Reflecting on my experience studying Natural Sciences at UCL
I studied MSci Natural Science at UCL from 2016 to 2020. In this article, I will go through why I decided to do NatSci at UCL, then how each year of my study went, and finally reflect on my choice on studying the degree.
How did I decide to do NatSci at UCL?
I wanted to study science at Cambridge. In Cambridge, there was only one science degree you could apply for: Natural Sciences Tripos. I could apply to five universities maximum, so I looked for natural sciences degrees at other universities. In the end, I additionally applied for NatSci at Bath, UCL and York. I got rejected from Cambridge (learn about how I failed the Cambridge interview here) and got offers from all the others. One of the reasons that made me choose UCL was that it is the highest-ranked university amongst the three. This was quite important for me as an international student; if I was planning to go back to Asia after university, the reputation of the university I went to really matters when applying for jobs. Furthermore, UCL is in London, therefore there are more “opportunities”, at least that’s what my parents told me. The third reason was that I wanted to study molecular biology and physics, and UCL was the only place among the three where I could study that subject combination. So I chose UCL NatSci and hoped for the best…
First-year as NatSci at UCL
In UCL NatSci you choose three science streams at the beginning + everyone has to do mathematics. Then at the end of term one, you select two out of the three to continue for the next two and half years. So I started NatSci with biology, physics and chemistry streams as they were what I was familiar with (extension of what I did at A-level). The stream choice at the end of term one was a difficult decision for me — I wanted to do molecular biology and physics, but there were only three other people considering doing it in my year. Most people who chose molecular biology as their first stream chose organic chemistry as their second. Certainly, there was a fear of missing out so I ended up choosing biology and chemistry. However, two weeks later, I was in the organic chemistry class and I noticed that I missed math. So I emailed my department and switched my stream choice to physics and biology. Interestingly, later I decided to major in physics in years 3 and 4.
I remember myself feeling not quite easy in the first year. Not that the university was difficult: the opposite. When I was in Taiwan before joining the British educational system, I had to be in school from 7.30 am to 7 pm, every day, and there will always be endless homework and revision to do and most people will stay in school until 9 pm. Once I came to the UK, I suddenly got an enormous amount of free time. I did not know what to do with my free time. Luckily, (or thinking back rather, unfortunately) at my sixth-form college, I was allowed to take 5 A-levels, therefore I was filling up my time with that. But as I started university, unfortunately, there were not many lectures. Too much free time led to overthinking and analysis paralysis. At that time I had to transfer about £7000 of my parents’ money from my bank account to the university every term, and that’s quite a large amount. I thought I was wasting money, so I applied to drop out. Whilst waiting for the application to be approved, I was doing an internship in a biochemistry lab. That was when I realized that I should get done with undergraduate as soon as possible and the fun stuff will only come after that. Fortunately, the application did not go through for over a month, and I withdrew my application.
Thinking back, I spent a tremendous amount of time in a state of inaction due to analysis paralysis. I should have spent time enjoying my life a bit more. If the university learning was not enough, I could have always done online courses, which are cheap and I could get certified too. I shouldn’t have my learning defined by the college syllabus, and I could have gone out and networked with more people.
Second-year at UCL
My second year went quite smoothly, I think it was because I started working on my own society, SciCon. I was lucky enough to have a group of inspiring people to work with. I was busy but happy. If there was anything I learned the most from, it was my experience with SciCon.
Third-year at U̶C̶L̶ McGill
I was on a year abroad programme. When I applied to study abroad I was very confident that I will get my first choice, i.e. Caltech, but in the end, I went to my second choice, McGill University, in the state of Quebec, where I knew nothing about before I got there. It was only when I arrived I noticed that, oh, they speak French. Luckily lectures were all in English.
UCL gave us an option to study four modules each term, but a typical student in McGill would take five modules per term. Therefore my friend Tim (the one and only coursemate who went to McGill with me from UCL) and I, the two hard-working students, decided to take five modules each term. We ended up being very stressed with the coursework. Unlike the UK where there are three terms each year, with the first two terms for lectures (10 weeks each), then an Easter break. and then the last term solely for exams, McGill follows the American system: two terms per year; just over three months per term and exams at the end of each term! In addition, there were more reports than we used to do in UCL: there were term papers (like a short literature review) for almost all the modules, many presentations to make, and the notorious lab reports. Tim and I were doing coursework like doing hackathons almost every day. (Hackathon: a type of event where you work on a focused problem for hours or days with no break. It could be overnight. I joined a few actual hackathons when I was at McGill. Not fun.)
