A Week in the Life: LSE edition

How can you expect someone to answer that?

It all depends. Anyone you ask will just give you the boring answer: I've come across quite a lot of people who haven't done economics a-level (or equivalent) and have done very well. In the same way there's likely to be a lot of people who have done some economics before and have struggled.

They don't assume you know anything. It's a first year module that a lot of people take so they don't make it difficult. Just put in a little effort and you'll probably be fine.

How does life at LSE compare with life at any other uni. I mean with LSE being so small, not having a real campus, majority of students being postgrads, many of them overseas.. Can you get a proper uni experience?

also, the fact that all the dorms are so far apart and all are far from the LSE campus sucks. i have a very good friend from my home school (as in, we used to hang out multiple times a week freshman/soph year) who i NEVER SEE at LSE because he lives somewhere in bloomsbury and i live at bankside. we've hung out a grand total of 3 times in the past month and a half i've been here.

You seem to have an exessively negative opinion of both the uni and the halls and instead of trying to improve it you simply bitch about it on TSR. In the other thread you complained about bankside, which in my opinion is awesome (although I am a fresher) and most of the problems you listed were completely insignificant such as no water fountains
Also, about halls being far away, I still frequently run into people before/after lectures and on campus and we go for lunch/pool/etc. That's the advantage of a small campus - you constantly see familiar faces. I also have plenty of friends in other unis such as UCL or Imperial who I meet with every 2/3days, the tube is your friend. Just sounds like you're too lazy to make an effort to improve your experience...

LOL. QQ MOAR

Rofl, have you read your own posts? You sound like a teenage girl crying about how the whole world is against you.
Gawd don't throw any more meaningless 1337talk at me pl0x, you really sound like a postgrad... /sarcasm

as a general course student whose home university is a small liberal arts college in the US with all the stereotypical things colleges are supposed to have, my opinion is...

no, you can't. everything you said is true - there are way too many postgrads, LSE's campus is too far away from all the dorms to foster any kind of meaningful on-campus cultural "scene", and it seems like 2 out of 3 people i see are foreign i.e. not british (this isn't a racial thing, but a cultural thing - european, asian, african, even american. british culture is NOT at all dominant at LSE).

the worst thing to me is all the postgrads. as a freshman in college you're supposed to go out and be irresponsible, do dumb things, and most of all, experiment, whether with your partying (drugs and stuff) or your interests (random clubs like ultimate frisbee) or your sexual orientation (a lot of people become bisexual in college) or whatever. the point is, college is a safe place to do all that, in an environment of people who share your age and life experience. the problem with LSE is that half the people here have already graduated college - many of them are 24, 25 and they are very straitlaced, very mature. they do not share the impulse to experiment and try new things (nor, for that matter, do most of them ever go out and party).

so for that reason, if having a traditional college experience is something that is important to you, i would seriously recommend not coming here. i'm a general course student thinking about transfering to LSE, so I'm not like a hostile critic or whatever - but, knowing what i know, i would not come here as a freshman. having the stereotypical college experience WAS important to me (i've since outgrown it, for the most part).

also, the fact that all the dorms are so far apart and all are far from the LSE campus sucks. i have a very good friend from my home school (as in, we used to hang out multiple times a week freshman/soph year) who i NEVER SEE at LSE because he lives somewhere in bloomsbury and i live at bankside. we've hung out a grand total of 3 times in the past month and a half i've been here.

all of that is negative stuff that i have personally experienced, for what it's worth. to provide a counterpoint, it does seem like a lot of the freshmen at LSE go out and party at clubs and bars and things, so i don't think you are gonna miss out on that aspect coming here. hell it's london so if you can cobble together a group of friends you'll never lack places to go and get drunk at.

I'm with you.

I don't mind going here. I learn a lot. The education is good, the classes are enjoyable and the work satisfying. I get a degree that will get me into good universities for a graduate degree. It's in London, amazing in itself.

Yet it misses a lot. Students take themselves way too seriously, most have a stick up their arse the size of a 737. The amount of "nice, open-minded, unpretentious people" is comparatively low and somehow conversations at LSE always turn into dick-measuring contests. Nobody is very genuine, or honest. Plus, they all want to go into investment banking "because you make a lot of money." Really, it might just be London culture seeping through, but levels of shallowness are astonishing. Most people are constantly fretting about how they come across, how they do in class; LSE has a unique way of making you feel inferior and incompetent that I have seen happen to me and lots of other students; recently a grad who got a First told me he'd felt exactly the same way and twice nearly left. It's very, very pressurised and it causes a lot of people to doubt themselves and act this way, out of character.

No drunken, happy philosophising with friends, not afraid to say silly things or have fun; no atmosphere where you feel comfortable admitting things that bother you; no feeling of "being in the same boat", or brotherhood, or at least willing to really get to know other people. Partying is done solely in clubs, where you really don't become good mates. It really is pretty dire and I'm not sure whether it's me or the atmosphere. I hate to point fingers at the School and blame the environment, yet so many people feel the same way as I do.

