Engineering MSc Timetable
I’m starting a 1 year engineering MSc at Imperial and I currently have a part time job in retail. I’m planning to cut my hours down to 12/week from 20, working three short shifts (4am-8am) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, to avoid clashing with weekday teaching whereas I currently do two 10hr night shifts.
A few things I’d love input on from current/former Imperial MSc students:
How intense is the timetable in practice? Are there regular Friday sessions (lectures/labs/tutorials), or is it usually lighter and how is the typical week usually structured in terms of hours of lectures etc?
How much of the workload is fixed schedule vs flexible (e.g., coursework/project work you can do on your own time)?
Did anyone else work part time during the course, and if so, how did you manage it especially around exam periods or the summer research project?
Realistically, how much does sleep disruption affect performance in a course like this? Genuinely trying to understand whether early morning shifts before/after a weekend are manageable long term or if it’s unrealistic/risky.