LSE - Small Logo
LSE - Small Logo

Anne Lieber

April 18th, 2022

So, you got into an LSE master’s. Now what?

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Anne Lieber

April 18th, 2022

So, you got into an LSE master’s. Now what?

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

If you are reading this, I’m assuming you got your LSE acceptance and am wondering, “now what?” First of all, congrats! Secondly, if you are wondering what to do now, I hope the following tips will help guide you. In April 2021, I got my offer to study a Master of Public Administration at LSE. To be frank, as I was in public when I first saw the email, I’m surprised the girl in the car squeeing (aka me) didn’t get some funny looks from everyone else making a pre-work coffee run. While I knew LSE was my dream program, I didn’t accept my offer right away. With nearly an entire term under my belt, here are steps I recommend before you accept your LSE offer.

1. Talk to current students and (recent) alumni

Alumni Centre at LSE

One of the first things I did once I got my offer was reach out to current students and alumni of my program. Luckily for me, LSE had published a few years worth of MPA alumni CVs, and between those webpages and LinkedIn, I was all set. I specifically reached out to North Americans who did the specialties I was interested in, as I felt they could give me the most helpful view of the transition across the pond. These discussions gave me a great idea of what to expect from the program, including academics, living in London, and what I could expect from my cohort and LSE more generally, and helped calm several of my concerns, along with some great tips about how to best take advantage of my two years here.

2. Make a spreadsheet

Spreadsheets, spreadsheets, spreadsheets. When I was applying to grad school, one of the first things I did was make a spreadsheet of the schools I was interested in, their location, their cost, the class size and length of the programs, and any courses, specialties, and extracurriculars that stood out to me. This helped me get my thoughts in order and more easily compare the pros and cons of each. So, if you haven’t already, get all your thoughts and options down on paper.

3. Look at required courses

One of the reasons I wanted LSE over other schools was that I knew it would give me a solid quantitative foundation in statistics and economics, two subjects I regretted not digging into more during uni. Checking out required courses to be especially important for LSE, as there are three year-long courses all first year MPA’s have to take (unless they test out of economics, in which case it gets knocked down to two). Knowing what courses would dominate my first year helped me get a feel for what it would be like. I also found a lot of comfort knowing my entire cohort would be going through many of the same things I was.

4. Check out option courses

In uni, I frequently found myself agonizing over which electives to take, much to my friends’, roommates’, and family’s irritation. I found the smaller pool of courses to be very helpful, as while they sounded interesting, I would not go down the same rabbit hole I went down during course selection time each semester in my undergrad years. Overall, I found LSE’s program was not quite as geared towards non-profit, NGO, and public sector work as the programs I applied to in the U.S., which I was really happy with. As someone who is a) interested in how the private sector can be used as a force for good, and b) already has two years of public sector experience under my belt, I was really excited I could gear my courses more towards what I want to do. The LSE MPA is really whatever you want to make of it.

5. Look at what alumni have gone on to do

Let’s be real, no one’s getting a master’s degree just for fun. The career is the name of the game here, and looking at what alum went on to do was really helpful to me. Between talking with alum and a zoom call with LSE’s MPA career counsellor, I got a better view of where my post-LSE future could lead me. The wide range of areas alum were working in showed me that an LSE degree can open up quite a few doors.

6. Talk to those who know you best

Throughout the time between getting in and choosing the accept option in LSE for You, I talked to my parents, sister, and closest friends about grad school. They helped assuage my fears, honestly point out what issues I might face in hopping the pond, and generally let me know if I was making the right decision (along with, in my friend’s case, calling dibs for London visits). At the end of the day, sometimes you just need an honest opinion.

About the author

Anne Lieber

Anne Lieber is a first year Master of Public Administration student at LSE. She is originally from the Washington, DC area.

Posted In: Applying: Masters | Student life | Study: Masters

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bad Behavior has blocked 2322 access attempts in the last 7 days.