<p>How hard is it for an American to get accepted to the undergraduate economics program at the London School of Economics? What is the adequate number of AP's (GSCE equivalent) for entry?</p>
<p>[USA</a> - North America - Information by country/region - Information for international students - Study - Home](<a href=“http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/informationForInternationalStudents/countryRegion/northAmerica/usa.aspx]USA”>http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/informationForInternationalStudents/countryRegion/northAmerica/usa.aspx)
[BSc</a> Economics - Economics - Degree Programmes 2010 - Undergraduate - Study - Home](<a href=“http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degreeProgrammes2010/economics/L101_BSc_Econ.aspx]BSc”>http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degreeProgrammes2010/economics/L101_BSc_Econ.aspx)</p>
<p>Now this just took about 30 secs with Google. </p>
<p>Answer: It’s hard but possible. Econ is the most competative major at LSE and while US-students are usually preferred because they bring money to the University you will still need excellent academic standing.
And to repeat the mantra: Only academic subjects and ECs that are directly related to your chosen major (Econ) are relevant for admission. Its not about being a well rounded personality.</p>
<p>I already looked there, but thanks for the heads up anyways. To what extent is excellence --given the small portion of AP credits that the LSE accepts, I find it hard to believe that American admissions can compete with that of English students–I looked at studential and some applicants have 18-24+ GSCE/A* scores (ungodly). The admissions office limits the number of “acceptable” equivalents to 18–with 8 of them being languages… </p>
<p>How can I compete?</p>
<p>Applicants have between 18 and 24 GCSEs? That can’t be right, where did you get that information? Most people have around 12, with one or two languages.</p>
<p>Excellent - as perfect as you can be. Really damn good academic standing. Just take as many relevant courses you can possibly handle and get 5s. It’s about admission to one of the most competative programs in the world without the US dimension of ECs, so you should be one of the academically best econ high schoolers in order to get in. British students specialize early and arent as involved in other activities. </p>
<p>Adcoms know about the US system and will asses you in comparison to your peers and the options you had available to you. It would be good if you had already started a business or a nonprofit or something.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, tobiz.int, for your expedient responses! I’m sorry to bother you with more questions:</p>
<p>Alright, I don’t suppose the academic part should be too much of a problem(?)–I’ll have nine AP’s (9 total, 7 that are acceptable, 2 unacceptable, 6 surefire 5’s) by senior year. As of now, I’ve completed 3 courses.</p>
<p>But, what if the bulk of my AP credits are coming from senior year despite my record indicating consistent high marks (all 5’s)? Do predicted score have any weight on the UCAS?</p>
<p>Also, even if the LSE doesn’t credit courses such as American Gov’t/Pol’ts and Macroeconomics, would it, in any way, influence my admissions outcome if I included such scores on the UCAS?</p>
<p>Tobiz.int, Could I PM you some ideas I have for my personal statement? I was thinking about integrating some of my ECs, which are tangentially connected to the ideas of economics, but aren’t what you mentioned–somewhat of a freakonomics-esque kind of thing…</p>
<p>Sorry I’m traveling and kind of busy right now. But generally:</p>
<p>You seem to be fine academically. Yes they will look more positive at APs such as Govt or Macro. Your predictions are important, your offer will be based on you achieving certain points in them. So they almost count as if you had almost taken them. </p>
<p>The personal statement is the only place for you to add stuff that is neither strictly academic nor based on work-experience. So try not to explain to much in detail what you have done, but make try using this to make the impressive student you are seem like the kind of person with the drive to become an impressive economist.</p>
<p>Personality, Extracurriculars, Motivation & Goals. Those four threads about you should clearly come across and be knitted into a nice picture of a young rising economist. So leave out sports trophys, but use the act itself to illustrate if you try to make a point about for example your stamina. </p>
<p>If the ECs help to make a major point about your personality use them, if they arent helpfull for the overall picture, leave it or list it. You only have a limited about of words.</p>
<p>Please DON’T do anything crazy with your personal statement!!!</p>
<p>This should say something along the lines of</p>
<p>“I would like to study subject X because
-I am an academic star in X or related subjects
-I have outside interests relating to X
-I am very motivated and committed see for example my involvement in activity Z (possible EC but no more than a name of activity Z)”</p>
<p>No personal journeys!
Do NOT describe how you “found yourself” in ANY WAY!
Do not go on about the 10,000 hours you spend on unrelated ECs or studing unrelated subjects to X. Thus makes you look like the worst kind of student for a UK application. Unfocussed and sure to fail all you exams due to spending all your time on ECs.</p>
<p>Don’t write it in the style of a US application essay. It should be much more factual than that.</p>
<p>People often PM me their personal statements. 90% of them are crazy. Google UK personal statements and find some examples to help you.</p>
<p>I just got accepted and I will be studying at the LSE this September.</p>
<p>Feel free to message me if you have any questions, I went through this whole process of applying quite recently and I’ll be happy to help out if you want to ask anything/have personal statement or qualifications questions!!</p>