<p>Has anyone had any experience with admissions/attending LSE?</p>
<p>My D has become interested in pursuing a Master's in Economics there. It would probably be the two-year program because while she will possess a bachelor's in mathematics she will have had only 3-4 Econ courses.</p>
<p>TD, the guy my D is currently dating is a fellow econ major and spent a year at LSE while he was an undergrad. He had a good experience. An acquaintance of my generation got a grad degree there decades ago -- probably her experience is way too old to be relevant, though.</p>
<p>I was accepted to their MA (MSc?) in international relations.</p>
<p>The office has helpful, the application process is easy, and they offered a lot of good information at time of admission which helped me to make an informed decision.</p>
<p>Be warned, however: living in London makes NYC look cheap. Also, UK schools are notorious for having a reputation of admitting foreign students as cash cow-- whether or not this is deserved, I'm not sure. I was admitted with no hope of financial aid, however. And 12K sterling a year plus living expenses would have added up quite quickly.</p>
<p>Congratulations. The IR MSc at LSE is hard to get into. London is crazy expensive.</p>
<p>Well thank you.</p>
<p>Now if only it wouldn't have cost more to go to LSE for a year than UCSD for 2.5 years it would've been great.</p>
<p>I was accepted into the LSE MSc in econ last year. As others have pointed out, its a great deal of money, and for many, not worth it. I'm not sure what your daughter's grades are like, but given her back ground, if she's interested in persuing a PhD from a top program, LSE may just be a waste of her time. She's got plenty of econ under her belt.</p>
<p>Thank you, all.</p>
<p>I don't think...at <em>this</em> point...that D is interested in a Ph.D., at least not for many years.</p>
<p>Her proposed itinerary for Option A is:</p>
<p>a) finish undergrad
b) two years at LSE
c) one or two gap years working either on the Hill or with the government relations division of an I.B. firm or some such
d) Law School
e) begin career in earnest on the Hill, White House or OMB (if the party of Goodness, Truth, and Niceness is in control), the think tanks, or a government relations department.</p>
<p>There is a non-trivial possibility that she may get a fellowship to cover her Masters. I am superstitious about even mentioning this as there are many slips between the cup and the lip but she's gotten far enough along that it's worth stopping to watch how the planets are lining up for her.</p>
<p>LSE is really expensive as is London. Got admitted to simmilar courses at Cambridge and King's College London and they cost about half of what LSE does. And then you have to factor in the ridiculous price that is London. Pounds just fly away over here.</p>
<p>I'll have to check those out. Any word on how Cambridge and King's College are regarded here in the States? I think my D's perception is that LSE is up there with U/Chicago as a top program. I have insufficient data.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for some fellowship money.</p>
<p>LSE is not up there as a top program...well, it ranks around 13-15 or so, but it is not at Chicago's level, no. Given her interests, the MSc in econ seems like asomewhat strange choice, and I'd seriously question the value added. The chances that she lands a fellowship are *very *slim. LSE loves loves loves to admit Americans to their MSc programs to reap a heathy profit.</p>
<p>If she is seriously interested in a masters and believes it will benefit her, she may want to check out masters programs in canada, at say, UBC, Toronto, and Queens. Could be cheaper options.</p>
<p>Cambridge is seen really highly. Not sure about King's. Toronto, McGill and etc.. are good schools but LSE is consedered a lot better. Econ in Chicago is probably supperior to LSE although outside the USA LSE probably has the best program. Econ is probably the hardest program to get into at LSE.</p>
<p>Well, the Masters in Econ combined with Law isn't a strange choice to the two independent (of each other) senior staffers on the Hill my D spoke with, nor the former senior official from OMB who is one of her mentors.</p>
<p>PSmyth, I forwarded your the rec of Cambridge. Philosophically, she thinks she's much more aligned with LSE than Chicago. As for the expense of London, she will probably need to pick up some fellowships from her undergrad college or some third party but I'm seeing both as increasingly possible. A number of the US grad programs in Econ seem focused on the PhD, mentioning the possibility of a Masters almost as a footnote. Otoh, D is interested in pursuing this avenue only via a fairly high ranked school...Top 15 or so, as for her interests <em>where</em> the piece of paper is from is often of significance. Cf., Law degrees and Supreme Court justices.</p>
<p>i am currently an undergrad at the lse. if you want to look at rankings for economics, lse is the only school outside of the united states that can compete with top ivy leagues. cambridge is ranked in the 50s it is extremely prestigious. lse is not as good as chicago, i would say its about the same level as columbia and penn in economics right now. lse as an institution is ranked 3rd in the world for economics right now as an educational institution due to the fact they have 40 research institutions on campus so a lot of mit and harvard professors do research here. <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.inst.all.html%5B/url%5D">http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.inst.all.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks, Jimmy. D has reason to believe that LSE will be more simpatico with her outlooks than Chicago would. But I think I'll encourage her to apply to Chicago though, appropriately enough, my thoughts have increasingly little sway. :)</p>
<p>I am skeptical of rankings, at least for undergrad, but I'd be curious to see what they are...can you point me to some rankings for Econ? Whereas I know that with respect to Law they can be crucial...but she already has the Law part pretty well wired.</p>
<p>I don't really know any econ rankings. I do know that LSE was ranked 3rd for Social Sciences this year and 2nd last year. It was also ranked 17th or 18th (can't remember exacly) best uni in the world. The year before it was ranked joint 11th with Duke. I blame the fall in the rankings on the day they admitted me :-) The rankings are from the Times Higher Education Supplement. I also chosse LSE over other unis like Cambridge and King's because I thought it matched my personal style and I do not regret it.</p>
<p>Ps. The Master's degree in econ is a solid one and not a pre-tought of a PhD.</p>
<p>I think that the Masters being a standalone by design is one of the things that caught D's eye. Many of the programs in the US in the top ranked schools seem to be Ph.D. programs with a lesser Master's option.</p>
<p>Couple of points...</p>
<ol>
<li> I think it was theghostofsnoopy who said that LSE is not a top program ("only" in the top 15.) Well, let's face it: not everyone is destined for Chicago. Though I'm sure that TheDad's daughter has some great options, it may not be the best fit for her to go to a top 5 program. Or maybe she's not interested in a research position...oh wait, she doesn't seem to be. In that case, LSE is more than highly ranked enough.</li>
</ol>
<p>Besides, only on CC.com is top 15 "not highly ranked."</p>
<ol>
<li> Most terminal master's aren't PhD prep. But they're usually good courses anyway. Plenty of people at my program go on to top poli sci programs and do just fine, and this program is not remotely meant to be a top PhD primer.</li>
</ol>
<p>My only concern with LSE is cost. London...sheesh.</p>
<p>Ari, think the word "fellowships" very strongly in the direction of my D. Thank you.</p>
<p>Oh, in that case I think it's a clear winner. </p>
<p>It might not be Chicago, but 2 years in London? I think that the experience alone is worth it!</p>