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London School of Economics
From The Student Room(Redirected from London School of Economics (LSE))
TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > London School of Economics (LSE)
 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a college of the University of London. It's located on Houghton Street in Westminster and it's courses focus solely on social sciences. It was founded in 1895 and currently has just under 9,000 students.
FacilitiesLibrariesThere's one library on campus "The Library". Claim to fame being the largest social sciences library in the world or something. Apparently LSE students take out 5 times as many books as the average student... I'm not sure about this as all people ever seem to go to the library for is to use the computers. Facilities include computers (not enough, you can spend 20 mins fighting people off/waiting for one) and printers (4p a page to print but I swear it overcharges me...), photocopiers, lots of books, study areas. For studying the rule seems to be the higher up the floors you go the more pissed off people get if you make noise. You can sit and chat while working on the lower ground floor, but if you try this on the third floor people bitch at you. It is also possible to book group study rooms for free. The library has pretty much the stupidest design ever, the staircase looks really cool but is a nightmare to actually climb/descend, the other option is taking the lift which really is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Glass Elevator experience! Makes my stomach churn every time, if you like rollercoasters then I'm sure you'll love the library lift. All the course texts are conveniently located in one room, so you shouldn't have to look all over the library for your course texts. be careful about getting out books, they're all colour coded to let you know how many days you're allowed to borrow them for and if they're overdue you get hefty fines. IT and ComputingComputers are available in the library, these are rationed on a "first come with more mates already on computers in the library than someone else gets served" basis. The computers are free to use but the implicit price is high in the form of waiting/fighting with other students for one. Between 11:00-15:00, it is often very difficult to see many free computers. The computers themselves are of good quality. The library computers are relatively high spec and run Microsoft Windows XP. The internet speed is ridiculously fast, as it is at most of the LSE halls. There is a 24 hour computer room somewhere. Also I think most of the LSE halls have computer rooms and there is internet access in all(?AFAIK) rooms in LSE halls. There's also wireless internet access across many parts of campus and LSE hall common areas. SportsProbably the worst part of being at LSE. There is a multi-purpose sports hall on campus in the basement of the old building where most of the martial arts classes take place, but since it is smaller than your average living room it is effectively useless for any sport that requires sustained motion. The campus gym is reasonably well equipped but too small to be of any real value, and rather ambitiously priced at that (certainly last time I checked).
That is not to say that there is no sport at LSE, there is in fact quite a lot of it, but you have to be prepared to travel quite extensively to partake. All practice and competing for football teams takes place at Berrylands Complex which, nice though it may be, is a good half hour's train ride away and is technically a part of Surrey. Indoor ball sports will generally be held at private sports halls that the clubs have to rent out and can be in a different location every week, anywhere in London. ULU provides good facilities and is in easy reach of most LSE accommodation, but you will still be crying yourself to sleep everytime a friend at Imperial tells you about their brand spanking new state of the art 100% FREE TO USE sports centre. WelfareHealthcareIf you live in an LSE residence you should register[1] when you arrive at the LSE with St Phillips Medical Centre[2] on campus if you live in halls north of the river. For those living out of the centre or south of the river you are advised to register with your nearest medical centre. ShopsRestaurantsThere is a shop called Wrights Bar, however due to the lack of hygiene and several students seeing mice there, they have had inspections from the health inspector. but on King's Way, there are lots of chain restraunts which do nice food. A newly opened Wasabi is modern and trendy, but not nice on the wallet. BanksThere is a Natwest[3] on campus, although the queue is almost always out the door. If you want to withdraw cash you can do so from ATMs outside the bank, to avoid queues try using the one inside too. You can use these cash machines even if you do not bank with Natwest and in most cases will not be charged for this. TransportClosest tube stations are Holborn and Temple. For other travel information you can use the Transport for London site[4]. I would advise