<p>So I am really intent on studying abroad. I currently attend the University of Southern California (USC). My school offers a year long program at the London School of Economics (LSE) which I am interested in. It would be great for satisfying some of my Political Science major requirements (I major in film as well). However, I have a few concerns. I love USC and I am hesitant to spend the whole year abroad as opposed to one semester. I'm wondering if LSE is worth the entire year. Also, I have heard that LSE is very rigorous and I am afraid that it will not afford me time to explore London and Europe. Anyone who has attended the LSE study abroad program share with me about their experience. </p>
<p>Did you feel as though you were really immersed in London?
Do you feel you had the chance to explore London?
Did you travel outside England and explore Europe?
How demanding were the classes?
Is LSE in a good/exiting/entertaining part of the city?</p>
<p>Any information would be incredibly helpful! Thanks :)</p>
<p>Iām not a student at USC nor have I studied at LSE but I did live in London for a while so I might tell you something about that. </p>
<p>LSE is right in the center of the city which is a big plus as you can get anywhere you want because the subway is nearby. Unlike the U.S. where the city centers are not always the best parts of town, generally speaking in Europe this is not the case and London is no exception. There are lots of things to do right outside of LSE. And if you want to travel airplane tickets are only like 50 euroās for most destinations in Europe.</p>
<p>Thanks! That is exactly what I find appealing about LSE! I was considering Queen Mary but I am a little hesitant to do that program because Queen Mary has its own campus and I want to be more immersed in the city of London than another college campus.</p>
<p>Seeing as thousands of people attend LSE for more than a year, it canāt be that bad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Correct me if Iām wrong, but as far as I can tell, you basically want to go to Europe, do some sightseeing, and return to college in the US. While LSE is generally accommodating of American students (by which I mean that the JYA program is a very watered-down version of the real thing), it does expect them to do some work while theyāre there.</p>
<p>If your only desire is to āexperience the culture,ā I suggest you do so outside of school.</p>
<p>I had a friend who spent a year at LSE and said it was the most rewarding educational experience of his life. You can also check out this website which has a bunch of reviews from students who studied at LSEā¦</p>
<p>I actually study at the LSE so hereās my take on it all.</p>
<p>Did you feel as though you were really immersed in London?
Nope. The campus is in the heart of London (kinda) but accomodation has you thrown all around the city - at least a mileās walk from LSE. If you want to āimmerseā yourself in London you largely do it on your own time. But you only generally have about 8 hours of contact a week (where you have to be at uni) so thereās plenty of time. However, after living there for a few weeks, the novelty wears off quite quickly (and the weather is ****) so you find yourself being quite content hanging out at your accommodation hall :P</p>
<p>Do you feel you had the chance to explore London?
Again, LSE doesnāt facilitate this (although I believe for the general course students they do organize a few trips and tours around the city and stuff). But since LSE has such little contact time, again, you can do what you want on your own hours. Iāve done a bit of exploring but I find Iāve done that most during the weekends/breaks.</p>
<p>Did you travel outside England and explore Europe?
This is something you save for the vacations (you get a month long break in between each term, approximately) but general course does arrange a trip to Amsterdam and Belgium. </p>
<p>How demanding were the classes?
Itās the LSE - so pretty ****ing demanding However, if you do the work in a timely fashion and just get it done, itās really not that hard. I find that if you work from about 10-4 (including time for lectures, walking to and from uni, etc.) pretty solidly, then you have the rest of the day free to do whatever you like and Iām pulling pretty good marks. </p>
<p>Is LSE in a good/exiting/entertaining part of the city?
It doesnāt matter as you donāt spend much time there. The place you want to be concerned with is your accomodation hall, as those are scattered around central quite haphazardly. LSE is in a fairly exciting part, as in thereās always people around but nothing ever happens there as such. The accomodation halls vary depending on location.</p>
<p>I actually study at the LSE so hereās my take on it all.</p>
<p>Did you feel as though you were really immersed in London?
Nope. The campus is in the heart of London (kinda) but accomodation has you thrown all around the city - at least a mileās walk from LSE. If you want to āimmerseā yourself in London you largely do it on your own time. But you only generally have about 8 hours of contact a week (where you have to be at uni) so thereās plenty of time. However, after living there for a few weeks, the novelty wears off quite quickly (and the weather is ****) so you find yourself being quite content hanging out at your accommodation hall :P</p>
<p>Do you feel you had the chance to explore London?
Again, LSE doesnāt facilitate this (although I believe for the general course students they do organize a few trips and tours around the city and stuff). But since LSE has such little contact time, again, you can do what you want on your own hours. Iāve done a bit of exploring but I find Iāve done that most during the weekends/breaks.</p>
<p>Did you travel outside England and explore Europe?
This is something you save for the vacations (you get a month long break in between each term, approximately) but general course does arrange a trip to Amsterdam and Belgium. </p>
<p>How demanding were the classes?
Itās the LSE - so pretty ****ing demanding However, if you do the work in a timely fashion and just get it done, itās really not that hard. I find that if you work from about 10-4 (including time for lectures, walking to and from uni, etc.) pretty solidly, then you have the rest of the day free to do whatever you like and Iām pulling pretty good marks. </p>
<p>Is LSE in a good/exiting/entertaining part of the city?
