<p>Hello!</p>
<p>I am an entering freshman at a US college. I would like to spend my junior year abroad and I have already started reviewing the options my college offers. There is an one-year-long program at the London School of Economic and since I plan to double major in Economics and Political Science, I consider it quite interesting. I have already visited LSE's site, but I would like to find out more about this program. </p>
<p>Has anybody studied abroad at LSE? What were your impressions? Did you like it? Was the workload more challenging? Did you adapt easily to the British way of life? </p>
<p>Any feedback will be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>I was a a student in that program over over thirty years ago(it is called general course student), but I have been active in the alumnae program since then and I have followed the program , so I am still familar with it. Actually, you are considered an alumnus of LSE once you have participated in the program. You are required to apply in a specific area, i.e. international relations, economics, etc. (certain areas are easier to get into than others ), but once there you can take pretty much whatever you want. The program is fantastic, London is amazing, the school is great and everyone including all of the British students and foreign students are friendly and helpful. The professors pay plenty of attention to you and you are in the same classes as the students who are there for the full three years. The system in English Universities is slightly different than in the American universities, more akin to the quarter system in a school like the University of Chicago, and I would say the quality of education is equal to a top tier American University. If you can take this program and can afford it (London is now very expensive ) definitely go for it. It was one of the highlights of my life. Do note that my university would only grant me pass/fail grades for the year for this program, so it did hurt my cum as I would have had great grades my junior year if I had stayed at home. Lots of luck.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, Newenglandparent! That information is really helpful. Which areas do you think are easier to get into? I am currently interested in the Economics and the International Relation programs. I have read that students are allowed to take up to four year long courses, is this correct? Again, thank you for your reply.</p>
<p>Lilianna-
My d applied for the summer at LSE this year, and even though she didn't end up going on that one, it is a great option to keep in mind if you can't spare a whole year or if a summer would be better. It is certainly cheaper.</p>
<p>Some features of their summer program are that you can take either one or two session of 3 weeks each, one course at a time and you live in LSE housing. My d was allowed to pick her LSE housing place easily (before she was accepted to the other program).</p>
<p>I noted that either butler or arcadia have the year-long LSE program available through them (meaning a US college transcript is issued) and you might check with your college to see if they like that better than the LSE issued- record. One of the reasons my d chose to go on a different program than the LSE program was because her college would not tell her in advance if they courses would transfer. It was an issue of matching LSE course descriptions to her uni's course descriptions. She might have gotten credit when she got back and could give the registrar the course syllabus, but it was riskier than her other option, which was a university-sponsored program.</p>
<p>Thank you, theocmom!</p>
<p>Since a large number of students seem to apply for economics at LSE for the junior year general course student, that seems to be the hardest to get into. I applied for international relations and I got in and I feel that maybe I would not have if I tried for economics. Once you get there, you can pretty much take whatever you want. I took history, economics, international relations and sociology courses while there. It was a long time ago, so I would check into current requirements.</p>
<p>Thanks again, newenglandparent!</p>