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

Official LSE 2019 Applicants Thread

Hi! The thread for 2018 applicants had started by this time last year, so I thought I'd get the 2019 one going.

If you're thinking of applying to LSE this autumn, then introduce yourself! Reply with...

Course(s) you're applying for at LSE
Other universities you're applying for
GCSE grades
Predicted A-level grades & subjects
Any extra-curriculars?
Home/EU/International student

I'm a current student at LSE studying Government and History. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about my course, LSE generally, halls, LSE100, the application process, or anything else.
(edited 5 years ago)

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I also thought I'd give you a few pieces of advice about the application process and personal statements.

1) Only apply for one course - you can apply to more than one course, but you can only be accepted to one. They will look at your applications for two or more courses, decide which one your personal statement is best suited to, and reject you from the other courses instantly. So it doesn't increase your chances of getting an offer in any way - in fact, it's a bit of a waste of one of your 5 choices. Furthermore, LSE really like it when you tailor your personal statement directly to their course, and if you have tried to make your PS relevant to two different courses, it may end up being not good/similar enough for either of them.

2) Personal statements - quality not quantity, analysis not listing - A personal statement is not a list of all your achievements, extra-curriculars and every book you've ever read. Don't namedrop a book you read or a talk you went just for the sake of mentioning it - instead, find an aspect or fact from it that you find really interesting, and talk about it. Try to draw connections with your other reading/extra-curriculars. Where possible, show how one talk sparked your interest in - e.g. decolonisation/American politics/global financial markets - and so you developed that interest by reading more about it, or listening to a podcast/watching a documentary about it. Show your learning process, and the way your mind draws connections between things.

3) Explain WHY something interested you - DON'T say "attending maths sessions after school furthered my interest in mathematics." DO say "in after-school maths sessions, I first learnt about *theory/phenomenon X* - this inspired me to explore it further by reading Author Y's book on *topic X*; what most stood out to me from this book was *fact Z*."

4) As far as possible, tailor your personal statement to the LSE course - LSE like personal statements that are written about the LSE course. They are not impressed when your personal statement talks about subjects that you have not applied to study at LSE.
For example, you may be planning on applying to Politics and International Relations at 4 unis, and Government at LSE, because it has a higher acceptance rate than LSE Politics & IR. However, as the Government course contains *no IR*, if your Personal Statement is half-focused on why you love IR, this will not please the Government academics who will be assessing your application.
(edited 5 years ago)
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London
Hey guys! I am a 2018 applicant and got an offer for BSc Management. Please feel free to ask me any questions about applying to Management/LSE, I will be more than happy to help you!
Original post by LeapingLucy
Hi! The thread for 2018 applicants had started by this time last year, so I thought I'd get the 2019 one going.

If you're thinking of applying to LSE this autumn, then introduce yourself! Reply with...

Course(s) you're applying for at LSE
Other universities you're applying for
GCSE grades
Predicted A-level grades & subjects
Any extra-curriculars?
Home/EU/International student

I'm a current student at LSE studying Government and History. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about my course, LSE generally, halls, LSE100, the application process, or anything else.




Also, just to explain the admissions process...

While LSE is considering your application, you will get a series of emails:

1) Initial Review - you will receive this email soon after submitting your application. It tells you that over the next 2 weeks, they will be
making sure that you meet the required grades for the course. Basically, they're checking that your predicted/achieved grades meet the
requirements and that you have the correct subjects. Pretty much everyone passes this stage.

2) Further assessment - this takes up to 8 weeks, and is when they start deciding who to make offers and who to reject. Some people
will receive offers in this period, some will receive rejections, and some will receive....

3) Gathered field - this email tells you that LSE is now considering your application as part as a gathered field, for up to 4 weeks (or
sometimes longer). Both offers and rejections are given out during this stage. You are more likely to get this email if you applied earlier
on (in September/October), than if you applied in January, as there's more time for them to decide.

You will definitely hear by 31st March at the very latest. Don't panic if you still haven't heard by late March - I got my offer on the 23rd March, and they were still giving out offers on the 30th.

Generally, offers come on Fridays and rejections come on Thursdays, but by February/March this starts to break down, and by the end of March there are offers/rejections every day.


