London School of Economics

London

Official LSE 2020 Undergraduate Applicants' Thread

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For Financial Mathematics and Statistics, is Further Maths a requirement if your school does it however you do not take said subject. If so, is it fine to take it to AS next year to compensate?

London School of Economics

London

Reply 21

LeapingLucy

Original post by Rightongg

For Financial Mathematics and Statistics, is Further Maths a requirement if your school does it however you do not take said subject. If so, is it fine to take it to AS next year to compensate?

From the LSE website for that course:

"Where it is offered by your school or college, AS or A level Further Mathematics is expected to be taken. Where students take Further Mathematics to AS level, grade A in Further Mathematics at AS level in addition to A* in Mathematics at A level."

So clearly, if your school does it, then Further Maths A-level or AS-level is a requirement. It sounds like FM AS-level would be sufficient though.

Reply 22

ashibo

Course(s) you're applying for at LSE
Probably BSc Economics
Other universities you're applying for
Oxbridge, UCL , Warwick, maybe St Andrews
GCSE grades
9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 A*A* (8s in English Lit and Spanish, Also got A in OCR Addmaths which is highest grade)
Predicted A-level grades & subjects
A* Economics A* Maths A* Computer Science A Further Maths
Any extra-curriculars?
Oxford UNIQ for PPE
Highly Commended in Fitzwilliam Land Economy Essay Competition on Housing Shortage
Home student

Reply 23

Schoolboy101

I am thinking about applying for actuarial science at LSE. On the website they say 'further maths is highly desirable' however they don't specify wether this only the full a level or that and the as level. Does doing only the AS further maths satisfy this or would I be at a significant disadvantage and is this situation similar that of how they view further maths for financial maths (see post 34)?

Reply 24

chughes2

I’m applying for economics, probably at UCL, Cambridge and Bath too. Alevels I’m doing are maths, further maths, economics and politics. Get my UCAS predicted grades next week yikes. In terms of gcse grades I got 9 9’s and an A*, hoping that makes up for it if my UCAS grades aren’t what I want lol

Reply 25

Presence

will LSE specify they want A*AA including A in fm ? i feel like i can pass FM but i doubt i can get A ...

Reply 26

LeapingLucy

Original post by Presence

will LSE specify they want A*AA including A in fm ? i feel like i can pass FM but i doubt i can get A ...

Is this for Economics? And are you taking four A-levels including FM?

If so, as far as I understand, your offer will be A*AAE with the A* in maths. So as long as you get As in your two other subjects, anything E or above would be fine for FM.

Reply 27

Presence

Original post by LeapingLucy

yes i take fm,maths,psychology,econ , i know someone got offers where the uni specified what subject u need in what grade so i'm scared LSE will ask for A in fm and E in e.g psychology

Reply 28

LeapingLucy

Original post by Presence

yes i take fm,maths,psychology,econ , i know someone got offers where the uni specified what subject u need in what grade so i'm scared LSE will ask for A in fm and E in e.g psychology

There's nothing on the BSc Econ page that suggests they would do that, and I didn't see it happen on last year's applicants' thread ever. The offers for people with 4 A-levels were all A*AAE with no specification as to which subject the E could be in.

Plus, psychology isn't on the list of "non-preferred" subjects so I can't see why they would specify that the E had to be in that subject, even if it was something they did.

See non-preferred subjects here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/informationForTeachersAndSchools/pdf/Advising-Advisers-2017-Presentation-Applying-to-a-competitive-university.pdf

Reply 29

Presence

Original post by LeapingLucy

thank you so much for telling me this , i was honeslty thinking of if i should drop and not apply,
do you know if other unis do this ? i plan to apply to oxford and warwick too

Reply 30

Anonymous #1

To add to this, my offer this year required me to get at least an A in economics. So if the offer structure next year is the same as this year, you’d need to get an A in either psychology or further maths, and the pass will be for either of those two.

Original post by LeapingLucy

Reply 31

Presence

Original post by Anonymous

will they say which or it doesnt matter ? i know i am more likely to get A in psy as opposed to fm

Reply 32

Kc02

Original post by LeapingLucy

The Application Process

1) Be patient - the LSE application process can take a very long time. I applied at the end of September and didn't get my offer for almost 6 months - it arrived at the end of March. LSE will definitely respond to you by the 31st March, but there's no way of knowing, before that, when you will hear back. It is likely that you will be waiting a lot longer for LSE than for your other universities. Try not to check your emails every single minute of every single day. Instead, focus on getting the A-level grades that you will need to fulfil an offer should you get one.

