The Student Room Group
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London

Just finished my final exam of third year on Friday - ask me anything!

I just finished my LSE degree on Friday - Philosophy and Economics. Anyone have any questions?

Scroll to see replies

Posted from TSR Mobile

What's studying at LSE like?
How important are GCSEs?
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London
Did they check your UMS or just your grade?
Reply 3
What are you going to do now?
Reply 4
do you prefer philosophy or economics?
Original post by onlyskin
I just finished my LSE degree on Friday - Philosophy and Economics. Anyone have any questions?


Whats your plan of action?
Reply 6
Original post by 22.22
do you prefer philosophy or economics?


I prefer Philosophy. I had much better experiences with the Philosophy department than the Economics department and I found the work more interesting.
Reply 7
Original post by Kadak
Posted from TSR Mobile

What's studying at LSE like?
How important are GCSEs?


Mostly great fun, as long as you keep up with the work. If you don't, you can get lost pretty easily in the more cumulative modules, like a lot of Economics, or you're leaving yourself a lot of work to do over Easter in the run up to exams.

I'm not sure how important GCSEs are, most people I know had a mix of A*s and As.
Reply 8
Original post by unfathomablee
Did they check your UMS or just your grade?


I'm assuming you mean A Levels, and I can't remember I'm afraid. They probably mostly care about your grade. I had a couple of less than stellar module results in Chemistry in Sixth Form and that didn't seem to hold me back.
Reply 9
Original post by Emily.97
Whats your plan of action?


I don't have much of a plan of action over the summer, but I am in the process of figuring out visas to move to New York later in the year/early next year. I worked in accounting throughout my degree/did accounting & finance internship, so hoping to carry on in finance in NYC. I'd like to go back to school for a postgrad at some point, but right now I am totally done with education for a while!
Did you look around any other universities when choosing, like UCL?
Did you study economics and/or philosophy at A-level and how did it affect you?
And if you don't mind me asking, what grades did you get in your A-levels?
Thank you :smile:
Reply 11
Whereabouts did you live in 2nd and 3rd year
Reply 12
Original post by leonie.sayle
Did you look around any other universities when choosing, like UCL?
Did you study economics and/or philosophy at A-level and how did it affect you?
And if you don't mind me asking, what grades did you get in your A-levels?
Thank you :smile:


I applied to Kings and SOAS too, but chose LSE in the end. I did not study economics or philosophy, but I did actually start off at LSE studying Politics & Philosophy, and switched at the end of my first year. My A Levels were Maths, Chemistry and Government, plus Further Maths AS, and I got A*AA. My offer was AAB.
Reply 13
Original post by Askaud
Whereabouts did you live in 2nd and 3rd year


I lived in Holloway in my second year, and Camden for a while in between, then Greenwich in my third.
Reply 14
I hold an offer for BSc Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. Which Philosophy modules have you done and what was your experience with each of them? Also, is there any chance that you could send me some past papers to have a look at? Cheers!
Original post by onlyskin
I applied to Kings and SOAS too, but chose LSE in the end. I did not study economics or philosophy, but I did actually start off at LSE studying Politics & Philosophy, and switched at the end of my first year. My A Levels were Maths, Chemistry and Government, plus Further Maths AS, and I got A*AA. My offer was AAB.


Thank you! Can I also just ask about the general vibe at LSE? I've read a lot about it being very serious about studies and London in general not really being very student-friendly... Although you are obviously at university to study, I would like to have the 'uni experience' as well.
Reply 16
Original post by benq
I hold an offer for BSc Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. Which Philosophy modules have you done and what was your experience with each of them? Also, is there any chance that you could send me some past papers to have a look at? Cheers!


OK, so I took PH101 Logic and PH103 in my first year - PH103 is something like Reason, Knowledge & Values. I didn't love PH103 but I loved PH101. I was in a minority in this though, because I love maths. I still found PH103 interesting, but I'm not that into ethics and it was a very broad module. I think these are the only two compulsory modules, but I'm not sure how it works for straight Philosophy students. In my second year I took PH217 Further Logic & Set Theory which I found incredibly interesting, but it was also incredibly hard. I would not recommend it unless you loved PH101, aced the exam and have also read around about set theory and mathematical logic and are pretty into it. Only about 30 of us took it I think. I also took PH218 Philosophy of the Biological and Cognitive Sciences which is probably the favourite of all the modules I took at LSE. It was fascinating, we talked about things like philosophy of neuroscience, the structure of the brain, philosophy of genetics & evolution. All the literature was incredibly up to date. I think they've actually split it into two half units now, so you would do one in Michaelmas Term and one in Lent - or just one if you choose, and pick another half unit to fill the other term. In my third year I just took PH211 Philosophy of Economics which was great. Lots of things about welfare/utility, the development of welfare economics over the last 75-100 years and, as a big plus, it had coursework worth a third of my final grade for that module, which took some stress off exams.

