In reality, the department provides a very friendly, informal atmosphere. The biggest fear of those applying to do a computing degree is usually that everyone else on the course will start the first year with a huge amount of computing experience. This is simply not the case. Far from being a department full of whizz-kid hackers, the majority of computing students at Imperial have had virtually no programming experience before coming to university.

All the degree programmes follow the same set of courses in the first two years, starting absolutely from scratch. No background knowledge is required - indeed as far as the department is concerned you need not even have seen a computer before arriving at Imperial. However, this does not detract from the degree - the whole structure of the course is intended to give a thorough grounding in the logic, techniques and technology behind modern computing, rather than concentrating too much on specific programming languages which become out-dated all too quickly. Those who simply want an IT degree should go elsewhere. As a result, there is no need to have done computing A-level. It is far more important to have a good maths and science background, with the high logic content of the course making maths (in particular discrete maths) very valuable.

Unsurprisingly, the computing facilities within the department are second to none. Huge networks of PCs and Unix workstations (and even the odd Mac) mean that it’s very rare that you can’t find a computer when you want one. Thanks to a constant stream of donations from most of the major hardware companies (particularly Fujitsu, who have donated a massive parallel computing system as part of a research project being run by the department), these facilities are constantly being updated.

All these facilities allow lab based teaching to make up a high percentage of the course, leading to a large coursework content in every year. In particular, there are weekly coursework deadlines throughout the first year, which, whilst not being very difficult, are designed to keep track of individual progress.

The lecturing too is mostly of a very high standard, and when problems do arise, the department are usually quick to make changes, particularly to coursework deadlines. Although this is one of the most difficult, technical computing degrees in the country, it’s important to remember that if you’re having problems then so is everyone else in your year. The tutorial system also helps to solve individual problems (one of the keys to success is to remember to go to all your tutorials).

In the third and fourth year there is massive scope to specialise, with leading experts available to teach the more research orientated courses, and the option to replace some computing courses with management, humanities or foreign language subjects. All the four year degrees also include a compulsory industrial work placement from April to September in the third year.

This is a tough, technical degree for those who want to learn how and why computers operate - it is not a degree for those who want to be IT managers. Instead, many Imperial graduates go into research (either academically or commercially), software design (either for the major corporates or at a more specialised, industrial, level) or quit computing and find lucrative jobs in the City.