Kyu Beom, MSc Economics & Management Student Ambassador shares the honest truth from hair loss to presenting analyses in front of everyone… is it worth all the stress? Read on to find out what it’s really like to study a master’s in Economics & Management at LSE.

Q: So, why did I choose to study Economics & Management?

A: A short answer to this rather difficult question is, “I enjoy learning and studying”.

For those who have slightly more time, the longer answer is as follows.

To bring everyone into context, I completed my undergraduate degree in BSc Mathematics and Economics at LSE just last year, whereby I lost most of my hair from stress. Don’t get me wrong. Just because I am close to balding at the age of 22 doesn’t mean I wasn’t satisfied with my prior LSE experience.

There is a reason I came back, specifically to ‘study Economics and Management’. Plus, I could always get a hair transplant in the future.

Looking for postgraduate study

In the final year of undergraduate studies, I was looking for a postgraduate study that would give me a better understanding of the real drivers of the global economy and business. The undergraduate programme was awesome, but it didn’t do its best job in exposing me to the real-life applications of some of the rigorous mathematical and technical methods taught over the course of a few years.

I then asked a few of my friends from other departments about their overall learning experiences throughout their degree, and it turned out that there seemed to be a consensus among the Management students.

One thing that really resonated with me was that the management courses at LSE combined quantitative models with qualitative explanations, and that was enough to convince me to choose the Management Department.

It was as easy as that. The next question was which programme.

Programme modules

I then scrolled over all the postgraduate programmes in the Management Department. The MSc Economics and Management (E&M) programme structure was one that really stood out.

For those who don’t know, it is structured as:

• Core modules = MG411 (Firms and Markets) and EC486 (Econometric Methods).
• The rest of the modules are up to your preferences apart from a module on Corporate Finance.

After reading the programme description, I then scheduled a meeting with John, the Programme Director of E&M and lecturer for the first half of MG411 (Firms and Markets), to get a grasp of what I could expect out of the degree.

John said that the programme aims to put equal weights on the theories and applications, whereby we discuss real-life cases every week as a part of our seminar through the lens of theoretic and econometric models.

And he wasn’t lying; I’ve spent hours and hours with my seminar group applying theoretical and econometric models dealt in the previous lectures and preparing presentations every week.

Yes, we ALL have to present our analyses in front of everyone. 🙂

…we discuss real-life cases every week as a part of our seminar through the lens of theoretic and econometric models.

It may sound all pretentious and window-dressing.

Of course, there is a dark side, such as an incredibly heavy workload, lack of sleep, and lack of social life – I can go on forever.

However, there is no point in dwelling on these, as it is a phase that everyone goes through, and we are better off focusing on the upsides (obviously with few pints of beer).

Every second at LSE is a learning experience. Everyone is passionate about what they are doing. Everyone is ambitious – sometimes unnecessarily competitive – in wanting to achieve higher.

Every second at LSE is a learning experience. Everyone is passionate about what they are doing.

All in all, I would say that if you enjoy both the quantitative and qualitative side of academics, as well as wanting to gain the necessary all-round skills required in the job market, this is definitely the programme for you.

Get in touch

I am more than glad to answer all the questions you may have regarding the programme and overall LSE life. You can either email me or be fancy and DM on Instagram: qkyuqkyuqkyu.

Learn more about our MSc Economics and Management programme