On the list of high reputation universities, Imperial College London invariably is amongst the top institutions, and some league tables even put it first.
That could partially be due to where it is. Surrounded by various museums, along with the Royal Albert Hall to the north and Hyde Park a stone's throw away, it's at the heart of South Kensington, a place I have warm memories of from when I was younger. I thus decided to visit Imperial on an open day, partially because that's the right thing to do when choosing a university, and partially because I fancied a day out.
From the outside Imperial looks more like a series of office blocks than a university, and its new logo screams "start-up bank" more than "prestigious university". Not that this is a fault of course, especially as it's almost 500 years younger than Cambridge, and Gothic architecture wasn't the style when Imperial opened. Owing to Prince Albert's vision for South Kensington to be a bastion for research and learning, three colleges opened (with the oldest in 1845), before they merged to form Imperial College London. Its name is a bit misleading, though, as it's no longer collegiate, and any reference to the old colleges remains through the names of certain buildings.
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At the centre of Imperial College Road, cordoned off from cars for the day, is a peculiar statue of what looks like a man holding an ironing board. It's called ALERT, and even if I don't understand what the artist intended ("a reassessment of the relation between body and space"), it is a bit striking and peculiar. The check-in booths were nearby, so it was a matter of signing in and getting a free bag, and from there the whole campus was open for visiting.
Since I'd like to study chemistry, I prioritised my visit on the Department of Chemistry, a block composed of seven floors. On each floor is a small free space, with views overlooking the road, as well as a chemistry poster of some sort. They were offering lab tours as well; when I initially visited they were supposedly full, so I returned later and found myself enjoying the tour even if I didn't understand all the chemistry.
This is a Lego spectrometer used for UV-vis spectroscopy, which detects how much UV light is absorbed by a substance. It follows the Beer-Lambert Law, which states that as more light is absorbed, the concentration decreases and vice versa, and from here you can plot data electronically. Apparently I'll be building one if I go to Imperial, which would be exciting as I find any unexpected Lego structures rather fascinating.
Then there are the crystals in an LCD, which are gradually heated up and melt, before they cool back down and reform. Before this, you go through the elaborate reaction mechanism that determines the composition of the crystals, and I sort of got my head around what reaction led to which intermediate and which compounds break due to dipoles and in which order. Supposedly I did well, though, which I'm pleased with because I won't have to explain the process in an exam. The most satisfying part, though, was when the temperature of the crystals reached 80°C and the colourful picture that they formed dissolved into a blackness, before slowly the colours returned. There was also a free keychain at the end of the visit.
I also made sure to visit the Abdus Salam library, which I was pleased by, especially as one of the books was by Nicolas Bourbaki, a renowned mathematician who never existed, he was a collective. It was on general topology with all the text in French, so I slowly put it down again. There were various other books on scientific concepts, including a rack full of physical chemistry textbooks that I'll one day understand better.
I'll conclude by mentioning the talk I attended as part of the event. It was at the Royal College of Science building, which once belonged to the eponymous college which became part of Imperial. Arriving with mere minutes to go, I failed to realise pushing the door open would trigger a high-pitched alarm which subsided after a few seconds, though there was no need to rush as the talk was over Microsoft Teams and technical issues caused it to be delayed. As expected, Imperial discussed how they were a good university, as well as mentioning personal statements and application information. It was rather informative, even if I found myself knowing parts of the information from previous virtual taster sessions, and the mention of programming intrigued me as well.
After two and a half hours, I left the site content and satisfied with my visit. Compared to Cambridge, Imperial looks more futuristic, with the sleek glass buildings and the skeletal tower surrounded by scaffolding in the campus, and the people I spoke to were enthusiastic about their chosen courses too. However, both universities certainly have their quirks which will appeal to different people, and I admit the architecture at Imperial can be too brutalist and office space-like at times. Let's see in a year where I'll be studying.
Off I went to Hyde Park, which is a future blogpost...
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