Hi
I am a US Student thinking about applying for UK colleges.
I am a little confused about the application requirements for LSE. I want to apply to the economic program.
Here is an overview of my profile
ACT 35 34 in science, 35 in math, 36 in reading and 35 in grammar
SAT 1510 800 in math and 710 in English
the APs that I took are
AP Chinese 5,
AP US History 4,
the following are the APs I took this year here is my prediction for the outcome
AP Micro 5
AP Macro 5
AP Statistic 5
AP Lang 4
And I am taking these APs next year and I think I can get 5s on all the test.
AP Gov
AP Computer Science
AP Physics I & II
AP Calculus BC
What are the things I should work on so I can get a better chance?
My GPA is kind of low
unweighted 3.6
weighted 4.2
Thank you so much!
Some ECs (e.g. Internships) related to the course you want to take would be helpful. LSE is a difficult admit and there is a lot of skepticism about the rigor of US high school courses, compared to A levels.
Also it’s pretty unlikely you’d get an unconditional offer (if you get one at all), it will almost certainly be conditional on getting a 5 in Calc BC. So unless you plan to take a gap year, it would be advisable to have accepted an offer in the US (and paid the deposit) in the meantime.
What ‘course’ would you apply for at LSE?
In all cases a 5 on the calc BC exam would be mandatory but other APs required would depend on the program you apply for.
Your GPA won’t matter, only test scores.
Your sat, act, and subject tests + current scores indicate excellent odds of admission.
Add 3 other, similar universities (Russell group) plus one with lower standards of admissions. Use the 2019 universities’ leagues table.
I would disagree that you have “excellent odds of admission”. I think your scores (if you did get 5s this year) give you a chance of getting an offer, but its no more likely than getting an offer at an equivalent top US school. And in some ways LSE is harder to predict than Oxbridge because there is no entrance test or formal interview process.
Outside of Oxbridge, it’s MUCH easier to predict admission for American applicants to UK universities than for top 25 US universities and LACs. Not comparable. (Note that it’s different for UK/EU/EEA applicants due to pool in which they fall ie., the fee.)
@MYOS1634 Thank you so much! where can I find the APs that are required by the program? I can not find it on their website.
@Twoin18 Thank you so much for your comment! Then what do you think I can do to improve my chances for getting into LSE? I think the US admission into top schools is harder than that of the UK because of the chance factor in the common app essay and the admission officer who reads the essay.
Look at the entrance requirements - look at ALevels and take the APs for those, keeping in mind they’re much easier than ALevels hence the “5” requirement to have a good shot.
LSE made 499 offers to 2599 applicants for economics (http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/Degree-programmes-2019/BSc-Economics). You will need a teacher reference written in UK style, predicting all 5s and saying you are the best economics/math student they have had in many years. That’s probably the most important thing you can sort out this summer. Also I suggest you do the SAT 2 math if you haven’t already.
FWIW my S18 didn’t get an offer from LSE. He did get an interview (but not an offer) at Oxford for PPE. He had 4.0UW, 1540 SAT, 800 SAT 2 math, five 5s in his APs at the time, was predicted four more 5s, and was senior class president. He did get into Berkeley and UCLA. In the UK he only got into KCL, but not UCL.
@Twoin18 Hi, your son’s score is amazing! I did take the SAT II already and got an 800. I also took
US History 730
Chemistry 780
Bio 730
@MYOS1634 Ok, Thank you so much! Because I can not find the AP requirements on their website. Now I know what i need to work on next year.
What you CAN do is see whether you have a way to accelerate in Math. Your math background will be the most important aspect (assuming high scores).
The second thing you can do is understand what your Personal Statement must be. it is NOT like the college admission essay in the US. Read about it in studentroom, UCAS, you can even “look inside” books on the topic on Amazon.uk. It is NOT an exercise in nonfiction creative writing.
The entrance requirements for Economics at LSE are here:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/Degree-programmes-2018/BSc-Economics (scroll down to ‘Assessing your Application’.
Short version is that the UK requirement is A*AA, to include Math; other ‘common’ subjects for successful applicants are Economics; Physics; History; Chemistry; English and Government & Politics.
The US equivalents are here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/international-students/country-pages/united-states-of-america
For Economics, the requirement is 5 APs with a score of 5, to include CalcBC. They do not care about SAT or ACT, and they don’t accept subject tests. An AP in a language in which you have “significant prior exposure” does not count either (so if you are a Spanish-speaking Hispanic, the Spanish AP won’t count).
I worry that you might come up a bit short in the most rigorous APs. If Chinese is discarded because you are a heritage speaker, and Micro/Macro/US Gov are considered somewhat “lesser” APs, i.e. not “traditional academic subjects”, then you only have Stats, CS, Calc and Physics (and even CS is a bit of a gimme).
The 4s in History and English and the lack of other social studies APs may also make them nervous. Note in particular the statement that “Applicants should also bear in mind our general preference for a broad mix of traditional academic subjects to be offered.”
Maybe you could most easily add AP Chem, perhaps self-studied since you did well in the SAT 2? But without AP Lit or Euro/World History I’d guess your chances of an offer may be reduced.