Hey,

I'm an international student studying in an Indian curriculum (ISC)

I have A's in all subjects - Economics, Accounts, Commerce and English. However, my math grades are low.

I wish to study Economics at LSE. Should I reconsider my course? What exactly does the university look at for international students?
Original post by yactchguy
Hey,

I'm an international student studying in an Indian curriculum (ISC)

I have A's in all subjects - Economics, Accounts, Commerce and English. However, my math grades are low.

I wish to study Economics at LSE. Should I reconsider my course? What exactly does the university look at for international students?



To be completely honest, I think your chances of an Economics offer are pretty low.

For British students, LSE requires an A* in Mathematics, which is the highest possible grade, and requires a 90% average in the two hardest modules. They are therefore also going to expect very high maths grades from international students - the highest possible.

This is because the LSE Econ course is one of the most mathematical ones there is - you have to do one pure maths module and one pure stats
Module in the first year. Practically every British student has Maths and Further Maths A level, and they still find the Maths difficult. If you have low maths grades, you probably wouldn't be able to cope with the course anyway.

In addition, two of your subjects - Economics and Commerce (which I'm presuming is Business) - are not regarded as sufficiently different by LSE for them to count as two separate subjects.

Adding to all of that, Economics is LSE's flagship and most competitive course, with an offer rate of about 20%. If you don't have the best maths grades, your chances of an offer are very low.

You could look at Accounting & Finance instead - that course has a 17% offer rate and mathematics A level or equivalent is not essential, though it is preferable. If you have maths, you only need the equivalent of an A grade, rather than an A*.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by LeapingLucy
To be completely honest, I think your chances of an Economics offer are pretty low.

For British students, LSE requires an A* in Mathematics, which is the highest possible grade, and requires a 90% average in the two hardest modules. They are therefore also going to expect very high maths grades from international students - the highest possible.

This is because the LSE Econ course is one of the most mathematical ones there is - you have to do one pure maths module and one pure stats
Module in the first year. Practically every British student has Maths and Further Maths A level, and they still find the Maths difficult. If you have low maths grades, you probably wouldn't be able to cope with the course anyway.

In addition, two of your subjects - Economics and Commerce (which I'm presuming is Business) - are not regarded as sufficiently different by LSE for them to count as two separate subjects.

Adding to all of that, Economics is LSE's flagship and most competitive course, with an offer rate of about 5-7%. If you don't have the best maths grades, your chances of an offer are very low.

You could look at Accounting & Finance instead - that course has a 17% offer rate and mathematics A level or equivalent is not essential, though it is preferable. If you have maths, you only need the equivalent of an A grade, rather than an A*.


Thanks for your reply!
Sadly, all Indian students are expected to take the same level of math, the majority of the focus being on engineering math.
I would really like to pursue business and economics with my major concentration being business. Is there any college in the UK (apart from lse) which offers such a course?
Original post by yactchguy
Thanks for your reply!
Sadly, all Indian students are expected to take the same level of math, the majority of the focus being on engineering math.
I would really like to pursue business and economics with my major concentration being business. Is there any college in the UK (apart from lse) which offers such a course?


If business is what you want to concentrate in, then I would advise you apply for Business/Management rather then Economics/A&F.

Have you looked at the Management course at LSE?

Good business schools in the U.K. include St Andrews, Warwick, Lancaster, Bath, but I'm not an expert. You could try starting a thread about business courses to get some more advice from people who know the topic better.
Original post by LeapingLucy

Adding to all of that, Economics is LSE's flagship and most competitive course, with an offer rate of about 20%. If you don't have the best maths grades, your chances of an offer are very low.

You could look at Accounting & Finance instead - that course has a 17% offer rate and mathematics A level or equivalent is not essential, though it is preferable. If you have maths, you only need the equivalent of an A grade, rather than an A*.


......
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 8
Hey :smile:
I'm in year 12, planning on applying to LSE to study Government & Economics.
In my GCSEs I got 10A*
At A level I take Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Chemistry and an EPQ.
We haven't got our predicted grades yet but I believe I'll get about A*A*AA.
Just had a couple of questions:
I am planning on also applying to Oxford for PPE. Do you think my subject combination is acceptable, granted that I do an essay subject (economics), an analytical subject (chemistry) and further maths, as well as enough supercurriculars? Also, whilst my personal statement will be predominantly on economics and politics, do you think I would be at a disadvantage when applying to LSE if I also mention SOME philosophy?

