Admissions Procedure

Before you apply to us, make sure you are meeting our minimum entry requirements and you are familiar with our degrees and what you should expect from studying Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial. We accept a wide range of qualifications and you can find out more — including our entry requirements — on our Course webpages:

• MEng Aeronautical Engineering
• MEng Aeronautics with Spacecraft Engineering

All applications to our programmes must be made through UCAS to H401 MEng Aeronautical Engineering. Transfer to our other programmes — H410 and H411 with a Year Abroad; H415 with Spacecraft Engineering and H420 with a Year in Industry — occurs at the end of the second or third year subject to meeting certain academic requirements. For questions about applying through UCAS, you can read more guidance on our How to apply webpage or you can contact the central Engineering Admissions Team at  engineering.admissions@imperial.ac.uk.

Applications open from early September and you must submit your UCAS application by the January UCAS deadline — for 2025-entry, the deadline is 29 January 2025 at 18.00 (UK time). You can view more about the key dates and deadlines on our Undergraduate deadlines webpage.  You can apply any time between September and the 29 January 2025 and many students will submit their application early to avoid any clashes with their academic commitments such as exams. All applications made before the January UCAS deadline will be given equal consideration by the Departmental Admissions team. 

More guidance on personal statements and references can be found under the ‘Making a strong application’ section below.

Most departments at Imperial use an admissions test to help them fairly select the best candidates for entry. The tests are computer-based assessments that are designed to assess some of the core skills you’ll need to succeed at Imperial.

From 2025-entry, all UCAS applicants to the Department of Aeronautics will need to take the ESAT. We will accept students who have taken either the October or the January ESAT sitting. ​​There is no advantage to sitting the test in the first or second sitting.  

For the Department of Aeronautics, you must sit the following ESAT modules:  

• Module 1 – Mathematics 1
• Module 2 – Physics
• Module 3 – Mathematics 2 

You can find out more about the new ESAT including what topics it may cover and practice tests on our Admissions tests webpages and the ESAT website.

The minimum ESAT score to proceed to stage 2 (interview) will depend on the overall performance of the cohort of applicants. 

Applicants who demonstrate an excellent performance in their ESAT and UCAS application form will be invited for an interview with our academic staff. 

How long is the interview and why do we interview?

This interview lasts 25 minutes and it is an opportunity for a two-way conversation between the interviewer and the applicant. There are several elements that are being explored, including the applicant's motivations, academic ambitions and their suitability for our courses.

When does it take place?

Interviews will usually be scheduled in November and February and we aim to inform applicants of the confirmed schedule approximately one week in advance.  

How is the interview going to be conducted?

Regardless of whether you are in the UK or overseas, the interview will be conducted through an online meeting via Microsoft Teams.

If your application's cumulative performance is strong across all stages of the admissions process, you will receive an offer from the Department! The conditions of your offer will vary depending on your qualifications, performance during the admissions stages, and other factors — however they will not be below our minimum entry requirements. 

Our offer holders can find out more about the next stages of their admissions process as well as lots of helpful resources on our offer holders webpages.  

For questions about the steps after receiving an offer, please contact the central Engineering Admissions Team at  engineering.admissions@imperial.ac.uk.

Your personal statement is a very important part of your application. It provides you with an opportunity to stand out and conveys to us what makes you the right student for our course. Here are some tips for your personal statement as well as some additional resources. 

Does your personal statement read well? 

Having a logical, well-structured and well-written statement makes a big difference.  Here are a few tips:

• Ensure there is a clear flow i.e. an introduction, body and conclusion.
• Write concisely without superfluous language.
• Be specific and factual (expected vs outcome obtained).
• Use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result), ABC (Action, Benefit, Course), and/or PEEL (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link) methods to structure your writing.

Remember to be yourself! This is one of the most important aspects. We want to get to know you and not who you think we are looking for. 

Tell us why Aeronautical Engineering

We are interested to know what is your motivation for studying Aeronautical Engineering and your inspirations behind your academic ambitions. For example, this could be from an experience you had or where you draw your inspiration from. We understand you might be applying to other subjects, such as Mechanical Engineering — If so, we would like to see how this links with Aeronautics. 

Top tip! Convey your enthusiasm and passion for the subject. We enjoy sharing our passions with others and getting to know others that have similar interests. 

Demonstrate the Engineer in you

We want to know if you understand what Aeronautical Engineering is and what it entails. 

Maths and Physics are at the heart of Aeronautics. We would like to understand what interests you in them and how this links to Aeronautics; for example, details of a particular Physics practical/topic or Maths topic that fascinated you. 

