<p>Hey guys, this isn't exactly a chance me but more of a discussion-question.
As a US student, I'm well aware of how admission works, what to do, etc. to help my prospects for a top US college admission. But I always hear different things about UK universities, particularly my favorite: LSE. I'm considering going there for at least a master's or something, but undergrad would be great.
By what I understand from previous chance mes:
1. SAT's don't carry that significant of weight for admissions
2. SAT II's/APs are heavily regarded, having like 5 5's is pure gold for admission prospects
3. EC's have no weight AT ALL.
4. Grades matter the most. I've heard of some AAAlvl system or something, but basically, get a single B in high school and your chances for something like LSE is grim.
5. Your personal statement shouldn't be as 'creative' as one would be for a US college. They should simply describe your desires and will to study and how your related major is like... apart of you (something like that, but none of that huge metaphorical or a special family vacation experiencing you stuff).</p>
<p>At this point, I'm still confused on many issues. Please, correct me on any of these points, and add new ones. All of my non-idiotic celebrity heros for the most part went to LSE or are in some way are affiliated to it. Going there's like a dream come true.</p>
<p>I believe you’re quite underestimating the power of personal impression. I think that if UK colleges can’t single you out through a nation-wide admissions test, nor can they contrast you with a foreign student, for both admission tests differ, then your best demonstrations of academic prowess are through recommendations or essays. You are certainly correct regarding the AP thing. Foreign colleges understand the highlighted significance of these advance courses, albeit their inferiority to IB-level courses. If you post your criteria, I believe it will be easier to yield more responses. Good Luck!</p>
<p>1.) For American applicants, SATs and SAT-2s matter A LOT in the admissions process.
2.) Yup. You need AT LEAST 4 5’s in AP exams that are RELEVANT to your course choice to have a shot at Oxbridge/LSE.
3.) Yep. They don’t really care what you do outside of school. Oxbridge interviewers sometimes casually ask, but LSE definitely wont care.
4.) It’s the A levels btw, the UK system of education. Obviously you Americans won’t know they have nothing to do with your application. Anyways, LSE doesn’t care at all about your school grades or transcript. As long as your required reference doesn’t point to EXTREME passivity with regard to your schoolwork, you’ll be fine. LSE doesn’t require a school transcript.
5.) Your personal statement can be creative but it should also be as concise as possible.</p>
<p>Oh, and LSE is not as special as you think it is lol. I went to boarding school not more than two hours away from there so I know it pretty well. Yes, it is very intellectual but the campus life there is almost non-existent. If you seek a true college experience then stick to the states.</p>
<p>Are you really saying A Levels or other academic qualifications have nothing to do with an application…?</p>
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<p>You and 25 million other people. LSE has a reputation for not being the most social of places, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a fun college experience. It is part of the wider University of London remember, so there is always something to do and people to meet through different societies and student unions.</p>
<p>No, I meant A levels have nothing to do with his/her application since they’re UK qualifications. Americans only need worry about their SAT and AP scores, as they constitute American H.S qualifications.</p>
<p>True, but rarely do SOAS kids hang out with LSE kids for example. And the friendly ‘rivalry’ between KCL and UCL is somewhat boring and nobody seems to know whether Imperial is in or out of the system lol. I didn’t mean at all to say that one can’t enjoy oneself on the LSE campus, I was just pointing out that if the OP desired a TRADITIONAL college experience then he/she should stick to the U.S. Still, Of course, LSE is going to be social, fun and lively since it’s right in the heart of the greatest city in the world. :)</p>
<p>What?! Other than AP Macro, and Micro, I don’t think I’d have many ‘relevant’ APs. I can’t just be an overall well-rounded student with sciences and social studies and maths?</p>
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<p>I seriously will never understand this. </p>
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<p>Do they look at a letter of rec in the way American schools do? Like just a very ‘special’ unique student who works hard and has success in clubs? Or do they just want ‘this student always works hard and gets good grades’?</p>
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<p>Yeah, at the least, I’d like to get a master’s from LSE. At this point, I’m still a nerd, so campus life isn’t that huge a factor as one would have it. </p>
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<p>The London School of Economics is in New York City/Singapore?!?!</p>
<p>I’m very confused as to how these british universities work too. Not that I ever applied, on account of them not giving generous financial aid packages. But I know a couple of people who got in. I do know this, LSE does NOT factor in much on your grades. I know many people who had 6 As and a couple of Bs in thier transcripts who got in. Also, I’m not sure if LSE makes conditional offers, but I do know that if you can pay for your education (which shouldn’t be much of a problem for you since it was way cheaper than studying at one of the american universities) at any university you apply to in UK will offer you admission, except for Oxbridge. You would, however, have to fulfill the conditions on which that admission is offered to you whish isn’t too much (usually 1A and 2Bs in your Final A levels result, some even allow you a C - though now A* has also been introduced into the CIE system here and the percentile system is removed so I don’t know what the requirements would be now). I would however advice you to wait till your Masters. The funding is more generous and you have more chances of getting in. Of course, a lot also depends on the kind of degree you’re going for, since this isn’t the states and a liberal arts educaion is not offered and you have to know what you’re going to do right from the beginning. If it is a very competitive one, then your chances go down. But if its a newer field, you have ample chances. My sister went to LSE for grad school on a scholarship even though her academic credentials, while good, were not too impressive. Of course, it helped that she got an external University of London degree from here. My advice - stay in the US for your undergrad and then apply to LSE for post grad.</p>
<p>You can get degrees from NYU Law and Tisch studying mainly in Singapore. Heck, you can get a degree from UoL designed by LSE studying in Singapore.</p>
<p>That aside - I’m not sure I can help. But regarding #4, the A Levels are graded very differently from the way high school subjects are graded. They’re more similar to AP Tests, so an A on an A Level is more like a 5 on an AP (some schools that give credit for a 4 or 5 on an AP will give credit for C on the A Levels). So I’d guess that while AP courses might not count for much, since quality of the courses varies across schools, the UK universities would probably want to see your AP scores if you have them. Against A Level graduates you definitely want as many 5s as possible, in the field you plan to study.</p>
<p>Admissions for UK universities seem to hinge on one thing only: your ability to succeed in your proposed field of study. They look at your scores in the relevant and related subjects, and whether your personal statement and recs reflect dedication towards and potential in your proposed field of study.</p>
<p>London/Toronto>NYC/Singapore/Any other city! (slight bias here though :p)</p>
<p>What don’t you understand about them not requiring your high school transcript?! LSE doesn’t care about your SCHOOL grades. Just send them an official AP scores report and an official SAT/SAT2 score report and that’ll be enough!</p>
<p>As for relevant APs, if your chosen course is Economics, then take the following:
AP Econ (both Micro and Macro)
AP Calc BC
AP Stats
+1-2 more APs that can be of any subject.