anyone who is at a London university to get an Oyster Card if they haven't already done so. It's free, less hassle and it saves you quite a bit of money. For example, typically a £2 bus journey costs just 90p. Careers serviceBooking an appointment to see an CV advisor is nearly impossible, mainly due to the fact that the system in which you book to see them is not functional and you can not book directly i.e. call them. Very unhelpful in that they wont actually do anything. I find that the best resource is to actually ask seniors for advice on careers etc. Part-time jobsReligious facilitiesSocialBars, Pubs and clubsThree Tuns. The Quad. The Underground Bar. All combined on a Friday evening to form Crush. EventsIn Freshers' week, you have the opportunity to join as many and any societies you want. From Economics to Salsa Dancing, your tastes are likely to be covered. Membership fees range from as little as £1 for the RUN society to £10 for the Athletics Union. AccommodationAccommodation policyFacilitiesResidencesCarr SaundersThere are around 150 people in Carr Saunders Hall, although you may never see more than 70 what with the postgrads who keep themselves to themselves and the odd antisocial fresher. We are opposite a UCL Hall (Ramsay) with whom we have a friendly rivalry. At the time of writing (22/10/07) Carr Saunders has a problem with cockroaches (although I have lived here 3 weeks and not yet seen one... make of that what you like). Rooms All rooms in Carr Saunders are identical except for the fact that some have nicer curtains than others. Moderate sized room, bed, desk with lamp, wardrobe with limited hanging space and shelves, sink and mirror. Bring stuff to personalise your room! It feels so generic otherwise, blu tack stuff up (no one cares, just put "blu tack marks" on your room itinerary just incase). We have a pinboard but most people were here two weeks before we realised it wasn't just another bit of wall. All rooms have a telephone so people can ring you direct to your room, you can also buy calling cards from reception that allow you to make external calls from your room. It is free to connect to the internet from your room but you need to bring (or buy cheap from reception) and ethernet cable in order to plug it in. Towels and bed linen are not provided so you will have to bring your own. Rooms are not cleaned by cleaners you have to clean your own room and sink and move your rubbish out into the kitchen bin to be collected. Kitchens There is one kitchen on each floor. In each kitchen there are two fridges and two freezers, two microwaves, a hob with four rings, a toaster, a kettle and a sink. THERE ARE NO OVENS IN CARR SAUNDERS! Crazy I know... So far the kitchens seem to be working well, they don't get too busy and they are pretty clean/tidy because at the time of writing (22/10/07) we have a cockroach problem and everyone has to keep everything clean and in sealed plastic boxes, also the kitchens are cleaned every day by cleaners. If you can't be bothered cooking there is a canteen upstairs on the 6th floor, this is pretty cheap and edible but not great. Also NB don't buy fruit as you can get it free from the canteen. Showers Showers I am impressed with. On our bit of the floor we have two between about 15 of us, I have never had to bother to walk to the other end of the floor (where there are a good five or so) because there is never a queue. We do tend to wear flipflops in the showers, but they're always pretty clean and get cleaned every day by cleaners. There is a cubicle with pegs and then a shower curtain and then the actual shower, don't put anything on the floor in the cubicle - it will get wet so make sure everything can be hung up or take a plastic bag with you that you can put stuff in and then hang that up. There's also a bath... if that's your thing. Common Rooms We have awesome common areas. The common room has two huge TVs - one with a games console and one with freeview or something, a pool table, a table tennis table and various vending machines, chairs etc. There is also a bar in our basement which is open three nights a week with cheap drinks, also if they don't sell what you like they will buy it in. There is another TV in the bar and there's also a Wii!!!!!!!!!!!! Private sectorThe only problem with living privately in central London is that eventually you will run out of organs to sell for rent money. Your choice then becomes either to have a father who is in the Russian mafia (a surprisingly widespread condition among LSE students) or to get ready to commute. That housing and transport are expensive in London has been known since pre-Socratic times, and it is simply a fact of life for anyone studying at LSE. Expect central London rents for a shared flat close to the university to start about £150/week, gradually declining to about £100/week as you venture further into zones 2 and 3. Student unionStudent politics is very much alive at LSE with the Union retaining the only weekly Union General Meeting (UGM) in the country. Email su.returningofficer@lse.ac.uk with questions of how to get more involved!
