<p>Hi, I'm a high school senior interested in politics and philosophy. LSE is one of the my dream schools. (I just got deferred from Georgetown, another one that I really wanna go.) I have finished most of the UCAS application and I'm applying to LSE and probably Government/International relations/philosophy major. </p>
<p>Here's my stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 2160, math 770, verbal 670, writing 720
SAT2s: 800 math II, 680 bio
GPA: 3.68 out of 4.00, unweighted (I know its low but it took challenging classes.)</p>
<p>AP U.S. gov't: 5
AP Calc AB: 5
AP environmental science: 4</p>
<p>My problem is, since I only have one score of 5 in AP that can be used for LSE (they dont accept U.S. gov't), I will need to take 4 more (which I might get 5s) in May next year, will they accept those APs that I will be taking after the January application deadline?</p>
<p>These are the ones I will take:
AP Physics B: probably 5
AP Econ: taking the class next semester, 4 or 5
AP Euro: 4 or 5
AP Chinese: probably 5 </p>
<p>Although I have talked with a few friends in UK, I'm still not completely familiar with how the whole process works. Would anyone be able to explain a little more to me? Is there a UK equivalent of College Confidential so that I can learn more about LSE? And what should I write on my personal statement?</p>
<p>I know LSE is pretty hard to get in. Do you think I have any chance? Thank you</p>
<p>Yes, they will accept the scores you earn this year but they may give you a conditional offer. This means that if you do no earn the specified score on your tests the acceptance will be revoked. The problem I see is that you need five fives to even be considered into the international relations major and from what I see you have only 4 that they will accept. Chinese, Calc, Euro, and Physics. Apart from that if you have any fours that can hurt your application a lot. To add onto that many of your fives will not be in subjects that are relevant to IR, government, or philosophy, all of which are some of the hardest courses to be accepted into. You have a pretty good shot but I wouldn’t bet on it. You have to remember that the school as around a 6% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>@Khlilzhad Yeah I see that. Thanks. Since I didn’t take AP U.S. or world history in my school, its would be extremely hard for me to get 5s in the AP if I only study for them myself. </p>
<p>Maybe a question for both you and @cupcake, since from what I understand the U.K. application is much more major-oriented than U.S, but im thinking about different majors like government, social policy with government, politics and philosophy, and environmental policy with econ. </p>
<p>Then, how should I reflect kind of my different interests in my application, especially on my personal statement?</p>
<p>I just wouldn’t do it. Getting accepted in the UK is all about showing focus and dedication to a subject. I think you could combine government related courses, but I am not sure how you would add environment without making it weird. However, I am not an expert on these subjects. Try googling for some personal statement examples to help you. But in general trying to justify applying to mixed subjects in your PS is a bad idea.</p>
<p>The general advice re applying for different courses is… Don’t. </p>
<p>Your PS is meant to be centred around why you want to study the subject you are applying for - and making yourself look passionate about two separate subjects simultaneously, in 4000 characters, is almost impossible. </p>
<p>However, you can go for some minor variation eg government at LSE and politics (or even PPE) elsewhere. </p>
<p>Nb on your PS they don’t care about irrelevant ECs (unlike US colleges) so keep them to one sentence. And get some advice on The Student Room about your PS!</p>
<p>^^ Yes. Your PS should start with something like “I want to study X because…” and go from there. It should not start with “I want to study X OR Y OR Z because…”.</p>
<p>You could apply for joint/combined Honours courses though (e.g. Politics and Philosophy at LSE), in which case you’d start with “I want to study X AND Y because…”.</p>
<p>No!!! Never start a PS like that. Universities will read that and see that you’re PS is so flipping generic that you’re chances will go down by about 50%. I’m from the UK and am applying to UK Unis. ive got offers from Imperial and UCL and a likely offer from Cambridge. When I went for interview, EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEWER asked me about my personal statement. If it starts off really generic, it won’t grab their attention. E.g. I used the word ‘utopian’ in my first sentence.
My friend who got rejected from Oxford without an interview started his PS with ‘I love Economics because…’. Just remember that 90% of the statements they’ll read will be like that. Think about how you’ll stand out!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your information. It’s extremely helpful. Let’s say if I have five or six 5s (in AP Econ, AP Chinese, AP Calc AB, AP Physics B, AP Euro, and AP World His - im thinking about do a half-credit independent study at my school) and with a fair-quality personal statement, does it mean I have a very good chance of getting in?</p>
<p>Leeds has an excellent Politics & Parliamentary Studies, where your third year is spent half in Westminster, and half in Washington / Ottawa. Hull is a university known only for its politics courses, and it has a similar course, but the third year is spent entirely in Westminster. Those two courses are particularly good if you want a career in politics. </p>
<p>Other back-up choices that have a good reputation for politics are Essex and Aberystwyth (the latter is particularly the case for IR)</p>
<p>Exeter is good if you like Middle Eastern politics. Cardiff is good if you like European Politics. St Andrews is good for IR. </p>
<p>If you want a more broad degree, then Manchester’s BA(Econ) has a lot of module choices, and allows you to take modules in lots of other subjects e.g. criminology, economics, law, maths, social anthropology and leadership along the way. </p>
<p>Other solid universities for you to have a look at include Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, UCL, KCL, Nottingham, Sheffield, Birmingham and Newcastle. The deadline (15th October) has already passed for Oxford and Cambridge. </p>
<p>As you might have gathered, the best university for you depends a lot on your interests. I can’t stand European politics, so I would have hated Cardiff, but equally I have a friend who is there and loves it.</p>
<p>I don’t know that others have really explained this clearly. I think you should go ahead and apply for the program you are interested, but your personal statement should NOT be about all your different interests, instead you should explain why you are so interested in devoting your life to subject X. That’s what they are looking for. (And no, don’t begin with the sentence “I want to study X because . . .” Be a better writer than that. But after reading your personal statement, they should understand why it is that you want to study X).</p>
<p>An update. I just got rejected by LSE. But I realized that I did not mention on my UCAS application that I’m taking many more AP exams this May. I need your advice now. Do you think the admission tutors at LSE would assume that the three AP scores (I took them last year) that I sent to LSE were the only AP scores? Or do you think it’s just that my PS was too bad. I’m taking five more APs this year and just started preparing for them. This is really disappointing since LSE is my NO. 1 dream school! Do you think I should call LSE?</p>
<p>I would guess that if you didn’t tell them you were taking more AP tests, they had no way of knowing, and they assumed those three were all the AP tests you would ever take. And as you said in your first post, they don’t count US govt. So really they thought you only had two APs, which I don’t think would be enough (and would they have considered “environmental science” relevant?)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that if you have been rejected this year, you have been rejected this year. I don’t think they will change their mind because you left information out of your application form. And generally, going and “whining” does not work in the UK the way it does in the USA, so don’t think about trying that strategy. Get ready to apply again next year, now that you have a better idea how it all works.</p>