(remember, 4 5’s are considered a prerequisite.)</p>
<p>Yep, the one required reference should point to your academic accomplishments, intellectual interests and strong personality traits (if you have any). It’s required but generally not taken that seriously. Also, ask your GC to be as concise as possible since UK unis don’t really care much for flowery adjectives.</p>
<p>If you’re into super-intellectual discussions and don’t care for campus life then LSE just might be the place for you. By the end of your 3 years, you’ll be more knowledgable and articulate in Economics than an American grad student!</p>
<p>That is absolutely ridiculous. I’m a little sick of the presumption, so often made on CC, that British universities are so money hungry they will take anyone who meets basic entry requirements. It’s simply not true.</p>
<p>"That is absolutely ridiculous. I’m a little sick of the presumption, so often made on CC, that British universities are so money hungry they will take anyone who meets basic entry requirements. It’s simply not true. "</p>
<p>Its very very true for non-EU international students. This is based on people’s experience and not that far from the truth. Its the reverse in the US where internationals are not really welcome especially in state schools.</p>
<p>“The UC schools (UCLA has turned into an international community college imo) take anyone and everyone willing to pay full.”</p>
<p>Not surprising California is broke. Also the cycle is pretty static- University offers great academics and becomes increasingly popular. School begins to make money from its brand power while students are totally ignorant that they are getting the same education you could get in another school with significantly less brand power. All everyone cares about is the glow of the gold than the originality of that glow.</p>
<p>Dionysus, not statistical evidence but I have personally known people who went to the UK because they were accepted. These weren’t very high-achieving individuals. I think I made it clear that Oxbridge and LSE are still very selective whether you can pay for them or not, but as for Imperial, warwick, UCL, SOAS and a whole lot of other schools-the conditional offers aren’t too hard to fulfill. They’re selective enough to filter out low-achieving students, but people with 2As in thier A levels would have no problem getting in. Also, the admission to these universities is entirely grade oriented, unlike the American college process, and thus, the admissions are somewhat predicatable. Thus, I’d say ‘immensely selective’ would be hyperbole.</p>
<p>Knowing a person who was accepted to a university even though you believe they’re aren’t anything special is not proof.</p>
<p>Admission competition varies as I’m sure you know from course to course. A number of courses at UCL, Warwick and Imperial are just as competitive, if not more so, than any Oxbridge programme. There will always be less competitive courses to gain admittance to, but that doesn’t warrant the unfair and incorrect assertion that British universities are prepared to take mediocre students for their money.</p>
<p>I hope this might be helpful to the original post. We lived in uk last year. I went to cambridge to check out the colleges. Even though i have my gcse’s - I now don’t have A levels. I asked what they may require and they said the personal interview holds the most merit. Second, IB diploma (not just the classes). Third, AP classes and tests which is definitely last in their consideration. Same question asked to Oxford and they replied the same.</p>
<p>Basically, as the site suggests, your regular HS classes will be pretty much ignored and used just to meet minimum literacy/numeracy requirements. The only thing that really counts for admission are 5 or more ** two-semester ** AP classes and the scores in the corresponding AP exams (which should be all 5’s for the most competitive courses like economics and law). Also, in case you are applying to a major that requires A-level Mathematics, you ** must ** have ** Calculus BC ** as one of your AP classes. </p>
<p>Although the site doesn’t mention it, the personal statement in your application is also important as LSE, unlike Oxbridge or Imperial, normally doesn’t interview candidates and most of the information on the applicant’s aptitude and fit for for his/her desired major is extracted from the personal statement. You should highlight your passion for the subject you want to study and your previous experience (work, study, research, etc.) in areas that relate to your chosen major.</p>
<p>For Oxbridge, the admission process is more complicated because, in addition to all of the above (AP classes, or IB diploma, or A-levels), you will have to go through the interview (which is more like an oral exam and the most important factor in admissions). Depending on your intended major, you may also have to take additional aptitude tests. Oxford for example has specific aptitude tests in mathematics, physics, english and history. There is also a national aptitude test for all medicine candidates.</p>
Not sure if it is too late now; but I will try instead of starting a new thread.
Do LSE and other UK schools take SAT II tests as seriously as AP ones? I have not managed to take AP courses in the past(since I had pretty bad grades), but I can score very well on the subject tests with my extensive study of the subjects.
they have nothing to do with your application. Anyways, LSE doesn’t care at all about your school grades or transcript. As long as your required reference doesn’t point to EXTREME passivity with regard to your schoolwork, you’ll be fine. LSE doesn’t require a school transcript.