PricesEnvironmentArchitectureNot an awful lot to brag about here unfortunately. The university is essentially a side-street in Central London and consists of buildings that are about as attractive as one would expect for a side-street in Central London. The library is the only building of any architectural significance, but, as mentioned above, is so poorly designed that you will most likely require multiple knee surgery to undo the damage inflicted by walking up and down the central staircase for three years. The university has recently acquired some rather more grand buildings on nearby Kingsway and Lincoln's Inn Fields so it appears that there is somewhat of a makeover in progress. Local areaThe immediate surroundings are dominated mainly by lawyers and professional types being fleeced out of their hard earned millions at over-priced luxury sandwich shops. The university is very conveniently located for access to some of the more attractive (read touristy) parts of central London such as Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and the northern bank of the Thames (southern bank too!). There is a small park nearby (Lincoln's Inn Fields) that provides a few patches of grass to enjoy one's lunch on and some (expensive) tennis courts. The park aside, the area does get extremely busy, both on campus and off, so be prepared to allow for a lot of people-dodging as you weave your way from one class to the next. Teaching qualityLSE degrees are modular with students taking four modules in each academic year. The teaching set up follows standard university protocol with a few hours of lectures each week being supplemented by one hour of classes/seminars in smaller groups (10ish students) for each module. Each module is then assessed by a three hour exam at the end of the year which will vary from entirely essay-based to entirely quantitative to a mix of the two depending on the nature of the subject being examined. LSE teaching is somewhat unusual in that individual degree programmes are only very loosely segregated. At most other universities all students within the same course will tend to receive teaching by their department with only occasional forays into modules taught by other departments. At the LSE, particularly in the first year, students from several different degrees will take the same first year courses. For instance, anybody with the word "Economics" in their degree programme (Economics, Mathematics and Economics, Philosophy and Economics, Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, Government and Economics etc.) will sit the same first year Economics course and one of two Mathematics courses. What this means is that first year lectures often house several hundreds of students sitting in the same room, meaning that it can get very impersonal at times. What the LSE does, it does well. Regardless of the vagaries of newspaper university league tables the university can confidently boast the top faculties in several of the subjects it teaches. Ask any professor anywhere to name the best department in Europe for subjects such as Economics and International Relations and nine times out of ten you will get LSE as an answer. What does this mean for you, the prospective undergraduate student? Well, for one it means you can take pride in the fact that the person standing on the stage in front of you is probably at the forefront of their field. More pertinently, even though the correlation between research quality and teaching ability is certainly tenuous, LSE academics know their stuff and quite a few of them know also how to deliver an engaging lecture. Be aware though, that the best researchers in any field are unlikely to all be British. What this means is that a lot of your lecturers will be international stars who possibly lack the eloquence and fluency of your typical Oxford don. Everybody who lectures at the LSE speaks English of course, but if your idea of a good lecture involves elegant prose and subtle wit, you might be somewhat disappointed. While all lecturers at LSE speak English, unfortunately this does not necessarily apply to class teachers. Class teaching is by far the most contentious academic issue at LSE and a source of much disgruntlement to many students. There is an overwhelming probability that your class teachers at LSE will be PhD students, and there is an equally overwhelming probability that their first language will not be English. Whether or not this becomes an issue will of course depend greatly on the individual teacher. As mentioned above LSE offers some of the best faculties in the social sciences and consequently attracts some of the best PhD students. Some of these PhD students have a perfect command of the English language and are immensely gifted teachers. Others teach only out of financial necessity and seem not to have learned any English beyond the names of a select few mathematical symbols. The vast majority, of course, are wedged squarely in between, average teachers with acceptable language skills. The resentment on the part of the undergraduate body stems from the fact the LSE seems to do so little to monitor the competence of its teachers. You are likely in the course of your LSE career to have several OK teachers, a few fantastic teachers, and a few atrocious ones, just as you would elsewhere, but the frustrating thing is that the university is so stubbornly lax about dealing with the latter. All in all you are likely to be disappointed by teaching at the LSE. But then again, you are likely to be disappointed by teaching wherever you go to university. There will always be boring lecturers, incapable grad students, but in the end it will not play a huge part in your academic success because university is so much about independent learning anyway. Enjoy your favourite 6th form teacher while you can, because no-one is ever going to care as much again. LSE in Political DramaCertain fictional characters in popular political dramas and comedies have been depicted as LSE graduates. These include President Josiah Bartlet of The West Wing TV series, and Prime Minister Jim Hacker of the Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister BBC TV series. TriviaMonica Lewinsky received a MSc in Social Psychology at LSE in 2006. LSE completely trashed King's College London on a drunken rampage connected to the 2005 Athletic Union's annual barrel (party). Exact figures escape me, but the overall damage was in the tens of thousands of pounds. Since the damage was concentrated around the English department it's quite possible that no-one at King's has actually noticed yet. Applying to LSEThinking of applying to LSE? Why not read some Personal Statements which were used for applying here? Other LSE ArticlesWhy not read these other LSE Articles? Links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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