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

LSE Offer Holders 2020

Congratulations if you have received an offer from your chosen course at LSE. I don't see any threads specifically for offer holders so I guess I will make one just so we can know each other a bit better before being physically there. So let's get started!

Country from:
Course:
A-Level or equivalent predicted/achieved:
Which halls do you plan to stay:

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Reply 1
I will kick the thread off...

Country from: England
Course: BA Geography
A-Levels achieved: AAA and A* EPQ
Which halls do you plan to stay: Passfield
(edited 4 years ago)
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London
Reply 2
Original post by Breward
Congratulations if you have received an offer from your chosen course at LSE. I don't see any threads specifically for offer holders so I guess I will make one just so we can know each other a bit better before being physically there. So let's get started!

Country from:
Course:
A-Level or equivalent predicted/achieved:
Which halls do you plan to stay:

Country From: England
Course: Geography BA
Predicted A Levels: A*AA (and A* EPQ)
Which Halls? Just had a look now and first impression is Northumberland House, anyone know the pro's and con's of this?!
(edited 4 years ago)
Country From: U.S.A.
Course: General Course
No A-Levels ...
Which Halls? No idea whatsoever. I’d like to be somewhere social so maybe Bankside???
Reply 4
Country from: South Korea
Course: BSc Management
A-Level or equivalent predicted/achieved: Predicted IB 45/45
Which halls do you plan to stay: Bankside
Country from: UK
Course: Economics and Economic History
A Level predicted: a*a*a
Hall: Bankside
Original post by Tarnott
Country From: England
Course: Geography BA
Predicted A Levels: A*AA (and A* EPQ)
Which Halls? Just had a look now and first impression is Northumberland House, anyone know the pro's and con's of this?!

Northumberland House isn't a good choice if having a good social life is a priority for you. I only know a few people who have lived there but they all regretted it on that front. The social halls are Bankside, Rosebery, Carr-Saunders and Passfield (the four LSE catered halls).
Country from: England
Course: Geography
A-Level or equivalent predicted/achieved: AAA (Predicted)
Which halls do you plan to stay: Bankside
Reply 8
Some useful advice from last year's offer holders' thread (edited):

Hi, I see a lot of offer holders asking about accommodation too. There's a nifty page on the LSE website (accommodation) that lets you narrow down your hall search using filters, so that'll help you identify your main choices. Or use the filters to think about what exactly do you want. Some advice I got from older students:

1. Contract Length
- 31 Weeks covers the 3 terms
- 39 weeks covers 3 terms + Christmas + Easter break
- 50 weeks covers...pretty much the whole year (minus 2 weeks)
If your contract covers only 31 weeks and you're staying during Christmas/Easter, you will have to move to another hall during vacation. Most international students will thus go to the halls with longer contract lengths.

2. Catering
The 4 catered halls offer 6 dinners (Sun to Fri) and one brunch (Sat) every week, but have very basic kitchen facilities. Self-catered halls usually have better, bigger kitchens. London has a ton of food places and food delivery services, but prices are high.

3. Distance
Not just walking distance. Consider distance from nearest bus-stop/tube station, as well as nearby amenities.

4. Applying for Halls
Applications are opening soon. They close on 31 May 2020 and are on first-come-first-serve basis. One of my seniors applied during April and did not get any of the single ensuite rooms (Bankside). When you apply for accommodation, you will choose an annual budget range that you are willing to take on (eg. 9K-9.9K pounds). You will then be given a list of all rooms within that budget range and you must rank them. You cannot select rooms outside your budget range. Which...kinda sucks. I wanted to apply for only ensuite rooms but the budget range I had in mind had only one ensuite option.

Hope this helps.
Reply 9
LSE only Halls: Bankside (39 weeks), Carr-Saunders (31 weeks), Passfield (31 weeks) and Rosebery (31 weeks). All are 'Catered Halls'.

