Official London School of Economics Undergraduate Applicants 2022 Thread

My son did not take further maths so he will not be applying for pure economics course at LSE.
He is studying economics, Maths, Physics with A*,A*,A* predicted with mostly 8s&9s and two 7s in GCSE.
What other course (e.g. economics & geography) is closest to pure economics but does not require further maths?

Pure Econ doesn't require further maths it's just advised. They will want to know why he didn't pick it though

Thank you for you reply. His schools offers FM so he does not have good reason for not picking it up. He liked Philosophy & Economics course at LSE but applying for pure economics at other universities. So his PS is very much around economics.

I hope you mean that the PS focused around econ is for the econ applications. If your son is applying for Philosophy and Econ he won't get a place if it's too focused on 1 area. LSE recommends a 50/50 split. A lot of people apply to Econ and Econ history because they don't feel they have a shot a pure econ and this means their PS is econ focused causing most of them fail. The acceptence rate is higher for econ than it is econ and econ history

Thank you for this input!
It means that LSE is not an option for him because without FM, his chances of getting in for pure economics are almost nil. It wouldn’t be right for him to change his PS just for once of the choices (P&E at LSE).

FM isn't a necessary requirement for pure economics at LSE, it's only maths a level that's needed. Your son definitely still has a chance even though he didn't take further maths :-)

If you don't have a valid reason for not taking FM you basically haveno chance of actually getting in. Only 5% of people without further maths get in and they all have goods reasons

I am a third year LSE student and I do not think this is true at all. Please do not be dissuaded from applying by stuff like this. For example, I am a Philosophy, Politics and Economics student and did not take a single one of these subjects at any point during secondary school even though they were offered at both GCSE and A Level. I did not even mention why I had not done them in my personal statement. The most important things are having a strong academic record and demonstrating a *genuine* interest in the degree to which you apply.

Hi I am just trying to decide whether to apply for PPE at LSE. Do you enjoy it there? I am somewhat put off by its reputation as unfriendly and clique-ey with limited social life. Thank you x

I am a third year LSE student and I do not think this is true at all. Please do not be dissuaded from applying by stuff like this. For example, I am a Philosophy, Politics and Economics student and did not take a single one of these subjects at any point during secondary school even though they were offered at both GCSE and A Level. I did not even mention why I had not done them in my personal statement. The most important things are having a strong academic record and demonstrating a *genuine* interest in the degree to which you apply.
The entry requirements for BSc Economics are A*AA with an A* in Mathematics, the same as the entry requirements for PPE. Do not infer additional hidden requirements beyond this. You will be judged on the entirety of your application, not discarded purely because you did not do Further Maths.

I love the degree. It is intense, relevant and applied; it is a BSc unlike the PPE courses at most other universities. I also enjoy the LSE atmosphere but can see how it is not for everyone. It is quite different from the experiences of my schoolmates at other more 'typical' universities. With that being said if you live in halls then it is very easy to go out many times a week if you want. Many people organise their social lives through the Athletics Union and sports societies, going out every Wednesday to Zoo (it is a club) and pre-drinking with their teams. The truth is the quality of your social life is entirely dependent on whether you make the effort to find people who want to do the same kind of stuff as you. On cliques I think there is some truth to that. With it being so international a lot of the foreign students, understandably, group with people who they share culture or language with. But that is not universally the case. I also cannot stress how cool it is to discuss politics with people from everywhere from Syria to Hong Kong to Brazil. Essentially if you want the kind of university experience where you are going out every night, getting hammered and barely doing any work then obviously there are far better options for you than LSE. Most people applying here are not after that lifestyle and so it is more of an independent experience than other places. To be honest, having written all this I feel like these kinds of questions can never be answered properly because I have no idea what kind of a person you are. So maybe you should walk around campus on a Friday night or something to test the vibes.

I can do well in intense environments, I think I am apprehensive from my perspective as a Y13, so the 'safer' options are a bit more appealing (I am trying to decide between warwick and lse, and my other choices are Ox, Bath, UCL and York if that gives an indication of what I am like). You are probably right about visiting. Thank you anyway - it still helps to hear some more balanced viewpoints other than the people who hate it and just want a good career guarantee.

My son did not take further maths so he will not be applying for pure economics course at LSE.
He is studying economics, Maths, Physics with A*,A*,A* predicted with mostly 8s&9s and two 7s in GCSE.
What other course (e.g. economics & geography) is closest to pure economics but does not require further maths?