Personal Statement: LSE Econs & LSE Math and Econs

Hi there!

I have a enquiry about the UCAS personal statement.

I am in a unique situation because due to my national service (NS) in Singapore, I have two opportunities to apply for UK universities, once in my first year of NS and another in my second. Why is this a unique situation? You can reapply to UK universities as many times as you want regardless of your situation! Do you mean you are allowed to hold an offer and reapply, or just that you have two years of income anyway, and so missing out on offers doesn't matter as much? When would you want to start university- September 2017?

As such, for my first try, I was thinking of not applying for any safety schools since I would not accept the safety school offers anyway.

My options were going to be as such:
Cambridge // LSE Econs // LSE Math and Econs // UCL Econs // UCL Econs and Stats

I have gotten 44 points for my IB exams (with a 7 in math) so my grades should be good enough. The issue is the personal statement.

I have heard that UCL Econs and UCL Econs and Stats are rather similar courses, so writing a personal statement catering to Economics should be sufficient for both courses.

However, seeing that admission to LSE depends heavily on your personal statement, I have been advised against applying for both Econs and Math and Econs at LSE. I have been told that LSE really wants you to cater your application towards one focused course, and it is stupid to apply for both courses as they are not that similar. As such, my questions are:

1) Are LSE Econs and LSE Math and Econs really so different? How difficult is it to write a personal statement that caters to both? LSE do state on their website they want an application focused towards one particular economics program. You should listen to this, and think carefully about how you write your personal statement. They don't just give out advice like this for fun.

2) Is it true that the schools under UOL such as UCL, LSE are able to see your applications to their different schools? Does that disadvantage me? I don't know if this is true- I haven't heard it mentioned before. Even if it is true, it's not a disadvantage, lots of people get offers from more than one UOL school every year, so don't worry about it.

3) Is it unwise to apply two courses at the same university like I have? Will the department receive the two applications independently or together? In general, if you're not suitable for single honours, most departments will automatically consider your for joint honours and may offer this if you meet the requirements. However, from LSE's website, it does sound like they don't intend to to do this next year. Usually, it's a waste of a choice, though as you'd be considered for the joint honours anyway in most cases.

4) Is it possible that they could reject me from both just because I have applied for both two courses at the same university? Or will that not be a problem and could I very well receive two offers form the same university? It's unlikely a uni would reject you for only this reason. People do receive more than one offer from the same uni in many cases.

5) After doing my research, the closest course to LSE Econs that I could find within LSE was LSE Math and Econs. Is there any closer degree to Econs within LSE that I missed out on?

Thanks so much!

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Hi, I've written some answers to your post in bold.

However, I'm wondering if you're going about things in the right way. There are other good universities in the UK outside of Cambridge, LSE and UCL, and it seems like you're really keen on doing Economics. It might be better this year to apply to 5 universities for economics, and reject all your offers if you decide in the end you're not happy with them. In the end most universities will consider you for joint honours if you are a borderline candidate- and if you're not, you won't get a place anyway.

I think especially with the UCL courses, putting down the two courses is essentially a waste of a choice on your UCAS application.

That said, if you're totally prepared for 5 rejections this year (not saying you will get them, just that it's possible) and wouldn't consider accepting any other uni, then you may as well apply and see what happens. I would apply with a pure economics statement, though, if that's the course you prefer.

Good luck whatever you decide.

the competitive nature of these unis could well lead to 5 rejections. by all means apply to 3 but have 2 other less competitive options in case of rejections. only 1 in 5 get into Cambridge 1 in 6 lse so the percentages are stacked against you. it might also be worth avoiding st Andrews durham and warwick if you are applying to these 3 as they have high rejection rates as well

Universities cannot see where else you have applied until the firm and insurance stage, by which time it's too late for them to do anything. Not that they would anyway. Universities are perfectly aware that every candidate has five spaces to fill and they are likely to be filled by universities of the same type as themselves.

Thanks so much for the advice!!

The reason why I said I'm in a unique situation is that I indefinitely have to spend 2 year in national service. I recognise that everyone can re-apply regardless of their situation. But yes, I only can matriculate in September 2017 because my service ends in the year 2017. As such, I will be applying for deferred entry this upcoming cycle and direct entry the next cycle if necessary.

Mmm I will consider carefully what you said, it's because I definitely have a second chance to re-apply that's why I was wondering if it makes sense to apply to no safeties this first time since I wouldn't accept any, but clearly the advice by many is to avoid doing so. Thanks so much for everything!

The thing is, it's up to you. If you're realistic about getting 5 rejections (and this is by no means guaranteed but is equally highly possible), then by all means, put in 5 competitive courses, and see how you get on. Lots of people will give you the standard advice that this is super risky, but as you are happy to reapply again more sensibly next time round, I don't think you have anything to lose. As you know your results, you also have the advantage of not needing an insurance choice.

As I've said, the biggest risk is likely to be sending two applications to LSE- it might be worth having a chat with them about how they would view this, as if they really want a tailored application to just one degree program as they suggest on their website, you probably won't be able to produce a good application for both degrees.

Out of interest, if you didn't get any offers the first time, have you thought about where you would apply the second time around?

Hi!


You were totally right about LSE, I think I will just be applying for Economics. UCL has yet to get back to me about the joint honours thing but I think I will likely apply to 5 schools instead.


Hmm I think I will likely apply to the same schools again...because many of my seniors failed the first time and succeeded the second time applying to the same schools, largely attributed to the fact that getting in via deferred entry is harder. Of course I think they likely re-wrote their personal statement or tried to improve on their interview skills (for Cambridge.)


I will also be applying to the US since I can do Economics as an undergraduate I also don't mind staying in my home country Singapore to study actually. I'm just exhausting all my options

Applying to 5 unis you really like for Economics is probably a good plan.

If you've also considered staring in Singapore, have you considered any of the UK universities SE asia campuses? Nottingham have a campus in Singapore and in the UK they are pretty well ranked for Economics.

Some other top UK universities to consider might be Warwick, Durham, Bristol and Bath. If you're happy to go to Scotland, St Andrews and Edinburgh are probably also worth a look.

Mmm alright will go check Jose out, thanks very much