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LSE Open Day June 2004

Is anyone going to the open day on 23rd June?

What talks are you going to? I'm going to Government and possibly Law, also.

I hope that it doesn't turn out to be crap. I've already been to two open days elsewhere and there was such a gap in how they tried to present themselves that I was really put off.

Reply 1

mobbdeeprob

*Hythlodaeus*

Is anyone going to the open day on 23rd June?

What talks are you going to? I'm going to Government and possibly Law, also.

I hope that it doesn't turn out to be crap. I've already been to two open days elsewhere and there was such a gap in how they tried to present themselves that I was really put off.

Heya - I went to LSE openday on 24th March.

Overall, I felt the openday was quite good in terms of organisation (compared to the Birmingham one which I went to). The day was scheduled into a series of blocks and I attended the welcome talk (which is useful), 'student life' (which is a waste of time, don't go - repeat, don't go) and the visit to accommodation in High Holborn (tall building, a bit of a rabbit warren inside, see a cramped room which is tiny, blah blah).

As for the subject talks, strangely enough, I went to Law (which is what I'm interested in) and International Relations and Government (joint talk). The Law one was quite good, the guy who took it seemed a really nice bloke and talked at length about how Law was studied largely for academic purposes rather than as a vocational training, the LSE-Columbia link-up, highly likely to be AAA offers etc. None of what he covered was really of news to me. Internation Relations and Government, I thought, was okay for International Relations - but the Government part was really tedious, and by some foreign guy who was barely understandable. I left after about 5 minutes, along with several other people.

Overall, the LSE openday wasn't anything groundbreaking, although it was well structured. I didn't feel that I learnt much new information by going and certainly didn't (in my opinion) represent great value for the distance and expense of getting there. The buildings are fairly anonymous and I would have had trouble finding some of the talks - were it not for the fact that droves of youths carrying LSE red bags illuminated a path to 'The Old Building' and similarly inspiring places. I didn't go to the Library, although my mate did and said it was quite a nice place.

Reply 2

*Hythlodaeus*

OP

5

Thanks for that.

I will be traveling a fair bit to get to the LSE- from Liverpool (I know that isn't as much as some others, but is still a good few hours on the train.)

I attended the Warwick open day in April and I found it to be very friendly and welcoming. It had just the right mix of talking about the place, the courses and the nightlife. It was well organised too.

Then I went to the Liverpool open day and was really disappointed. I live in the city, so when they were trying to sell the place to me I knew it was all lies! It was also not nearly as well organised and just seemed dead.

I supppose the thing that I'm trying to judge is the atmosphere of the place, as the academic reputation of the LSE is well known. London is a great place but whether the atmosphere is the same within the LSE itself I wouldn't know. And judging by some of the posts here it seems quite a cold place, with lots of people commenting that there are large groups of students quite obsessed with their future careers and unprepared to think about anything else. Would anyone agree with this?

How well an indicator is a university open day in terms of going on to study there and enjoy it?

Reply 3

Igor

*Hythlodaeus*

I supppose the thing that I'm trying to judge is the atmosphere of the place, as the academic reputation of the LSE is well known. London is a great place but whether the atmosphere is the same within the LSE itself I wouldn't know. And judging by some of the posts here it seems quite a cold place, with lots of people commenting that there are large groups of students quite obsessed with their future careers and unprepared to think about anything else. Would anyone agree with this?

Hi,

I'm not at LSE, but I was on the Open Day in April and when I visited the halls, I met some students and they were all very helpful and prepared to leave their work to show me around their hall and so on... this was true for all the halls (Rosebery, High Holborn, Carr-Saunders --> there were some really nice ppl there and quite funny, too) except Passfield, where the students I met were somehow dull and uninteresting. so I guess it's not that everyone is just into work and future careers. and it's also important who you hang out with... but I can't really give you a full assessment since I only had a short glance at the life at LSE.

Reply 4

W.A.S Hewins

mobbdeeprob

Heya - I went to LSE openday on 24th March.

Overall, the LSE openday wasn't anything groundbreaking, although it was well structured. I didn't feel that I learnt much new information by going and certainly didn't (in my opinion) represent great value for the distance and expense of getting there. The buildings are fairly anonymous and I would have had trouble finding some of the talks - were it not for the fact that droves of youths carrying LSE red bags illuminated a path to 'The Old Building' and similarly inspiring places. I didn't go to the Library, although my mate did and said it was quite a nice place.

