London School of Economics

London

LSE Economics - should i apply?

Currently doing Economics, Maths, Biology Chemistry and Physics at A-level, predicted all As (I believe I can achieve this with continued effort). Got 5 A*s, 3 As 1 distinction and 2 Bs (P.E. and Music) in GCSEs, but this year I've picked up and I won't be slacking off like at high school.

My question is, is it at all worth applying to do Econ at LSE without Further Maths? I've heard it's pretty pointless and nearly all successful applicants do F. Maths. Just don't want to waste my app.

I'll be applying with actual AS results and predicted A2s (hopefully only dropping 1 at the end of the year, so four predicted A2s if that changes anything).

Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 1

imcurious

you have zero chance, if you don't apply.

so why not just give it a shot nothing's gonna blame u

London School of Economics

London

Reply 2

mickel_w

because i want to make sure I don't waste an application.

Can only apply to a limited number of places, so i just wanna know if i stand a chance :smile:

aaaaanyone else?

Does your school offer further maths?

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Reply 5

Bloxorus

Original post by econam

Does your school offer further maths?

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This. If your school offers further maths then there might be a problem because by not taking it, you're basically screaming to them that you aren't particularly interested in maths.

Reply 6

Burgoyne

Original post by mickel_w

My question is, is it at all worth applying to do Econ at LSE without Further Maths? I've heard it's pretty pointless and nearly all successful applicants do F. Maths. Just don't want to waste my app.

Hi, as a current first year ive met many ppl doing econ who never did fmaths. For that matter, ive met some people on my own course (maths with econ) who havent done further. Theyre coping.

Given that this is several days later, have you submitted your application yet.?

Reply 7

mickel_w

Original post by econam

Does your school offer further maths?

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Yes, they do..

Original post by Burgoyne

Application's a looong time away yet (end of this school year).

Do you know what other subjects they did, and what grades they got? And out of curiosity, what did you do and what offer did you get from LSE?

I doubt my school would let me change subjects now. If not doing further maths is a big disadvantage and will be bad for my application then I guess I could try and do it in the next school year (Drop 2 subjects, do econ, maths and f. maths)
Are grades such as chemistry/physics not seen as good by LSE? Obviously they'd prefer stuff that actually has to do with the course like econ and maths, but do they consider applications such as mine that are quite heavily science-orientated?

Reply 8

Burgoyne

Original post by mickel_w

Application's a looong time away yet (end of this school year).
So you are just beginning AS levels? If so, have you thought of taking AS further maths as an outside subject and just seeing how you enjoy it? Thats what i did, i ended up loving it and it became an offer subject.

Some of them took the econ-politics route, and others took the maths-furthermaths-sciences route. No idea of grades sorry but i should imagine high.,

My offer from LSE was A*AA in Maths, FMaths, Physics respectively. My school offered no economics, and it didnt make an iota of difference to LSE it seems, as i used the PS to express that area of interest.

The thing with further maths is, you have no idea until you try how different and cool it can be. One important thing is, how much effort are you having to make to stay on course with AS maths? If its a lot then, i think, stay clear of AS further, but otherwise-- why would the school not let you dabble around a bit- after all if you end up taking it they get paid extra (here i am assuming you are state school).

But, looking back over your situation, you maybe shouldnt be stressing at all. econ maths + 3sci is extremely tough- you've chosen the hardest bunch behind further. LSE will respect that. If you really feel it to be an issue by the end of this year, consider dropping a couple of sciences and take AS maths. What i found was that attending the LSE open day was unbelievably useful in cutting the crap from what scare-stories circulate about LSE.

Good luck!

Reply 9

leinad2012

Original post by mickel_w

Yes, they do..

Application's a looong time away yet (end of this school year).

Do you know what other subjects they did, and what grades they got? And out of curiosity, what did you do and what offer did you get from LSE?

I doubt my school would let me change subjects now. If not doing further maths is a big disadvantage and will be bad for my application then I guess I could try and do it in the next school year (Drop 2 subjects, do econ, maths and f. maths)
Are grades such as chemistry/physics not seen as good by LSE? Obviously they'd prefer stuff that actually has to do with the course like econ and maths, but do they consider applications such as mine that are quite heavily science-orientated?

As a first year econ student at LSE who didn't do FM in year 12, my advise would be to drop 2 out of Bio, Chem and Physic after AS and do Maths Econ and the science you didn't drop to A2, and pick up AS further maths next year. I was in a similar situation two years ago and only realised I needed further maths to AS after the open, so did 3 A2's and self taught FM AS in year 13. If anything, I think it went in my favour, as I could choose applied modules related to economics (i.e. stats) and appeared to show that I could work independently and had the drive to learn a subject on my own (partially true although in reality I just hadn't planned ahead in my subject choices), which is a good thing to put in a ps next year.

