Imperial College London
UCAS Code: C500 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Must include: A in Biology A in Physics, Chemistry or Mathematics General Studies and Critical Thinking are not accepted. If you are made an offer you will be required to achieve a pass in the practical endorsement in all science subjects that form part of the offer.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
D3 in Biology D3 in Chemistry, Mathematics or Physics D3 in another subject
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Must include: 6 in Biology at higher level 6 in Chemistry, Mathematics or Physics at higher level *Mathematics Analysis and Approaches or the Applications and Interpretation syllabi will be accepted at higher level with no preference.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Focus your study on all types of microorganisms and acquire theoretical and practical skills for a career in microbiology on this three-year course.
Biological Sciences at Imperial aims to understand the behaviour of living systems from the level of cells up to whole organisms and ecosystems.
This course focuses on all types of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses.
You'll learn the fundamental science of different types of microorganisms, as well as the important biotechnological, industrial, medical, food and agricultural applications.
After developing your understanding of the fundamentals of microbiology, you'll move on to advanced study. Here, you can tailor the course to your interests and complete a research project that's laboratory, data or field-based.
Your teaching will be enriched by an internationally leading research programme, with teaching delivered through laboratory work, lectures, tutorials, seminars and site visits.
Modules
We recommend reviewing our course page for the latest information regarding the curriculum (including core and optional modules) and course structure, as this information may be subject to periodic change.
Tuition fees
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Extra funding
We’re offering up to £5,000 each year through our Imperial Bursary scheme for eligible Home undergraduates.
If your household income remains under £70,000 a year, you’ll automatically qualify for every year of your course.
Find out more about the Imperial Bursary Scheme on our website.
What students say
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Microbiology and cell science
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Microbiology and cell science
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
If you want a career in microbiology, then this is the degree to take. The recession hit the job market for microbiologists particularly badly, but things have improved very significantly since then, and microbiologists are now amongst the most employable biological sciences graduates. We don't produce many graduates in the subject every year and a lot take further qualifications on graduating. Microbiology graduates who want to leave the lab can find jobs in most industries - not just in health and hospitals, but in the food and drink, water and ecology sectors, too.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Microbiology and cell science
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£25k
£33k
£36k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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