Thank you for these profound comments, especially on the library which you didn't visit, despite the fact that it is the largest social science library in the world and has recently been refurbished at a cost of £30 million by Norman Foster.

And you didn't notice that the High Holborn building is at the top of Drury Lane, in the heart of the West End, within spitting distance of Tottenham Court Road and the British Museum, not to mention 5 minutes' walk from LSE. No, none of this matters, what matters is being blase and 'quite good' about everything.

What do you think you'll bring to LSE to make us better, supposing you do decide to grace us with your presence?

Reply 5

TheWolf

15

*Hythlodaeus*

Is anyone going to the open day on 23rd June?

What talks are you going to? I'm going to Government and possibly Law, also.

I hope that it doesn't turn out to be crap. I've already been to two open days elsewhere and there was such a gap in how they tried to present themselves that I was really put off.

yea im going - going to economics, economics history, and geography ones

Reply 6

mobbdeeprob

W.A.S Hewins

Thank you for these profound comments, especially on the library which you didn't visit, despite the fact that it is the largest social science library in the world and has recently been refurbished at a cost of £30 million by Norman Foster.

What is your agenda? The comments that I have made about the library are :

a.

reported

b.

complimetary

W.A.S Hewins

And you didn't notice that the High Holborn building is at the top of Drury Lane, in the heart of the West End, within spitting distance of Tottenham Court Road and the British Museum, not to mention 5 minutes' walk from LSE. No, none of this matters, what matters is being blase and 'quite good' about everything.

I am just trying to convey my subjective views on the LSE. I know full well about its unique location in the centre of London. What I was more concerned about when I visited the place, as the thread starter has already mentioned, was the ethos of the place - as its reputation is undoubted. The positioning of the LSE in Central London, if anything, was peripheral to my experience - that was not what I was assessing when I visited the place. If I had wanted to do that, do you not think I would have headed for an open-top, tourist bus in Trafalgar Square rather than Houghton Street?

W.A.S Hewins

What do you think you'll bring to LSE to make us better, supposing you do decide to grace us with your presence?

Hopefully not pomposity. All that I have done is to voice my personal outlook on the LSE, informed by my personal experience at the open day. As it so happens: supposed reputation, situation in Central London and the library are not the only criteria on which I form my views about an institution - I have made an holistic, personal judgement about the LSE, based primarily on its ethos.

On that particular day, at that particular time, in my experience; the LSE struck me as a rather workmanlike institution, lacking any pizzazz whatsoever. I am unwilling to pay great deference and heap laudatory remarks on the LSE just for the sake of it. The fabled institution on Houghton St. struck me as ordinary and corporate - a quality that I would expect of my High St. bank but sadly not my potential university.

'Grace us with your presence', you should be so lucky! Of the London institutions, atm UCL is in the most favourable position to receive that unrivalled blessing. :biggrin:

Reply 7

W.A.S Hewins

mobbdeeprob

What is your agenda? The comments that I have made about the library are :

a.

reported

b.

complimetary

I am just trying to convey my subjective views on the LSE. I know full well about its unique location in the centre of London. What I was more concerned about when I visited the place, as the thread starter has already mentioned, was the ethos of the place - as its reputation is undoubted. The positioning of the LSE in Central London, if anything, was peripheral to my experience - that was not what I was assessing when I visited the place. If I had wanted to do that, do you not think I would have headed for an open-top, tourist bus in Trafalgar Square rather than Houghton Street?

Hopefully not pomposity. All that I have done is to voice my personal outlook on the LSE, informed by my personal experience at the open day. As it so happens: supposed reputation, situation in Central London and the library are not the only criteria on which I form my views about an institution - I have made an holistic, personal judgement about the LSE, based primarily on its ethos.

On that particular day, at that particular time, in my experience; the LSE struck me as a rather workmanlike institution, lacking any pizzazz whatsoever. I am unwilling to pay great deference and heap laudatory remarks on the LSE just for the sake of it. The fabled institution on Houghton St. struck me as ordinary and corporate - a quality that I would expect of my High St. bank but sadly not my potential university.

'Grace us with your presence', you should be so lucky! Of the London institutions, atm UCL is in the most favourable position to receive that unrivalled blessing. :biggrin:

Your subjective views are not important. Learn something about LSE before judging it: that depends on objective fact, not subjective opinion from someone who is too lazy to visit a famous library even when he's just a few yards from it (which you no doubt have never heard of) and instead blandly reports second hand opinion. You'll have a great career in British journalism.