It was a long journey. It took me six months from submission of my application in October 2020 to receiving an email from LSE in April 2021, outlining my conditional offer. This delay was due to the impact of COVID-19. Although the School sent me several emails thanking me for my patience, I honestly thought, at one point, that I wouldn’t be able to study at LSE. By March 2021, with two months left until graduating from high school, I started considering other universities which I’d already heard back from. I was that hopeless. My friends kept telling me to stay positive that I would receive an offer from LSE, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was being tortured, as all my hopes lay on LSE, my dream school.

Now two years later, I can laugh at myself as I tell others about my LSE admissions journey. However, I’m sure that those readers who are LSE applicants are going through what I experienced during the longest six months of my life. So here goes my tips on how to keep yourself motivated  as you anxiously wait for your application outcome.

Do not think about your application

I know, it seems ironic. You’ll be looking forward to receiving an email from UCAS Track, especially the one that begins with “UCAS Application Status Notification”. But here’s the truth: once you have submitted your application to your university choices, you’re done with it. It’s completely out of your hands. There is no point spending time worrying about your application results. Whether it be good news or unfortunate news, that’s that. You don’t have control over it, and it’s not the end of the world either. Rather, I’d strongly advise you to focus on what you have control over. A prime example is your IB or A-level results. A majority of UK universities will send out conditional offers, which are highly dependent on your final exam results. Even if you get an offer from LSE, you won’t be, unfortunately, part of LSE if you don’t meet the conditions. On the flip side, if you can achieve high marks on your final exam, you can still re-apply in the next admissions cycle even if you don’t end up getting in this time.

Dealing with other students’ admissions results

This is a huge piece of advice that I wish I had received when I was in high school. Some of your schoolmates might hear back earlier on their applications than others. For instance, if you’re attending an international school, your friends will probably receive their Early Decision results by December of the previous year if they applied to a US university – way earlier than the UCAS application deadline at the end of January. Congratulate those who received an offer earlier than you; they also did their best. However, it is important not to compare yourself with them. If talking about application results with others causes you stress, wait until you have heard back from all the universities you have applied to. Then, you’ll be able to discuss the topic more comfortably. In a similar vein, if you have heard back from universities earlier than your schoolmates, respect those who are still waiting for their results in anxiety. University should not be the end goal of your life. If life is a bus tour, university is only one of the stops that you will pass by on your way to a bigger destination. In the meantime, try to craft lifelong memories with your high school friends as much as you can – it might be more difficult to do so once you study at different universities.