‘To understand the causes of things’ is LSE’s motto, yet I don’t understand why I am writing this blog post at midnight. Perhaps some things are better left unanswered. Funnily enough, it was this motto that was one of the first things that contributed towards my decision to apply last September. I’m a naturally inquisitive person and the motto sat well with me; I want to talk about what made me pick LSE, along with the unique experience that I went through when I submitted my application, right up to when I got my offer.
There were multiple factors that played a role in my decision to pick LSE. There were the more traditional reasons like location; the LSE campus sits right in the heart of London and is close to many attractions like Hyde Park etc. The School also has strong connections with employers in the city, and consequently offers the promise of good job prospects for students.
But there were also irrational reasons, one being that I really like the colour red. I took one look at the LSE logo, and the rest is history as they say! I also found out that students had complimentary access to Microsoft Office, which I also quite liked the sound of. There were various other quirky reasons which I would love to share, but I want to talk about the ‘LSE email experience’ as I have now dubbed it.
LSE is unique in the sense that it keeps applicants properly up to date with the current situation regarding their application. Most other universities that I applied to, adopted email silence right up to when they made a decision. I liked the fact that LSE kept me in the loop, which made the whole process slightly less stressful for me, as it could be months before a university makes a decision.
The first email you get sent is to tell you that LSE has received your application; this correspondence is carried out by the admissions assessors themselves. The second email informs you that your academic qualifications and personal statement are being reviewed to ensure that they meet the entry requirements for the course that you have applied for. This process takes about two weeks after which you receive a third email, stating that your application is now being considered in competition with other candidates in your cohort, and your qualifications will be scrutinised more closely. This process can take up to eight weeks. Mine was slightly shorter, and I got one of the best emails of my life on 4th December 2016, which contained my offer for a place at LSE!
Anyhow, I hope that this was a helpful insight to the pre-offer process, something which I felt there wasn’t much information on for prospective students. Good luck with your application!
