Undergrad at London School of Economics or Oxford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am hoping to apply to both London School of Economics and Oxford in the fall of 2009 for the 2010 fall term. I emigrated to the US in 7th grade from Asia (not from China, Korea, or Japan) and come from a generally poor family but live in one of the richest zip codes in the country. My stats:</p>

<p>SAT I (three attempts): 2040, 2030, 2250
SAT II: US HISTORY- 780, MATH 2C- 730, ENGLISH LIT- 730
APs (those that qualify for UK requirenments): US HISTORY- 5, EURO HISTORY- 5, FRENCH LANG- 3
APs in 12th Grade (those that qualify for UK requirenments): PHYSICS B, CALC AB, and ENGLISH LIT
APs (those that do not qualify, with scores for those already taken): ENVISCI-3, ECONOMICS, and GOVERNMENT</p>

<p>In total I will have taken 9 APs by the end of my senior year, five of which qualify and five of which are subject-specific. I also have a decent extra-curricular profile:</p>

<p>*President and Founder of a Prestigious Club that ranked in the top 15 in the nation (out of thousands)
*President of MUN
*Track and Cross Country (4 years, Varsity Track, JV Cross Country)
*Indian Classical Dance (9 years, Advanced Level, 3 Awards)
*MUN: 13 Awards, 3 Best Delegates (so far)
*Community Helpline Community Service: (2 Years) 110 hours so far, total of 200-250 planned (I know, it's not much)
*Mock Trial: (2 Years) Defense Trial Attorney
*Work Experience: (3 Years) Approximately 200 hours at $15-20/ hr, tutoring</p>

<p>The biggest problem I have is my GPA. I have a 3.75 GPA which MIGHT improve by a 0.01-0.03 if I get straight A's in first semester of next year. My weighted GPA comes out to be a 4.6-4.75 depending on grade changes and first semester grades of next year. I also received 2 C's in Precalculus Honors (one or both of which might change to a B). I am not in the top 4 % of my class but I am in the top 10-20%.</p>

<p>I am more interested in doing the joint BSc in Econ and Philosophy from LSE than the PPE- Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics- from Oxford (although that would be my number 2). I hope to apply to a US Law School (Harvard, Yale or Columbia) after completing my degree in the UK and I want to know what my chances of getting into the two schools (LSE and Oxford) are. I am mostly hoping to get into LSE. If I get into LSE, I probably won't give any other school more than one glance. </p>

<p>If you are an alumni of the undergrad program from either of the two schools or just someone who was ever accepted to one of them at any point in time, I would greatly appreciate your help. If you are an LSE or Oxford grad for grad school or got in, that would be fine too. Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>Your biggest problem is not your GPA but zero financial aid for internationals.</p>

<p>ECs are ignored unles they are relevant to the course you are applying for, so I would only include Mock Trial.</p>

3

<p>For Oxford, there is also another set of internal selection test, TSA if I’m not wrong; PPE is extremely competitive. LSE has a very strong international presence, while there is no selection tests at LSE, ps and past experiences like cupcake has mentioned will be critical. Based on your info, I think you stand a very good chance at LSE.</p>

4

<p>Both programs that you want to apply for are very popular. Oxford and Cambridge interview candidates, LSE does not, so it’s extremely important that you have the required grades, speak to the School they will tell you exactly what that is (I have no clue about the US system). But in the UK most students get 3 A’s at A level (minimum of three required, all in traditional academic subjects, check the school web site).</p>

<p>Your Personal Statement is very, very important, assuming that everyone has the required grades to get in the PS is the one thing that will make you stand out, you have to show a genuine interest in economics and philosophy so make sure you give each the attention that it deserves.</p>

<p>LSE has about 17 applicants per place, Oxbridge about 4 per place (this is normally put down to kids just thinking that they have no chance of getting into Oxbridge so don’t even bother applying, sounds reasonable to me, but I don’t know).</p>

<p>In the UK we don’t go in for the extra-curricular stuff at all (perhaps we should) so don’t waste words on this because the admissions tutors are really not interested (17 applications per place is a lot of reading); the degree you want to do has considerably more than 17 applicants per place by the way.</p>

5

<p>What’s your SAT superscore?</p>