Imperial College entry requirements for the French bac: grades, tests, interviews

Imperial College is Britain's university of science, engineering, medicine and quantitative economics. It has no colleges in the Oxford sense, and most teaching happens on one campus in South Kensington, between the Science Museum and Hyde Park. Its general page on accepted qualifications looks reassuring for a French applicant: an overall 15 out of 20 in the baccalaureate, 14 for the BFI, the bilingual international version. That figure is almost useless. Each department sets its own grades, and they are higher.

Baccalaureate grades, course by course

Imperial states its French requirements as an overall average plus grades in the spécialités, the two major subjects studied in the final year (Year 13). The table below comes from the course pages for 2027 entry, with the applications-to-places ratio each page publishes for 2025.

A few things stand out. Mathematics names the maths expertes option explicitly, an extra maths course taken in the final year that roughly plays the role of Further Mathematics; the electrical engineering department asks for it on its own page too. A student who dropped it closes those doors. Economics, Finance and Data Science (EFDS) asks less overall but as much in maths as engineering: it is a course for mathematicians who want to do economics, and should be chosen on that basis. And with identical grade requirements, Civil Engineering receives three applications per place while Mechanical Engineering receives thirteen. The ratio says nothing about the strength of the field, but a student torn between the two should know it.

As at Oxford, the BFI gets a one-point discount. An international-section student heading for 16 meets the same bar as a standard bac student heading for 17.

TMUA or ESAT, depending on the course

Imperial uses the shared tests run by UAT-UK, the same ones Oxford and Cambridge use. The TMUA is compulsory for Mathematics, Computing and EFDS. The ESAT is required in engineering and physics, with three modules for Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Physics: Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics. Chemistry uses no test; Medicine requires the UCAT. Content and preparation are covered in TMUA preparation from a French lycée and the ESAT from a French lycée, so I will not repeat them.

What sets Imperial apart is timing. Oxford and Cambridge only accept the October sitting; Imperial also accepts the January one, which gives a second chance to a student who missed the booking window or is not applying to Oxbridge. In Mathematics, an applicant who applies after the last TMUA booking deadline may receive an offer conditional on STEP instead. Student forums point to a detail the official pages do not stress: the score only reaches Imperial once the UCAS application has been sent. One applicant on The Student Room who sat the test in October but applied in December reports that his score reached Imperial only in late January.

Is there an Imperial admission interview?

Families coming from Oxford preparation tend to expect an interview everywhere. At Imperial it varies a great deal.

In Mathematics and Physics, then, everything rests on the file and the test. Good news for the student who writes brilliantly and freezes when speaking; bad news for one hoping that conversation will make up for an average TMUA.

The chemistry department writes that its interviewers see past nerves and slips, and watch how the applicant reasons through a problem. EFDS applicants on The Student Room describe a calm, discursive exchange; one calls it nothing like the Cambridge interview. The same threads suggest the interview carries weight: posters report invitations with TMUA scores between 4.9 and 5.8, and rejections at 6.9. Decisions come late. On the same forum, maths applicants are still waiting for Imperial in March, after UCL and Warwick have already answered.

What it costs a French family

Since Brexit, a French student pays the overseas fee unless already settled in the UK with resident status. Imperial has no college system, so there is no extra college fee as at Cambridge. Over a whole degree, with the living-cost minimum the Home Office requires for the visa, Computing at Imperial comes to nearly £185,000, the highest figure among the universities I compare in Study in the UK with a French baccalaureate.

One thing often surprises French families: Imperial halls include twin rooms, in every building. First-year accommodation is guaranteed to students who hold Imperial as their firm choice and apply on time, but not a particular room. Imperial says it meets one of a student's preferences 87% of the time; the others may end up sharing. Some first-year halls, Woodward and Kemp Porter, are in North Acton in west London rather than in South Kensington.

Imperial, Oxford or Cambridge?

Most of the time I combine them. A UCAS application has five choices, and Imperial can sit alongside Oxford or Cambridge. The same TMUA or ESAT serves both, and so does the personal statement. On The Student Room, several Cambridge maths offer holders say they keep Imperial as their insurance choice in case the June STEP papers go wrong.

Imperial is often the best first choice for one particular profile: a student very strong in maths and physics, confident on paper, who wants engineering from day one and London rather than a university town. For that student, no interview in maths or physics and the January TMUA sitting are real advantages. For a student still undecided between science and economics, the gaps in requirements between courses are wide enough that the choice should be made early, ideally before choosing final-year spécialités. If Oxford or Cambridge is also on the list, their test calendar is in Oxford and Cambridge admissions tests.

At Carmine we build these applications with families: choosing the five courses, checking target grades subject by subject, preparing the TMUA or ESAT, the personal statement and, where the department runs one, the interview. Our admissions support is described on its own page, and the contact page is the way to reach us.