Thanks :smile:
Original post by ss_at22
Hey :smile:
I'm in year 12, planning on applying to LSE to study Government & Economics.
In my GCSEs I got 10A*
At A level I take Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Chemistry and an EPQ.
We haven't got our predicted grades yet but I believe I'll get about A*A*AA.
Just had a couple of questions:
I am planning on also applying to Oxford for PPE. Do you think my subject combination is acceptable, granted that I do an essay subject (economics), an analytical subject (chemistry) and further maths, as well as enough supercurriculars? Also, whilst my personal statement will be predominantly on economics and politics, do you think I would be at a disadvantage when applying to LSE if I also mention SOME philosophy?

Thanks :smile:


1) Subject combination
Your subject combination would be absolutely fine for either Economics or Gov & Econ. You obviously don't do a proper essay subject (Econ essays don't count - they're too formulaic) but you do an EPQ, so that's great. I know someone on the Gov & Econ course who did Maths, Biology and Geography (& an EPQ) at A-level, so no essay subjects, and no econ/politics either, and they still got an offer.

2) Philosophy
The first year Government course at LSE includes the module GV100, which is an introduction to political philosophy. So talking about political philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Machiavelli, Fanon, Mill) would be absolutely great.

I would avoid, where possible, talking about non-political philosophy - I know somebody who got an offer for HSPS at Cambridge, but got rejected from Pol & IR at LSE, because they had talked about sociology & anthropology in their personal statement for the Cambridge course.
Reply 10
Hi! I'm a student from Malaysia, and I really want to pursue a course in either International Social and Public Policy, or Management. I got 7A*1A for IGCSE's and am currently sitting for my AS. I'm taking psychology, maths, economics and accountings - however, I'm dropping accountings for A2. Given that I get the grades required to enrol into the courses I want to take, I'm concerned that my extra curriculars are lacking so I was wondering if that would affect my chances of being given an offer?
Original post by fareaz
Hi! I'm a student from Malaysia, and I really want to pursue a course in either International Social and Public Policy, or Management. I got 7A*1A for IGCSE's and am currently sitting for my AS. I'm taking psychology, maths, economics and accountings - however, I'm dropping accountings for A2. Given that I get the grades required to enrol into the courses I want to take, I'm concerned that my extra curriculars are lacking so I was wondering if that would affect my chances of being given an offer?


Great IGCSE grades, congrats! Extracurriculum activities are not compulsory, just make sure you can demonstrate your subject interests in other ways(readings, public lectures, researches). If you want to know more about Management course at LSE just simply leave me a message.
Hey Lucy, thanks for starting this thread.
I am an Indian student pursuing CIE IGCSE and A Levels and will be seeking Bsc Economics at LSE, Cambridge, UCL, Warwick and Bristol in that order of preference. Really want to get into LSE. Kind of a dream college.
IGCSE: 7 A*, our class had maximum 8 subjects and minimum 6
AS Level: Economics, Mathematics, Physics, English Language, Accounts. All As. Further Maths is not offered in our school. Probably committed blunder in Pure Mathematics so scored little less but managed to get UMS of 90. RAW 116/125. 66/75 in Pure and 50/50 in Mechanics. Pursuing P3 and Stats at A level
A Levels: Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Accounts. Predicted will be all A*
Done lot of reading on economics over the years as I really love the subject and also done few courses on future learn related to Economics
School Headboy second year running.
Participated and won debating competitions national level and going to world school debate in June.
Side track. Written a book, a political thriller which is selling on Amazon.
Please advice what chances do i have of getting into LSE, BSc Economics. Any advice will be really welcome.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by ishaangupta
Hey Lucy, thanks for starting this thread.
I am an Indian student pursuing CIE IGCSE and A Levels and will be seeking Bsc Economics at LSE, Cambridge, UCL, Warwick and Bristol in that order of preference. Really want to get into LSE. Kind of a dream college.
IGCSE: 7 A*, our class had maximum 8 subjects and minimum 6
AS Level: Economics, Mathematics, Physics, English Language, Accounts. All As. Further Maths is not offered in our school. Probably committed blunder in Pure Mathematics so scored little less but managed to get UMS of 90. RAW 116/125. 66/75 in Pure and 50/50 in Mechanics. Pursuing P3 and Stats at A level
A Levels: Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Accounts. Predicted will be all A*
Done lot of reading on economics over the years as I really love the subject and also done few courses on future learn related to Economics
School Headboy second year running.
Participated and won debating competitions national level and going to world school debate in June.
Side track. Written a book, a political thriller which is selling on Amazon.
Please advice what chances do i have of getting into LSE, BSc Economics. Any advice will be really welcome.


