How the London School of Economics is Failing its Students
Three years working at London’s top university and this is what I learnt
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is the highest-ranked university in London, and the 3rd highest in England, placing just below Cambridge and Oxford universities respectively. Furthermore, it is one of the most competitive universities in England to get into. In 2019, LSE received 21,000 undergraduate applications, for just 1,600 places. When I was hired back in 2018, I knew the statistics, but nothing prepared me for what it was really like in the cutthroat world of competitive university admissions.
The admissions system is unfair because it is subjective
Unlike the less competitive universities who base admission on grades alone, LSE base admission largely on the quality of the personal statement. Whilst grades are the first hurdle to overcome — if you don’t meet the grade requirements, then you’re out in the first round, it’s actually the personal statement that is often the final deciding factor as to who secures a place or not. Therefore, an applicant’s success comes down to whether the admissions selector reading the personal statement considers it better than thousands of others. Yes, whilst there are…
