Applying to school in London from the US?

Hi! I am starting to make my college list and recently became very interested in programs offered at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I had two concerns:

  1. Do they accept SAT testing? I saw some tests I have never heard of. Does anyone know the conversions? I saw that they actually have guidelines for the minimum grade you are supposed to get on the test (A A B) and wanted to know if I could submit the SAT instead.
  2. They look like they don't emphasize extracurriculars at all! I'm concerned as that is a really strong portion of my application. I'm not a straight A+ student, but I have devoted my time to ECs which really are unique and I've won awards for. Should I bother applying? FYI my grades aren't that bad..As and minimal A-s.

It looks like the process from high school to college there is very different than here in the US! I hope anyone who’s applied or knows about the application process could help out. Thank you.

You’ll need to have taken some AP exams (depending on the course you’re applying for they may want specific subjects) and got scores of 5 in them.

Their website shows what they want from US applicants: http://www.lse.ac.uk/study/informationForInternationalStudents/countryRegion/northAmerica/USA/entryRequirements.aspx

Your GPA won’t be significant - they understand that grading varies between school, which is why they want standardised external tests like APs. Nor are they interested in the SAT.

Only ECs related to your course are relevant.

Thank you!

I will have taken 10 APs by the end of high school, and the rest are either Honors or elective courses. I have high school coursework in International Affairs and took 2 semester-long Philosophy courses (normally only offered to seniors) as a sophomore. My ECs are now all relevant to my major, and I think they stand out as being real-world experience working with professionals in the area I am interested in.

Thank you so much for your help.

Do you have Calculus BC (with a 5)? Any “further” math?

@MYOS1634 No. Calculus AB junior year and AP Stat (more relevant to my prospective career path in NGO work or international development) senior year. Should I switch to Honors Multivariable Calc for next year and then take the BC exam? I think it’s not a good spend of time. Not interested in Economics major - more interested in their majors in International Relations & History, Social Anthropology or Social Policy. 5 on AP World Exam.

LSE is very quantitative. Email to see if they expect calculus BC regardless of “course” or if they’re ok with AB since you’re applying for a non quantitative “course”.

LSE is fine with AB for the non-econ courses. However, it’s not taking AP (or Honours, etc) classes that matters: it is the scores that you have on the actual AP exam. They will expect 5 scores of “5” as a minimum, and they will want to see them in rigorous subjects.

Note that, while most UK unis will give you an offer if you meet the stated minimums (eg, for LSE 55555), write a decent Personal Statement and have a decent LoR, that is not true of LSE, Oxbridge or Imperial. That is, you could meet the minimums & be turned down. Also, even if you apply with 5 “5s”, they can make your offer conditional on your ‘predicted’ AP scores from your senior year. And yes, that means that your place would not be final until AP results come out in early July.

Also: you need to do some more homework. It’s not just the process from HS to college that is different: the entire college experience is different. Read the description of the course(s) you are applying to really, really carefully (you will find details of what you study each year on their website). You will have few/no choices first year, and when you do have choices they will be from lists of specific, very related, subjects.

Overall, LSE (and UK unis in general) will expect you to be a LOT more independent than in the US. All of this is not to discourage you! but rather to help you sort this out.