Reply 10

mickel_w

Original post by Burgoyne

So you are just beginning AS levels? If so, have you thought of taking AS further maths as an outside subject and just seeing how you enjoy it? Thats what i did, i ended up loving it and it became an offer subject.

Some of them took the econ-politics route, and others took the maths-furthermaths-sciences route. No idea of grades sorry but i should imagine high.,

My offer from LSE was A*AA in Maths, FMaths, Physics respectively. My school offered no economics, and it didnt make an iota of difference to LSE it seems, as i used the PS to express that area of interest.

The thing with further maths is, you have no idea until you try how different and cool it can be. One important thing is, how much effort are you having to make to stay on course with AS maths? If its a lot then, i think, stay clear of AS further, but otherwise-- why would the school not let you dabble around a bit- after all if you end up taking it they get paid extra (here i am assuming you are state school).

But, looking back over your situation, you maybe shouldnt be stressing at all. econ maths + 3sci is extremely tough- you've chosen the hardest bunch behind further. LSE will respect that. If you really feel it to be an issue by the end of this year, consider dropping a couple of sciences and take AS maths. What i found was that attending the LSE open day was unbelievably useful in cutting the crap from what scare-stories circulate about LSE.

Good luck!

Yes, just started L6 this year.
I thought about taking FM as an outside subject, but since I'm already doing 5 the workload could prove to be too much with another subject. It's actually not that long ago that I decided economics is the subject which I'd like to pursue further, so I wouldn't feel too confident with dropping a science subject at this point in time, because I might regret it later on.
Ugh, I hate not having my mind made up about what I'd like to do :frown:

With maths, I just do the homeworks we get given + about 1 hour looking over material per week (significantly more when there's a test coming, of course :tongue:

). I'd probably say it's one of the subjects which requires the least effort from me - i just feel like there's not too much to remember in maths, just practice. Chemistry on the other hand, I have to do considerably more revision to keep things 'fresh' in my mind. I'm getting low/mid As consistently in maths. Do you reckon F maths could be for me? Are the concepts harder, or just more material to get through?

But yeah, I'll definitely attend LSE open day, hopefully clear some things up for me. If I feel my application isn't good enough to be considered a place at the end of the year (given I still want to do economics lol) then I'll probably drop 2/3 sciences, and do maths, econ and further maths next year (FM to at least AS). That's if my school let me though, they were kind of against me doing 5 at first.. But then again, if they get paid for it I'm sure they'll say yes!

How are you liking LSE btw? And student life in London altogether?

Original post by leinad2012

Hmm. How did you realise that you needed further maths to AS after open day? Did they tell you/make it very clear that the vast majority of successful applicants did FM? How many did FM to just AS and not A2?
Do you reckon it might be better to do Maths, Econ and FM As and A2 in one year, having dropped all sciences? Or would that be extremely hard? Also, when you say you self-taught, did you enlist for exams to prove to LSE that you did it?

Thanks for your replies everyone :smile:

Reply 11

leinad2012

Original post by mickel_w

Well, I went on the website and in the open day booklet they gave said FM was STRONGLY recommended, and considering applications to places are 10:1 I realised they could be picky over whatever thy wanted.

Most have done it to A2 but I know quite a few who only did it to AS like me.

Definitely don't drop all sciences to take up FM to AS and A2, I can't stress that enough. Further maths only counts as a fourth A-level at LSE as only doing Maths, FM and economics doesn't give you enough breath of knowledge.

I did do all the AS FM exams, I wasn't sure to begin with whether it would be put in the offer or not, but LSE did put it in the offer and I had to get an a in it to get in.

Here's the requirement from their website;

Programme requirement: A level Mathematics is required. A level Economics is not essential. Further Mathematics taken at A level is strongly preferred and is seen as an additional or fourth subject. Thus a combination of Mathematics, Further Mathematics and one other subject is not seen as providing the required breadth of knowledge and skills. No other specific subjects are required at A level, but we prefer traditional academic subjects to subjects such as Communication Studies, Accounting, Business Studies or Media Studies
Usual standard offer: For students taking three A levels: grades A* A A with an A* in Mathematics. For students taking four or more A levels: grades A*A A plus a pass in a fourth A level, with an A* in Mathematics. Students taking Further Mathematics to AS level only will be required to achieve grade A