You definitely have a great chance. It's impossible to quantify, as every year some candidates who seem absolutely incredible get rejected, but I'd say you have as good a chance as anyone.

In terms of advice....
1) Make sure your school state in your reference that further maths is not available at your school (so that LSE know it wasn't your choice not to take it)
2) Make sure your personal statement is incredible. LSE gets so many applicants for the Econ course, all with top grades like yours, that it has to differentiate based on your PS. I've given advice for writing it above. I'm happy to look at your PS once you've written it - PM it to me (obviously don't post it publicly in this forum because then you wouldn't be able to use it on UCAS as their plagiarism checker will flag it)
Original post by LeapingLucy
You definitely have a great chance. It's impossible to quantify, as every year some candidates who seem absolutely incredible get rejected, but I'd say you have as good a chance as anyone.

In terms of advice....
1) Make sure your school state in your reference that further maths is not available at your school (so that LSE know it wasn't your choice not to take it)
2) Make sure your personal statement is incredible. LSE gets so many applicants for the Econ course, all with top grades like yours, that it has to differentiate based on your PS. I've given advice for writing it above. I'm happy to look at your PS once you've written it - PM it to me (obviously don't post it publicly in this forum because then you wouldn't be able to use it on UCAS as their plagiarism checker will flag it)


Thanks, I have already requested them to mention that and they shall mention about Further Maths, so far my grades are best in the school's history so they will be mentioning that too. I shall certainly PM you my PS once its done and will love your feed back.
Do you stay in a catered or self catered hall? How do you manage lunch and dinners?
Reply 16
Hey
I’m in year 12, planning on applying to LSE to study Actuarial Science.
Got 5A* (including 2 9s) and 5 As
At A level I take Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Religious Studies
I am likely to be predicted A*A*A*A or A*A*A*A*
Also applying to Mathematics and Actuarial science at Manchester, Southampton, Leicester and MMORSE at Warwick

Should I focus solely on the Actuarial part of mathematics and economics?

Also do students from London still tend to live in dorms?
Original post by ishaangupta
Do you stay in a catered or self catered hall? How do you manage lunch and dinners?


I'm in a catered hall. Dinners are provided 6 days a week (no dinner on Saturdays but brunch instead).

On Saturdays, for dinner, people usually get food delivered in groups (via deliveroo/dominos).

For lunches, I sometimes buy food on/near campus (Student union restaurant, Pret, Starbucks, Costa, Wasabi etc), but when I want to save money I buy bread/pasta and make my own sandwiches/salads to take to campus with me.
Original post by Leks
Hey
I’m in year 12, planning on applying to LSE to study Actuarial Science.
Got 5A* (including 2 9s) and 5 As
At A level I take Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Religious Studies
I am likely to be predicted A*A*A*A or A*A*A*A*
Also applying to Mathematics and Actuarial science at Manchester, Southampton, Leicester and MMORSE at Warwick

Should I focus solely on the Actuarial part of mathematics and economics?

Also do students from London still tend to live in dorms?


I'm afraid I don't really know what Actuarial Science is, so I'm not the right person to advise you there.

In my experience, most people live in halls, including people from London. I've met loads of people from London living in halls - from Barnet, Peckham, Croydon, Newham, Richmond...

The people I've met who are living at home are all - for whatever reason - girls from Asian families.
Original post by LeapingLucy
I'm in a catered hall. Dinners are provided 6 days a week (no dinner on Saturdays but brunch instead).

On Saturdays, for dinner, people usually get food delivered in groups (via deliveroo/dominos).

For lunches, I sometimes buy food on/near campus (Student union restaurant, Pret, Starbucks, Costa, Wasabi etc), but when I want to save money I buy bread/pasta and make my own sandwiches/salads to take to campus with me.


Thanks.....Really hope to meet you next year at LSE

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