The TRUE EFDS Offer Rate (it’s not 5%)

My Application

GCSEs

• All 8s and 9s
  • Care more than Oxbridge
  • Contextual = more lenient (7s)
• 9 in Maths is very helpful
• Good TMUA might make up for bad GCSEs

A Levels

• Predicted Grades
  • AAA with A in Maths
  • A* in Economics helps
  • Having Further Maths is great BUT not mandatory at all
    • I have a lot of friends who got in without FM
    • Different to LSE where FM is lowkey mandatory
• 3 vs 4 A Levels
  • 3 A Levels is fine — Maths, Further, Econ is a great combo
  • Anecdotally, a lot of offer holders take 4 (but correlation vs causation)
  • 4th can be anything, though I’ve seen lots of History/Politics/CS

Personal Statement / Supercurriculars

• ❌ Don’t pay for work experience or summer schools — waste of money
  • ✅ IEA Future Thought Leaders Programme is free and actually respected
• Your personal statement matters for Imperial
  • I had no PS questions in my interview (and most of my mates had the same)
  • However, on open day, an admissions tutor told me they care and like to see interest in 2 of the disciplines at least
  • This website has a lot of guidance

<aside> 💡

• How to write an excellent Imperial EFDS PS (+ how i did it) </aside>

• Supercurricular advice

  • 📚 Books are best. Don’t just list them — evaluate their arguments (see below)
  • I also discussed a few research papers instead of books
    • Books are often verbose
  • Imperial specifically likes research projects linked to business or public policy
    • My friend did a regression analysis to do with the phillips curve and they loved it

• Read my PS Guide for more advice: ‣

TMUA