I believe diversity is a factor that prospective students often look into when considering universities, particularly for POCs like me. I have been at LSE for 3 months now and I would say based on my personal experience so far, it has been fairly positive.

I went to a secondary school where majority of students are white. I have made so many amazing friends, and rarely anyone has said mean things to me because of my race. However, I just felt like I rarely see people who look like me in leadership positions or have similar backgrounds as me, and the feeling that I will never truly fit in was often at the back of my mind. Here at LSE, I see people from different backgrounds being in leadership positions regardless of whether they are international or home students. I would say everyone is held against the same standards, we discuss diversity in the judiciary in our course, and my teachers of my modules this term are also from very diverse backgrounds. There are countless societies that represent different cultures, religions, minority groups – and I know often institutions say that they are diverse and what they do is often superficial, and then ‘box ticked job done – we have diversity’. However here at LSE, you can meet people from your community and there are countless socials and even career-related events that allow you to bond with other people.

Today I attended a conference held by the Women in Business Society at the Grand Connaught Hall, which is in central London, just 5 minutes away from campus. It was an event in collaboration with the Women in Law Society, so we had panels for finance, consultancy, law, entrepreneurship, with women leaders in their fields. These panellists gave amazing advice and were extremely encouraging. I felt so empowered and that’s why I am writing this blog. I am so grateful that the LSE is such a diverse environment that allows people regardless of their backgrounds to be able to make good use of opportunities.

Of course, there can always be improvements and that is going to take time. Diversity is frequently discussed, and I think many of us realise it is a very important issue, but it is only now with my very own experience at LSE that I am realising what a huge difference it makes which has allowed me to achieve my goals, and I am very grateful for that.