Student review [#9897] for History and International Relations
at London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE

When applying to such a renowned institutions as LSE, people always highlight the stereotypes of LSE being an overly competitive university with rude, arrogant, and unfriendly people. While, yes it is true LSE is very competitive and the student body is very career driven and very determined; but to my surprise the people you met are actually extremely caring, helpful, and always willing to have a chat or grab a drink! The competitive aspect of LSE sometimes, a lot of the times, can be rather overwhelming I must say. When everyone is rushing so fast to fill out internship forms and going to interviews, you feel a bit lost— but then again, this super fast paced environment really encourages you to do research and find internships and experiences that suit your needs and encourage self- reflection about your career options! ____The academic level is very high at LSE, yet we do have very very very limited contact hours for the amount of money we are paying. It is usually one lecture ( 1 hour) and one class ( 1 hour) per each course each week. So there is a lot of content to cover in little time, so as you can imagine a lot is left to “independent studying” which basically means doing 50-80 pages readings and ‘teaching’ yourself a lot of the material! But LSE very much emphasizes independent studying which yes is good because it helps you with time management, nonetheless some times there isn’t enough time to do all the work set! ____LSE is in the heart of London, Holborn, yet it often feels like we are in the middle of a construction site, there are always construction noise distributing my classes or my study sessions in the library. The campus is filled with construction equipment. I completely understand that this is to expand the LSE campus to make it even more vibrant and dynamic, however it is definitely not the most appealing thing to walk around a middle of a construction zone to get to your next class.____But despite all these criticisms , I think LSE is a great institution where you will meet people from every corner of the world, and it will equip you with great tools, especially if you want to pursue a career in the politics/ economics environment!