Engineering involves applying scientific principles to designing and building solutions to a problem. We want to see whether the engineering aspects appeal to you. For example, repairing a household item or developing code to create a tool to automate a boring or tedious task. 

Tell us about your skills and aptitude towards learning

We want to ensure that you will enjoy our course. Therefore, we would like you to demonstrate what skills you have developed — e.g. critical thinking — and how this prepares you for this course. This could be demonstrated through any extra curricular activities, such as clubs and societies or leadership positions.

We also like to know what further experience you've had with Aeronautical Engineering. This could be from further reading or exploration through work experience, summer schools, lectures or podcasts.

Be yourself!

Apart from your academic interests, we want to get to know you as an individual. For example, what activities you partake in and out of school, what contributions you have made to your community and your hobbies. We enjoy seeing our students developing into well-rounded engineers of tomorrow.

Further Resources

UCAS: The UCAS website has a wealth of resources, below are a couple of examples of what is available

• How to write a personal statement? 
• Where to get advice on the personal statement? 

Imperial: Read our advice on writing personal statements on our Personal Statements webpages and register for our mailing list to find out more about our events and webinar series which cover different aspects of student life including how to apply.

Your reference will usually be written by a tutor, subject teacher or counsellor and it is their opportunity to give more information about your suitability to study Aeronautical Engineering at degree level. It should include information that complements your personal statement instead of repeating information. 
 
For 2024-entry onwards, UCAS made changes to the reference format. Referees now complete three sections: 

• A general statement about your school/college/centre.
• Any extenuating circumstances which may have impacted your education and achievement.
• Any other supportive information that they think universities/colleges should be aware of and that is specific to you and relevant to the course(s) you have applied for.

Section 1 is compulsory; sections 2 and 3 are optional. 

We strongly encourage referees to make best use of all available sections to support your application. You can find more information about UCAS references on our Apply webpages.

More information for Section 3  

Section three is the referee’s opportunity to demonstrate the applicant’s potential to study Aeronautical Engineering at degree level. It is important that the applicant's actual/predicted results are in the context of the applicant's background/situation. Therefore, as well as providing details on how the applicant has performed in each subject (ideally with the most relevant/best presented first) and their suitability for the course, we would like to further understand: 

• What makes their grades impressive.
• Their problem-solving abilities.
• Whether they are the first in their family to attend university.
• The likelihood of them attaining their predicted grades.
• Their relative performance with the cohort (do indicate the size of the cohort as a measure).
• Their extra curricular activities, roles of responsibility and interests which will inform us about their skills, contributions to their community and what they can contribute to the culture at university such as:

1. Personal qualities i.e. Aptitude, dedication, resilience and enthusiasm that will benefit them at university.
2. Relevant transferable skills that were not mentioned in their personal statement.

Further resources

You can find more guidance on writing references on the UCAS Advisers website as well as Imperial’s guidance to references webpages.

The interview can be broken down into two main components - understanding an applicant's motivations and academic ambitions, and understanding their critical thinking, problem-solving skills and coachability.  

What will I be asked?

Interviewers will use two types of questions during the interview to assess your motivation and critical thinking.

Motivation Questions

Examples of motivation questions include:

• Why do you want to study Aeronautical Engineering? Why Imperial?
• Tell me about an interesting experience (e.g. internship, online course or book) from your personal statement.

What is being assessed:

• Will you enjoy studying Aeronautical Engineering?
• Are your interests related to the course?

The STAR method can help you structure your response to motivation questions: Situation, Task, Action and Result.

Critical thinking questions

The critical thinking questions posed by the interviewers allow us to gauge your ability to: absorb new content; engage and interact with the problem; and work towards a solution for the problem. These are typically a mathematics, physics or engineering question and they will be assessing:

• What is your approach in solving the problem?
• How do you respond to the question?
• Are you coachable? Are you willing to learn?
• Are you able to approach the problem from multiple perspectives?

Top Tip! Focus on talking through how you go about solving the problem. For example, by stating any assumptions that you are making and the rationale behind a given approach. 

What can I do to prepare?

• Ensure you re-read your personal statement and be prepared to reflect more on each experience as questions can be asked about it.
• Think of different motivation questions you could be asked and how you would respond to them.
• Conduct practice interviews with friends, family and teachers, reflecting on any feedback before trying another practice.
• Record yourself answering practice questions using a phone or tablet. Watching back will give you insights into how you communicate — both verbally and through body language — and whether your settings are suitable as a virtual interview environment.

Top Tip! A good night's rest before the interview helps you to be fresh and able to think clearly.