UCL tutors will ask you to take modules in McGill that should be equivalent to what you would do otherwise in UCL. We do this by looking for modules in McGill that have similar names to the UCL third-year modules. If you are lucky, these modules will be based on what you have learned already in your first and second years at UCL. But things can get tricky sometimes and you might end up taking a master-PhD level module that you would struggle with for the entire term. This was the case for our condensed-matter physics module.
Other than studying, we had some opportunities to travel around. I went to Toronto and Quebec City with friends I met at McGill, and when the year finished, we visited New York and Boston before we flew back to the UK. While we were in Montreal, weed became legal — we had a housemate smoking weed every day. I think his sole purpose in coming to Canada was to smoke weed. I tried a bit, but inhaling smoke is not my thing. McGill has a few designated student residences for exchange students only, and you will likely be very close to other exchange students. Most exchange students only stay for a term — so expect a reshuffle at the end of the first term.
Fourth-year at UCL
In the fourth year of NatSci, you will focus on a single science subject. I did physics. Apart from the lectures and exams, as a ‘postgraduate’ (yes, no longer an undergraduate, scary) student, you have to do a hands-on project to extend the frontier of human knowledge. At the end of the third year, you will be given a list of labs and projects from your department where you can potentially conduct your research project. Then over the summer you will talk to some of them and decide where you want to work, and have a brief outline of the project. I talked to about five labs and I ended up deciding to do a project at a bio-imaging lab which was not on the list from the department. So we found another professor from the physics department to co-supervise me on the project.
The fourth-year went rather quickly. The project only counts towards 30% of your final year grade. That said, I still spent almost all my time in the lab. The time you can spend on the project is very short as there were only two ten weeks terms, and for us, our projects were cut short due to the pandemic. Even so, I was able to finish writing up the thesis, completing the exams and graduating with a First-class Honour.
After graduation
The graduation ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic. I flew back to Taiwan in the 2020 summer and attended army conscription till the end of 2020 (it’s compulsory), then I started working as a research assistant at a lab in Taipei.
Reflection about my module choice
The best module choice depends on what format of study you like the most. I loved mathematics and problem solving, and with that, I enjoyed most of the physics modules. If there are any modules that I regret taking, they are the two material sciences modules in my fourth year: they were mostly just about memorizing content.
Computing modules are thought to be highly applicable and lots of people are considering taking them so make sure you choose these modules early or they will be filled up quite quickly. But not all computing modules are good, some of them are less well taught and could be confusing. I nearly failed my high-performance computing module.
Don’t do modules just because your friends are doing it. I know this is obvious but this is partially the reason I went for material sciences modules.
As a physics major student in NatSci the department will be less likely to push you to do certain modules as they do in the physics department. However, remember when you graduate you will be compared with physics graduates, so make sure to take as many quantum physics and statistical mechanics modules as possible. From my observation, these two groups of modules make the backbone of all other physics modules.
As a NatSci student, you will likely have timetable clashes between lectures from two departments. You will get used to it.
Reflection: How did I find the UCL NatSci degree in general?
Natural Sciences was a cool degree. Two sciences. At first, I thought I was just accumulating the facts from the two subjects, but, in the end, I noticed that I will forget most things when I graduate anyway. What sticks with me is the way I learn things or the way I think about things. Essentially the philosophy of the subject. For example, I did physics and biology. Physics trained me to think analytically, mathematically and computationally about problems, and by doing biology I became better at delving deeper into complicated problems and finding links between them. In the degree, I primarily learned how to study but not what I studied. Through NatSci I gained two ways to approach problems.
The selling point of NatSci is the “interdisciplinarity”. I did not realise how rare it is to have someone who understands both subjects and how useful it could be if you are at the right place. That said, you won’t find many connections between the two sciences as you study the degree. In physics lectures by the MAPS (Mathematical and Physical Sciences) faculty, you study with physics people. In biology lectures by the Life Sci faculty, you will study with biology people. You have to make the links yourself, but when doing course work there is usually none, or not required. I heard that the NatSci degree structure has changed slightly since I left UCL, and I know they are working on creating interdisciplinary modules. Worth checking it out.
Though it was a great degree, if I had the chance to go back and choose a degree again, I might go for a single science degree, like physics or computer sciences instead. But if I go for another degree I might not have met all the amazing people and I might not have founded SciCon. Thanks very much to UCL NatSci for the amazing transformative four years of experience.
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