2) 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.

Hi Lucy. I’m having a dilemma whether to take Government and Economics or Economics in LSE. After seeing your post, can I have your opinion on the government modules offered by LSE?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 33

LeapingLucy

Original post by Kc02

Hi Lucy. I’m having a dilemma whether to take Government and Economics or Economics in LSE. After seeing your post, can I have your opinion on the government modules offered by LSE?

I’m currently in rural Scotland with very limited internet access but will type up a proper response once I’m home next week.

Reply 34

Kc02

Original post by LeapingLucy

I’m currently in rural Scotland with very limited internet access but will type up a proper response once I’m home next week.

Thank you for ur kind reply☺️

Reply 35

Harrygodfrey132

Original post by Presence

yes i take fm,maths,psychology,econ , i know someone got offers where the uni specified what subject u need in what grade so i'm scared LSE will ask for A in fm and E in e.g psychology

I do the same exact a levels as you.My offer was A* in Maths, A in Economics, A in my third subject and a pass in the fourth subject. It might depend though.

Reply 36

user01.

Applying for International Social & Public Policy.

Any advice for personal statements + anyone else?

Reply 37

Amalv10

Economics/Economics and Politics

Other universities you're applying for:
Bristol, Bath, Warwick, Manchester? Maybe Oxbridge?
GCSE grades:
2x9s, 4x8s, 1xAs, 2x7, 2x 6s (not great :/)
Predicted A-level grades & subjects:
Maths: A*
Economics: A*
Physics: A
Further Maths (AS): Not sure yet
EPQ: A*- Already received my grade for my EPQ which was on the Federal Reserves policies leading up to the crisis in 2008.

Any extra-curriculars?
Play cricket, Chess, Volunteering, Subject Ambassador, Tutor,
Royal Economics society essay competition
Probs gonna do TMUA assessment as well
Home/EU/International student:
Home
I would love to go to LSE but am unsure whether I should apply for pure economics or politics and economics. I would prefer economics but not sure if me not doing further maths A level would make my application look weaker? Any advice would be appreciated

Reply 38

CandidateZero

If you're going for Oxbridge, I wouldn't recommend doing the TMUA. You'll already have the TSA (Oxford) or the ECAA (Cambridge) assessment to focus on. By all means, use the TMUA in preparation (for the ECAA particularly) but I wouldn't risk jeopardising a meaningful admissions assessment for one that has no bearing whatsoever.

This coming from someone who entered for both in the last admissions cycle.

I would recommend you to go for Politics and Economics at LSE over straight Econ. Your chances are slim at best for pure Econ if you have voluntarily dropped FM.

Original post by Amalv10

Reply 39

LeapingLucy

Original post by Amalv10

I would love to go to LSE but am unsure whether I should apply for pure economics or politics and economics. I would prefer economics but not sure if me not doing further maths A level would make my application look weaker? Any advice would be appreciated

The LSE website does not explicitly state that Further Maths is a required subject for the BSc Economics course, but in reality, if your school offers it, it is.

From the 2017 data for BSc Economics:
- there were 605 applicants with FM A-level, of which 262, or 43%, got an offer
- there were 165 applicants with FM AS-level, of which 65, or 38%, got an offer
- there were 477 applicants who didn't have FM A-level or AS-level, of which just 24, or 5%, got an offer

LSE do not discriminate against students who didn't have the option to study Further Maths at A-level - I would therefore hazard a guess that the 5% of applicants without FM A-level or AS-level fall into this category. If this is your position, then make sure your school state explicitly on your reference that you did not have the opportunity to study Further Maths, so that LSE know it wasn't your choice not to take it.

If your school offer Further Maths but you had a very good reason for not taking it, then you might still have a chance. One person on the 2019 thread stated that they got into LSE for BSc Economics in this situation. Make sure you explain your reasoning for not taking FM clearly on your personal statement.

Overall though, if you chose not to take FM A-level or AS-level, then I wouldn't recommend applying to BSc Economics at LSE - your chances are exceedingly slim. Instead, I would apply either for a related course that does not require Further Maths - e.g. Management - or for a joint honours course that combines Economics with another subject e.g. Politics and Economics, International Social and Public Policy and Economics, Philosophy and Economics etc.