The Philosophy department is great. All the class teachers you'll have will be genuinely enthusiastic (in my experience anyway, and that of my friends) and your lecturers will be happy to talk to you too. It was the complete opposite of my experience with Economics, where I was mostly taught by very young postgrad students, some of whom were only 6 months past graduating their Bachelors, who had to teach because it was a condition of getting a place at LSE. My one piece of advice would be to go to office hours! Not many students go and, even though appointments are only 10 minutes, you can often get 30 minutes or more to talk to your class teacher.

Edit: I don't think I can get onto the past exam library unless I'm on campus, but I have to go in next week, so I can try to send you some then. I have access to all modules, so either let me know which ones you're interested in or I'll just send you the first year ones and then the ones I did.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 17
Original post by leonie.sayle
Thank you! Can I also just ask about the general vibe at LSE? I've read a lot about it being very serious about studies and London in general not really being very student-friendly... Although you are obviously at university to study, I would like to have the 'uni experience' as well.


My advice would be, if you are worried about this, try to end up in a fun hall. I moved from Bankside to Rosebery in the first couple of weeks of first term, and I had so much fun - while being easier on the wallet. Everyone knew how to work hard, but also play very hard. In my second year I think I actually had too much fun and my grades probably suffered a little! We had a lot of house parties, as did our friends, so we went out a bit less. I think fewer people probably go out a lot compared to other universities, but that group of people is still there (and probably makes up for it by going out a little more than they should), you just have to find them! I heard the same things as you before I came, and I actually considered rejecting my offer in my gap year and going somewhere else because of that concern. I am incredibly glad I didn't. I had an unbelievable amount of fun in a city that people all over the world would love to live in - plus I will have a degree from one of the most prestigious universities in the world. London can be expensive, but there are always cheap bars and pubs you can find, and it gets easier in second year once people move out of halls. House parties are much cheaper!
How hard is it to get a spring and summer internships in the IB sector. I am an LSE 2015 offerholder in A and F. I want to start applying in early September before I start as LSE is there any useful websites, is it easiest to apply directly from the bank website. Is it difficult for a first year undergrad to get an internship. Does LSE provide any advice or support services on campus.
Reply 19
Original post by onlyskin
OK, so I took PH101 Logic and PH103 in my first year - PH103 is something like Reason, Knowledge & Values. I didn't love PH103 but I loved PH101. I was in a minority in this though, because I love maths. I still found PH103 interesting, but I'm not that into ethics and it was a very broad module. I think these are the only two compulsory modules, but I'm not sure how it works for straight Philosophy students. In my second year I took PH217 Further Logic & Set Theory which I found incredibly interesting, but it was also incredibly hard. I would not recommend it unless you loved PH101, aced the exam and have also read around about set theory and mathematical logic and are pretty into it. Only about 30 of us took it I think. I also took PH218 Philosophy of the Biological and Cognitive Sciences which is probably the favourite of all the modules I took at LSE. It was fascinating, we talked about things like philosophy of neuroscience, the structure of the brain, philosophy of genetics & evolution. All the literature was incredibly up to date. I think they've actually split it into two half units now, so you would do one in Michaelmas Term and one in Lent - or just one if you choose, and pick another half unit to fill the other term. In my third year I just took PH211 Philosophy of Economics which was great. Lots of things about welfare/utility, the development of welfare economics over the last 75-100 years and, as a big plus, it had coursework worth a third of my final grade for that module, which took some stress off exams.

The Philosophy department is great. All the class teachers you'll have will be genuinely enthusiastic (in my experience anyway, and that of my friends) and your lecturers will be happy to talk to you too. It was the complete opposite of my experience with Economics, where I was mostly taught by very young postgrad students, some of whom were only 6 months past graduating their Bachelors, who had to teach because it was a condition of getting a place at LSE. My one piece of advice would be to go to office hours! Not many students go and, even though appointments are only 10 minutes, you can often get 30 minutes or more to talk to your class teacher.

Edit: I don't think I can get onto the past exam library unless I'm on campus, but I have to go in next week, so I can try to send you some then. I have access to all modules, so either let me know which ones you're interested in or I'll just send you the first year ones and then the ones I did.


Thank you very much, very informative! What did you get for Further Logic and Set Theory? And what makes it so hard? And what marks did you get for other Philosophy modules? Is it hard to score 70+? Also, do many philosophers at LSE go to grad school? Regarding past papers - Problems of Analytic Philosophy, Scientific Revolutions, Philosophy of Social Sciences, and Morality and Values would be amazing! Cheers!
(edited 8 years ago)

Quick Reply