it is a competition for collegiate groups to showcase a 10 minute set of A Cappella music. This allows the groups to unleash their creativity in creating diverse arrangements and wicked choreography, allowing the audience and judges to appreciate a night of constant surprises. In other words, it is basically the competition seen in the movie Pitch Perfect.

5 ways to boost your productivity with tech

MEng Mechanical Engineering

We all know time can easily be whittled away by scrolling through social media or falling down a YouTube rabbit hole (may or may not be speaking on personal experience…).

But technology is a double-edged sword and can be also be used to boost our productivity – here are 5 ways to do so.

Disclaimer: I have recommended apps that I use, though please research them before downloading/purchasing as I am by no means a technology expert.

1. To-do list (Microsoft App)

What is it?

An app to write to-do lists in

Why do I use it?

It seems too obvious to state, but a good to-do list app can be extremely helpful in not only keeping track of tasks but also in achieving them.

5 Best Places to Study (on campus and in London)

MEng Mechanical Engineering

Staying in one room to sleep, study and live in can be difficult. Studying elsewhere can help maintain a healthy separation between work and rest. Here are five of the best places on our South Kensington Campus and around London to study.

1. British Library

The British Library was founded in 1753 and contains one of the largest collections of literature in the world.

Beyond being a tourist sight in itself, it also offers many ‘reading rooms’ where (if you register and have a ‘reader’s pass’) you can study in for free.

The many exhibitions and general array of literature available also provide a welcome break, whilst the large capacity means there’s ample opportunity to change your settings as and when you need to.

Materials Science Myth Buster – sorting the fact from the fiction to quite literally get to the matter at hand

Written by Susannah Lea, PhD Student, Department of Materials

Whether you have heard of Materials Science or not there are often key misunderstandings about what it’s actually all about. While the concept of studying how to improve and even make new materials may start to sound like alchemy or even magic I can assure you that it is very much grounded in scientific principle (and it may well be the next best thing to the Hogwarts letter you waited for). Having studied Materials for my undergrad and continued on to do a PhD I’m hopefully in a good place to help dispel some of the myths and let you know what a degree in Materials is all about.

Organising a Plastic Surgery Skills Day Conference as a Medical Student

Anya Nanchahal

Medicine

At university, student societies make up as much, if not more, of your overall experience than the degree you choose to study. On balance, they can also take up just as much of your time. For the past few years, I have been a particularly active member of ICSM Surgical Society (SurgSoc). This year I had the privilege of being tasked with organising the annual ‘Plastics Skills Day’ conference. I say annual, but the truth is that this event had not taken place in-person since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, no SurgSoc conference had happened in person since 2020.

Clinical Medicine- what’s it all about?

Anya Nanchahal

Medicine

At Imperial, Medicine is not coarsely divided into ‘pre-clinical’ and ‘clinical’ blocks but instead we are exposed to a clinical environment from our first term at medical school. However, during first and second year this exposure is scattered throughout the year which makes third year the first purely clinical year of the degree.

I have just finished my first of three placements during which I was based in General Surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. Therefore, I felt now would be a pertinent time to share a couple of reflections on my most substantial clinical placement to date.

While I had already been primed to expect third year to be less structured than first and second year, no longer being in my comfort zone of a lecture theatre still took some getting used to.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Finding a Flat to Rent

MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering

If you’re heading towards the end of your first year at Imperial, you’re probably starting to think about your accommodation for the next year. There are several options such as private student accommodation or working as a hall senior in one of the Imperial student halls, but the majority of students will be looking into the private sector.

The advantage of renting a flat in this way is that it gives you more flexibility, however, it’s also the number one obstacle making the flat search a daunting task. You’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of every decision and act fast to secure yourself a good flat.

3 Tips for Mechanical Engineering Interviews

MEng Mechanical Engineering

So, you’ve sent off your personal statement, completed your admissions test and have received an invitation to interview! Equally exciting and daunting, this interview will be the first formal interview for many applicants. Here’s my perspective on how you can prepare and how to approach it.

Disclaimer

My admissions experience is admittedly a few years out of date. Do keep this in mind when going through this article! (As in, don’t follow my advice as gospel, do consult other sources)

What do the interviews entail?

(For the official answer you can look here on the Imperial College London website.

“Interviews will be held with academic staff from the department on Wednesday afternoons between November and March.

Top 5 (Non-Academically Related) Books I Read in 2021

Yee Tong Siow

MEng Mechanical Engineering

I have always been an avid reader. I find my reading tastes changing wildly through different phases of my life. From someone who was constantly binging Young Adult books when I was in high school, I find myself diving into different genres and developing an appreciation for different writing styles. I have been finding it harder to find spare time to enjoy a good book after coming to university due to the workload. However, having recently gotten myself a Kindle and also discovering Audible, I find myself going back to my old habits and tuning in to a new chapter whenever I skate to Imperial or picking up my Kindle right before I sleep.

Train Poetry

Medicine

I love commuting on the Tube. I didn’t really use the trains before going to university because everything was either within walking distance from my house or the bus was quicker. Getting on the train made me feel more adult, watching people in suits travel to work in big offices or people working on their laptops if they got a seat.

Poetry on the Underground is a charming public art project to introduce more poetry to the general public. I don’t read poetry very often, probably because the depth to which we studied a particular anthology for English GCSE was frankly traumatising.

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