It doesnāt matter as you donāt spend much time there. The place you want to be concerned with is your accomodation hall, as those are scattered around central quite haphazardly. LSE is in a fairly exciting part, as in thereās always people around but nothing ever happens there as such. The accomodation halls vary depending on location.</p>
<p>Is the LSE general course actually āwatered downā? Iām looking for a CHALLENGING experience abroad at one of the best universities in the world, and I actually want the full LSE academic experienceā¦and hope that itāll help me in applying to grad school in europe in the futureā¦
Could anyone please elaborate?</p>
<p>Youāre not going to get the full LSE academic experience by being a general course student, and the fact that you did a year abroad there isnāt likely to increase your chances of getting into a European grad school; theyāre well aware that most Americans like to come to Europe and hang around for a year so it probably wonāt work in your favor as such.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, general course students are still able to take the same courses as admitted LSE students.</p>
<p>My D spent a semester in London at LSE and did not find the courses there really challenging. However, she loved her experience in London, taking off almost every weekend to Scotland or the continent. It will cost you $$$.
You can apply to a European grad school from any American college, not really needing a year at LSE.</p>
<p>I found an email that my D sent to her friend and copied me about her classes at LSE . She was an exchange student from a top 5 MBA school.</p>
<p>The courses at (her school) are very interesting and very different from courses at LSE. Maybe the biggest difference is that the teachers are very well prepared for each lecture and that they are not only good scientists, economists and researchers but at the same time very good teachers which is not always the case at LSE. My general recommendation would be the following. At LSE do any good theoretical courses and leave all practical courses for the (her school). At LSE there are several courses which look practical, however, these can hardly beat (her school).</p>
<p>my son just returned from a year at LSE, my understanding is the general course offers the exact same classes to study abroad and regular LSE students. He found the courses somewhat rigorous, but found plenty of off time to travel, some weekends but mostly during winter and spring break, and another couple weeks after finals. he had couple of excellent professors, but overall found a lack of a student experience, most of the regular students were more intense in their studying, in the library constantly, not looking to make friends. he found a great group of fellow Americans studying abroad with whom to socialize and travel with. loved London, and while already pretty mature he learned to manage all aspects of life very independently.</p>
<p>As far as I know the only official LSE study abroad programme where foreign students take proper LSE classes is the general course, your D canāt have been on that because itās a year long.</p>
<p>I hope your D did experience the real LSE, but if she found the time to travel as extensively and as often as you say then it seems unlikely. LSE is a very academic place, itās famous for having quite introverted and bookish students - itās certainly not the place you study at expecting to travel a lot in term time.</p>
<p>I find your attitude extremely arrogant and condescending. If LSE only āproperā courses as year long courses, then why allow exchange students to take semester classes? And what is your qualification to deem only year long courses as proper?</p>
<p>Americans are known to play hard and work hard. Perhaps it is not possible for some UK students to travel while studying, but it is not impossible for everyone.</p>
<p>I didnāt perceive anything arrogant or condescending in what I said, Iām sorry you didnāt like what I said but facts are facts.</p>
<p>Youāve misunderstood me; I didnāt say that the only proper classes at LSE are a year long, just that the general course (which is the only exchange programme that I am aware of which lets foreign students take real LSE classes with home students) is a year long. The reason the LSE allows American colleges to rent its facilities and use the LSE name is because it wants your money. Itās as simple as that. </p>
<p>The differences between American and British approaches to studying abroad is startling. In Britain, students who want to go abroad have to add a whole extra year onto their degree so as not to detract anything from their studies at home. And even then they mostly study whilst abroad, not use the time to travel around a foreign continent. In the US the practise appears to be to squeeze as many cultural exploits as possible into a single summer or semester. This inevitably has detracted from the academic experience American students have abroad.</p>
<p>well, my son who did the general course, (full year at LSE) did a large amount of traveling, to much of Europe, and just emailed me with his grades. He got one A, two A-, one B+. He did note how many of the regular students were constantly studying, but perhaps it is also how students manage their time, and learn. My son did note throughout the year that many of his fellow students at his home college, (a top 20 LAC) went to study abroad programs where there was little to no academic rigor, and he felt a tad frustrated by this at times. As I posted earlier, the classes required much reading, and there is little professor to student interaction, although my son did meet with professors to ask questions when needed. He did very well, while also really enjoying life in London and quite a bit of travel. so it is possible. good luck to the op.</p>
<p>Hi! I am a current undergrad student at USC and this is actually my first post! Anyway, I am extraordinarily interested in the LSE study abroad program and was wondering if any of the students/parents of students who got into the program and/or actually experienced it could answer a few questions. </p>
<p>1) How difficult is it to get accepted? I imagine itās extremely difficult, but does anyone know roughly what percentage of applicants are admitted to the program who apply, or what top percent of your class you have to be in to be admitted?</p>
<p>2) How extensive of coursework are they looking for in regards to the major you apply under? For example, I want to double major in Business and IR (IR is what Iād be studying at LSE), but Iāve only just decided on the IR major and would only have taken 2-4 IR classes by the time I actually go. Is this problematic?</p>
<p>3) Any other comments/suggestions/information that you think might be useful to me would be greatly appreciated! </p>
<p>Thank you so much for any and all help. I know this is an old post but Iām having trouble finding the details on this program. </p>
<p>Hey Sylvester, I just finished my first year as a math economics major at UCLA and Iām also extraordinarily interested in the general course. I happen to be in London now at the start of a backpacking trip through Europe and Iāve been wide awake pretty much, jetlagged and excited to visit lse, and found this thread cause I have similar questions. When I visit today Iāll try to meet with a general course admissions staff person and Iāll reply later if I reach them.</p>
However, if you do the work in a timely fashion and just get it done, itās really not that hard. I find that if you work from about 10-4 (including time for lectures, walking to and from uni, etc.) pretty solidly, then you have the rest of the day free to do whatever you like and Iām pulling pretty good marks. </p>