Advice about Intercollegiate Halls from last year's offer thread:

Personally, I would avoid intercollegiate halls including Garden Halls.

Because of LSE's tiny number of undergraduates compared to other UoL institutions, there will be very few LSE students in these halls. They're 90% UCL and Kings students.

In my opinion, you're a lot better off being surrounded by LSE students because:
- In the first few weeks, when everybody is going to freshers events (both social events/nights out & uni/course-related things), the UCL and Kings students will be attending events put on by their respective universities, and making friends with each other there. You will not be able to go to these events, and you might not have anyone from your halls to go to the LSE events with. Plus, just walking to campus with people in the first few weeks is a great way to make friends - but you'll be going in the opposite direction to the UCL and Kings students.
- If you're struggling with a problem set or essay question, then at an intercollegiate hall the chances of there being another LSE student on the same course as you are vanishingly small. Whereas at my hall, there were at least 50 people other people doing most of my modules, so there was always someone to help me if I needed it.

Overall, you're unlikely to make many (if any) LSE friends while living in an intercollegiate halls. And, in my experience, halls are where the majority of LSE students make most of their friends in first year, so you could end up with very few LSE friends at all, meaning you wouldn't really have anyone to hang out with on campus.

Garden Hall's rooms are undoubtedly nicer, but I don't think it's worth it given how few LSE students will be there. It's great for UCL/Kings people, not so great for LSE people.
Reply 10
Glad to see some fellow Geographers over on this thread: @Tarnott and @Koalacamel!
Country from: England
Course: International Relations
A Levels predicted: AAAA
Which halls: not sure
Reply 12
Original post by LeapingLucy
Northumberland House isn't a good choice if having a good social life is a priority for you. I only know a few people who have lived there but they all regretted it on that front. The social halls are Bankside, Rosebery, Carr-Saunders and Passfield (the four LSE catered halls).

Any chance of living self catered and having a good social life? Or its more one or the other?
Reply 13
Original post by Breward
Glad to see some fellow Geographers over on this thread: @Tarnott and @Koalacamel!

You both planning on firming LSE?
Original post by Tarnott
Any chance of living self catered and having a good social life? Or its more one or the other?

I’m afraid it’s an unavoidable trade-off. The four main halls are better for social life precisely because they’re catered - it means everyone mingles daily at dinner time, whereas in the self-catered halls people are shut off in self-contained flats (and there are no communal areas for the whole hall, unlike the catered halls which have bars/common rooms/gardens).

The catered halls have a sense of community; the self-catered halls do not. In my opinion, it’s a worthwhile trade-off just for first year, but you obviously have to decide what’s more important to you.
Reply 15
Original post by Tarnott
You both planning on firming LSE?

I have firmed LSE already.
Country from: Russia
Course: A&F
A-Level predicted: A*A*A
Which halls do you plan to stay: Passfield or CS? Not sure
(edited 4 years ago)
Country: England
Course: Maths with Econ
A levels: my predicted are a bit weird but my conditional offer is A*AA
Halls: Passfield @Breward same? haha
Reply 18
Original post by Angel_Chen
Country: England
Course: Maths with Econ
A levels: my predicted are a bit weird but my conditional offer is A*AA
Halls: Passfield @Breward same? haha

Hey - I've got an offer for the same course!:smile: Predicted 3a* 1a, UK too. I was wondering, where else did you apply? I also have an offer from Warwick MORSE, but now I'm really stuck on whether I want to go for Warwick or LSE, as they are the same grades. Are you planning on firming LSE, or is there somewhere else you like too? I'm really confused on the prestige of LSE for Maths, as I know it's basically unbeatable for Econ, but not sure for Maths? Do you have any opinions? Thanks!
Reply 19
Country from: UK
Course: Sociology
A Level predicted: A*AB
Hall: Bankside or Roseberry. Was considering UoL accomodation till reading that reply haha.

Anyone here considering going to an offer holder day? :smile:

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