Location?

[happy-phantom]

Can anyone tell me what the area is like for Imperial? is it a nice place to live? how hard is it to find affordable accommodation? and which hospitals do you do your clinical placements?

[charlotte2]

Clinical placements are at:

St Mary's, Paddington
Charing Cross
Chelsea and Westminster
Ashford
Hillingdon

Have I left anywhere out?

Don't know much about what the accommodation etc is like I'm afraid, but I think undergrads live around South Ken (v.swish - Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall, V&A etc) and the clinical students around the Fulham Rd area.

[zoë]

Northwick Park and West Middlesex are 2 more I can think of.
1st years are guaranteed halls - these are in South Kensington, Paddington, Notting Hill and down Gloucester Road (towards Fulham) and range from £70-120 a week depending on which hall and type of room. All are in very, very nice places.
After 1st year you can either apply to live in halls again and be what is known as a "re-app" - basically you have to help look after freshers and organise hall events etc., there are very few places to do this, or you can live in a house/flat/etc with your friends. Most people I've spoken to in older years live around Hammersmith and Fulham and after 1st year you spend much more time in the Charing X campus (as opposed to South Kensington) making Hammersmith a good choice (or so I'm told. PK might have something more knowledgeable to say about this if he's still about). Charing X campus/hospital is actually in Hammersmith by the way, and Hammersmith Hospital is in Acton just to make things a little more complicated.

[Jus]

Imperial's locale itself is very nice indeed. Hyde Park, South Kensington are all nearby. The hospitals can vary, some like Central Middlesex are in Harlesden (dodgy) while Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is at the opposite end of the spectrum - string quartet at the lobby, etc. Most hospitals are in reasonably okay places. Places like St Peter's in Surrey are a bit of a trek, but they do provide free accommodation, and I am told the rooms are generally quite nice.

[medicwannabe]

Halls in the first year are not ALWAYS nice, if u get the ones closest to South Ken campus (Princes Gardens), they are really pants. They keep saying they are going to refurbish them but its not happened yet!

Other halls are nicer (like Southwell which is about 15-20mins walk away). You also have the option to stay in the intercollegiate halls (shared with people from other london unis-also catered).

My 5th year medic friends stay in Hammersmith, they have a STUDENT (yes its grotty) flat for 5 people and pay about £90-£110 each (thats quite reasonable).

GL

Look, if you dont want to fork out loads on accomodation (whether nice or not), London is not the place to be (unless u really dont mind rat infested).

[happy-phantom]

hhhhmmmmm rat infested student accommodation, lovely!
Is the accommadation thats affordable in London usually really horrible?

[ncm2004]

Hi!

I'm at Imperial at the moment.... I'm actually doing research this year but I have applied to ICSM for 2004 entry.

Accomodation can be difficult to find in London especially given that IC is in one of the nicest areas of town!

Saying that you do live in halls in 1st year as mentioned by others and then its down to finding somewhere for the later years... If you look on www.findaproperty.com and in "Loot" there are SOME reasonable flats. I pay £95 per week. I live on Fulham Road and the area is very nice. Flat-wise 3 out of 4 of us have double rooms, we have a decent sized kitchen (a lot of places don't!) and we also have wood-flooring! So you see, it's not that bad.

If you want to be in the capital, don't let housing issues get in the way.... We all get by somehow and in the end you will be studying in THE best city in the world

[zoë]

medicwannabe, read carefully! I never said the halls were all nice, I said they were in nice places (ie not dodgy areas)!
Besides, despite Southside (Princes Gardens) being grotty everyone has a brilliant time there so the appearance of the place really isn't that important (although obviously living in a nice, modern place where you get your own lockable fridge compartment so nobody nicks your food and where you share a kitchen with 10 people rather than 40 is slightly easier sometimes). Apparently 'they' have received planning permission to demolish Southside (it is a listed building as an example of appalling 60s architecture) so a brand new halls (with twice as many beds as at the moment, I hear...) should be being built within the next few years.
Beit Hall is fantastic by the way, and it's only about 5 mins away from the SAF building where you spend most of your time in 1st year. And it's not rat infested either. According to friends who work there, there are rats in the union bar and the union (dodgy, nasty) cafeteria thingy. NEVER buy food from that place! EVER!

[Zohra]

So which halls do u recommend and which should preferably be avoided?
Also, I hear nasty rumours that the social life at Imperial isn't that good, and that most people end up hanging at UCL et al. Is this true or are people just bitter cos Imperial's the best in london for medicine?! :wink:

[zoë]

Zohra! you don't get to choose which halls you go in, you have to put down in order of preference what type of room you want (single/shared/triple, ensuite/not, there are about 7 choices altogether i think) and how long a contract you want (34 or 38 weeks - Beit is 34 so you have to move all your stuff out over easter, and i think all the others are 38 but i might be wrong).
The social life is amazing. Check out the website (http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/medic) and have a look at the freshers week and events stuff to get an idea of what it's like. (And that's just at the medics union, dont forget there is the normal union and of course London itself as well!) Oh and it's RAG week at the moment, drunkest yet best week of my life yet I think! Have a look at the photos on the website to see more of what goes on.