Imperial College London, Fall 2014

[mandy1992]

Anyone is going there ???  

[castiel007]

not sure!!

[siggbottles]

I guess I am

[siggbottles]

Guys, have you already sorted out accommodation?

[ihavemooedtoday]

Looks like I'm also headed there. MSc Advanced Computing.

 

Accomodations situation looks quite complicated!

[siggbottles]

I guess private housing is cheaper but after years sharing flats I would like to live quietly in my own studio.

 

However, grad housing (aka GradPad) is really expensive and that rule of paying the whole thing in advance is a huge drawback.

[ihavemooedtoday]

Yeah having to pay the whole thing is a little scary. Though from what I heard, unless you have a guarantor in the UK, most landlords would require you to pay 6 months in advance anyways, and there are many scammers out there, and then there are places that don't look anywhere like the pictures (because the pictures were taken 30 years ago when the house was built). With GradPad at least it should be relatively safe.

 

If I am renting in private sector I would definitely want to check the place out in person before giving them my money, but the problem is from what I heard, it's very hard to find a place to live in August/September, because thousands of other places are looking, too. And if I am going to fly there beforehand just to check out places, I might as well just use the airplane ticket and hotels money to live in GradPad.

 

Tricky situation...

[siggbottles]

I guess I will arrive one or two weeks before October 4th and try to find something then..

[ihavemooedtoday]

Yeah that's probably the cheapest way. Very risky though. It sounds like selection will be very limited by that time (and price probably goes up due to demand), and GradPad won't be an option anymore (they seem to sell out early every year). It looks like hotel in London will be around 150 pounds/night in September/October, so if you don't find a place really fast, a few nights in hotels = a few weeks rent. Unless you know someone living in London of course.

 

I haven't started looking seriously, but I have a feeling I'll end up in GradPad. At least it's only 1 year for me .

[siggbottles]

So many things to consider.. 

 

Anyway, I also think GradPad is the best option, at least for a while, but finding a guarantor is not easy..

 

My idea here is talking with some people from my future lab first, maybe I can find something with their help, or not, I don't know..

[ihavemooedtoday]

Yeah I guess that would be ideal, to get help from the locals.

[mandy1992]

My friend told me Gradpad is not the best choice and it is far from the school.

She recommends me to find somewhere near the school, which is really hard.

Have you guys decided where to live?

[mandy1992]

I guess I will arrive one or two weeks before October 4th and try to find something then..

[mandy1992]

I found a lovely student accomendation which is located at SW3, really close to imperial london college. The twin suite is also available right now.Wanna join me?

[smalik]

I applied in McGill U (Research Masters), Nanyang (Research) and Imperial College London (Taught Masters). I have received the offer of admission from ICL but not from others yet and have to reply by the end of this month. Any advice? Should I go for Imperial??

[ihavemooedtoday]

Maybe contact the other 2 universities to see what's taking them so long? End of April is really late.

 

If you have some money to spare, you can also accept the ICL offer and pay the deposit (2500 pounds). You'll just lose that if you end up going somewhere else.