Preparing to study at LSE (London School of Economics)

By Pankhuri Tandon

Securing an admission at the London School of Economics and Political Science is a matter of both good performance and good timing. The application for MSc. Economics requires the following:

1.        GRE
2.        2 academic recommendations
3.        Marks
4.        Statement of Purpose
5.       Resume’

1.  GRE: The Msc. Economics programme of LSE requires its applicants to submit a GRE score. This GRE score should not be more than 5 years old. The MSc. Economics program at LSE gives more importance to your score in the Quantitative section of GRE than your score in its Verbal Section and Analytical Writing Section. LSE has explicitly mentioned that for securing admission into the one-year Msc. Economics program, the applicant should score above 160(out of 170) in the quantitative section. For the two-year MSc. Economics program, they require a score above 163 in the quantitative section. So make sure you manage to cross this ‘cut-off’ in the quant section of GRE.

 You should aim to give GRE before October. This is for 2 reasons:

a)      The quicker you give GRE, the faster you complete your LSE application. You should aim to finish your LSE application before the first week of January (I shall explain reasons for this later in this article). Note that you receive your official GRE score 15-30 days after the date you have given your exam.

b)      If you are not satisfied with your GRE score, you can give the exam again, but only 21 days after your current exam date. So make sure you keep that margin.

Also, it is important that you have your passport made before you give GRE, as the exam centre only accepts the passport as a valid ID proof.

2. Recommendations: You need to have two recommendations from the teachers who have taught you in college. You do not need to send the recommendation letters in your application; you just need to provide the name and email addresses of the teachers who will write recommendations for you, and LSE will contact them itself. Still, you need to ask the teachers for a reference as soon as you start with your LSE application, because they take time in writing them. Teachers have a lot of preoccupations already, and as the month of December begins, more and more students start with their application and come to ask them for recommendations. The only thing that delayed my application till mid-January was a recommendation that was not sent by my referee. Make sure you keep reminding them to write for you!

3. Marks: Marks in your undergraduate course is the most important criteria for selection at LSE. For MSc. Economics, LSE requires you to score at least 70% (aggregate till the final year) in your undergraduate course. Moreover, LSE gives a lot of importance to your score in maths, statistics and econometrics at your undergraduate level.

4. Statement of purpose (SoP): Although your marks and references are given the highest importance in you LSE application, statement of purpose is an essay (1000-1500 words long) through which the admissions committee analyse your thinking, and your suitability for pursuing the course. A SoP should clearly articulate why you want to pursue the course in that institute(why particularly in that institute?) , and why you have the right aptitude for the course. For this, not only do you need to describe the abilities you have that will help you in the course, but also show that your thoughts and views are consistent with what you are going to study in the course. Make sure your SoP doesn’t look like your CV in prose. It should explain how the things you did till now were with a purpose of helping you in what you are going to do now (the postgraduate course), and how the course you are going to do now will help you in your ultimate goal of the future.

Deadlines to be followed

Although there is no deadline for applying to MSc. Economics at LSE, the seats get filled quickly. Also, most scholarships require you to have an admission offer before you can apply to them. Typically, the deadline for the scholarships is in the period of February-April. So try to obtain the admission offer by January-February. Moreover, LSE usually takes 8 weeks to process your application, so it is best to send your complete application (including recommendations) by December.

Scholarships

The most well-known scholarships are Inlaks Scholarship and Commonwealth Scholarship. LSE also provides scholarships, under its Graduate Support Scheme. Moreover, this year LSE has announced 50 new scholarships for Indian students! :D  There are also organisations like J.N. Tata Endowment and Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation that offer loans at nil or low rates of interest. I advise that you should try to obtain funds from as many sources as possible rather than concentrating your energy on just one fully-funded-scholarship. There are many small scholarships that just escape our attention. Make sure you keep checking regularly in newspapers and online about any new scholarships.

Each scholarship application requires as much effort as one application for admission into a university. Most scholarship applications need a statement of purpose and recommendations (2-3). Note that you can get a recommendation from a teacher only a limited number of times (usually 4), so make sure you manage your ‘profile of recommendations’ from different teachers well. Many scholarships ask you to describe how you will arrange your funds for pursuing the course abroad. My sincere advice is: please describe it as honestly as possible. Trust me, being honest will increase your chances of getting that scholarship.

(Pankhuri Tandon graduated from St. Stephen's College in 2013 and is currently pursuing Economics at London School of Economics. If you have any queries regarding LSE applications, you can leave a comment below)

Cracking GRE

By Shruti Lakhtakia

The Graduate Record Examination is required by most universities in the UK and the US as a part of the application material. A note for those who are pursuing finance based courses - the GMAT is sometimes allowed in place of the GRE, make sure you check the requirements of the particular course and university you are applying to.

Ideally, you should plan to study for an optimum six-eight weeks before taking your GRE. The test itself consists of three sections - Analytical Writing, Verbal and Quantitative. It is a good idea to begin by taking a diagnostic test (available in most books) that will give you an idea of where you stand. My recommendation would be to begin with a general book (Princeton Review, The GRE Official Guide by ETS, or Barrons), which clearly lay out the entire test - its structure, the kind of questions, and basic concepts used in each section. After doing one or more of these books, you could begin to go through questions in the Princeton Review book of 1000 Questions, which has several drills arranged topic-wise. Simultaneously, you should begin to work on specific sections that you are having difficulty with. Some people find the Verbal section difficult to deal with, others the Quantitative section. Depending on what your relative strength and weakness is, look for a book that is specifically directed at your problem area (published by Kaplan, or Barrons).

The more practice tests you do, the better it is. I believe that the GRE is more a test of how you manage your time and how well you work under pressure, than anything else. Start practice tests (I recommend online tests, but begin with the basics - use the tests given in the books first) when you have about three weeks to go for the exam. But then again, time it well so that you have sufficient time to practice - so if you have an important event or test in college, plan accordingly. Another important tip would be to remain consistent with all your sections, primarily Verbal and Quant. Even if you are super confident about being able to tackle one section, do not neglect it completely. Being in practice close to the exam is important.

Improving your vocabulary is an important part of the GRE process, so start early. The more you read, the better your vocab will get. If you don't have sufficient time, then look for an appropriate word list on the internet (I used the Barrons word list), and work through it systematically. Be sure you know the words that turn up frequently on the GRE - these are the words you see all the time on practice questions: you know you've seen them before, but can't remember what they mean.

Lastly, as I said before, time management is the key. Start early. Plan for the test keeping in mind all other engagements and activities that you will be undertaking simultaneously. The GRE is not tough. It is tricky in that you must be crystal clear with concepts, and you must manage your time wisely - both before, and during the test. Good luck!


Shruti Lakhtakia graduated from St. Stephen's College in 2013. She scored 334/340 in her GRE exam. She is currently pursuing Masters in Development Economics from Oxford.