All in all, it is a good place to study. Not great, and you need to be made of steel to come out without hating yourself frequently. Do I regret it? Often. But there are things that make it worth it.

Meh. Rant over. It's really not bad. Just be prepared to sacrifice a few things in life that are important.

The only thing that makes it seem like a *real* uni is AU nights <3
You pretty much have to be an alcoholic to enjoy LSE. So, that's what we do..

Week:
Wake up hungover, go to lecture hungover, get over hangover, eat, attempt to work in library- fail at working, get drunk, repeat.

hi, which course is/was this for?

Do you think some of this might vary depending on accomodation?

My routine so far is

Monday

wake up at 12pm, go to lecture at 1pm and spend the day on campus, after lectures i hit the library and get back to bankside at 6 or 7. then eat and go out most mondays, and on the days i don't i drink in the bar with friends and play poker/pool.

Tues

day off. wake up at 1pm hungover. say i'm never drinking again, which lasts approximately a few hours. do some work as i usually have essays or reading to do. spend the whole day in PJs, only leaving bankside to grab lunch from Pret. in the evening usually go out.

Wed

day off again. wake up 1pm hungover again, realise i did **** all in terms of work the day before so i buckle down. never go out on wednesday night. usually spend the evening working or hanging out with friends in the bar.

Thurs

have to wake up early for a 10am lecture. done at 11, so usually hit oxford st. go back to halls, don't work, maybe hit the gym but usually can't be bothered. i don't usually go out on thursday night because of 9am friday class.

Fri

friday is the worst day ever. 9-10 class, 10-11 lecture, 4-5 class, 5-6 class. yes that's right - 3 out of my 4 classes every week are on friday. usually show up late for the 10am lecture because i go to EAT for breakfast. spend the day having coffee with friends, going for lunch, catching up on work in the library (but spending most of the time on Facebook or talking to friends). i either go home after my classes and spend the whole weekend at home, or recently i've been going back to halls after and going out on friday nights and heading home saturday morning.

my timetable is annoying because it means going out thursday nights (which are good nights) are a no-no, but otherwise i love it because i get tues and wed off. it means i don't work at all on weekends and just catch up on my two free days.

It does MAJORLY.

Whilst its true you very rarely meet your friends at school, you do bump into ALOT of people from the same departments/modules you take because of the similar timings. It helps you branch out your friends circle honestly, I never sit with the SAME people in the library, which is kind of a good thing.

I stayed at high holborn, and it was kind of like this little family feeling- often we walked to uni together etc. and down drury lane you literally meet everyone, either coming home, or going out- its great.

Also, it depends what kind of person you are.
You can't sit in and study all the time and sacrifice your social life, you need to balance between two. I did that, and I managed well on my modules, REMEMBER FIRST YEAR IS ONE NINTH, its not that big of a deal. Even if you get a 2.2 you can still graduate with a 2.1 or even a first.

=)

Only bad thing about LSE, is the classes. If you get a good teacher you're lucky. Get a bitchy one, and you're stuckkkk. Many of them are bitchy, because they think they're god damn amazing.

I'm with you.

I don't mind going here. I learn a lot. The education is good, the classes are enjoyable and the work satisfying. I get a degree that will get me into good universities for a graduate degree. It's in London, amazing in itself.

Yet it misses a lot. Students take themselves way too seriously, most have a stick up their arse the size of a 737. The amount of "nice, open-minded, unpretentious people" is comparatively low and somehow conversations at LSE always turn into dick-measuring contests. Nobody is very genuine, or honest. Plus, they all want to go into investment banking "because you make a lot of money." Really, it might just be London culture seeping through, but levels of shallowness are astonishing. Most people are constantly fretting about how they come across, how they do in class; LSE has a unique way of making you feel inferior and incompetent that I have seen happen to me and lots of other students; recently a grad who got a First told me he'd felt exactly the same way and twice nearly left. It's very, very pressurised and it causes a lot of people to doubt themselves and act this way, out of character.

No drunken, happy philosophising with friends, not afraid to say silly things or have fun; no atmosphere where you feel comfortable admitting things that bother you; no feeling of "being in the same boat", or brotherhood, or at least willing to really get to know other people. Partying is done solely in clubs, where you really don't become good mates. It really is pretty dire and I'm not sure whether it's me or the atmosphere. I hate to point fingers at the School and blame the environment, yet so many people feel the same way as I do.

All in all, it is a good place to study. Not great, and you need to be made of steel to come out without hating yourself frequently. Do I regret it? Often. But there are things that make it worth it.

Meh. Rant over. It's really not bad. Just be prepared to sacrifice a few things in life that are important.

Great post

wtf is with your weird-ass pictures

Its a picture of an album that I like next to a picture of Rashida Jones who I hope to bone one day. I've seen plenty of weirder pictures tbh