One of the deciding factors for my application to LSE, aside from the consistently high global ranking of the Sociology department, was its history, its dedication to solving inequalities and societal ills – which I feel the school as a whole has lost this core value. Don’t get me wrong, the more left-leaning departments such as Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Policy, are led by academics who continue to champion activism and political engagement, and I am so thankful to be surrounded by some of these thinkers. But with all this red-tape being wrapped around student engagement and the decision for the university to stay out of the recent UCLU strikes, you’ll easily forget that the school has produced some of the most influential activists – take for example the Gay Liberation Movement led by a former Sociology student. So I feel that this school has a lot to offer in terms of the people you’ll have the opportunity to interact with, but a lot more action is necessary to facilitate the activist student environment you’d expect out of a politics school.