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Program Dates and Courses

Dates: 30 September 2019 - 19 June 2020

Application Date: March 2019

Choosing Courses

General Course students take four full-unit courses (or the equivalent in half-unit courses), and may pick and choose these from across 300+ options in 18 academic disciplines including Accounting, Anthropology, Economic History, Economics, Finance, Geography and Environment, Government, International History, International Relations, Language Centre, Law, Management, Mathematics, Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, Social Policy, Social Psychology, Sociology and Statistics.
General Course students are assigned to one of the 16 academic departments that offer undergraduate degrees, and are notified of their assignment in late August or early September. This will act as your “home” department during your time at the School, and your academic adviser will be based in this department.
You will have chosen at least one course offered by the department to which you are assigned (two for the Department of Economics). Please note that your departmental assignment need not restrict your course options: you may take any combination of undergraduate courses offered by any department at the School, with just one from your home department (two from the Department of Economics).

Entry Requirements

1. Applicants should usually have completed at least two years of study at an overseas university by the time they begin studying at the School.
2. Applicants, who are studying towards a bachelor's degree, should have an overall mark of at least 85 or GPA 3.3 (90 or GPA3.5 preferred)
3. English Level：IELTS 7.0 with a score of 7.0 in all four components；or TOEFL 107 with a minimum of 25 in each of the four components
4. Applicants should provide a personal statement, a university transcript as well as the contact details of two academic referees.
5. Pass USIEA’s interview and LSE’s academic review

Accommodation

All the residences are located in central London, offering great convenience to students in their daily commuting. Here are some very popular apartments:

Bankside House is located in the historic borough of Southwark on the Thames’ South Bank. A walk along the river will take you to the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern and the South Bank Arts Centre, as well as the famous Borough Market.

High Holborn is situated just over ten minutes’ walk away from LSE campus, near the fashionable areas of Covent Garden and Soho. The main shopping district of Oxford Street is moments away, as are many of the capital’s major landmarks.

Rosebery Hall is located in Islington, near Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Barbican arts centre with Clerkenwell's trendy bars and restaurants situated nearby.

The room type, price and facilities vary in different residences, but overall they all have a full array of amenities and are within a reasonable distance from the campus.

 

 I chose the General Course because I wanted a rigorous education.  Three Smith students who had gone to LSE the year before raved about their experience, and being in London sounded like a dream.

What I enjoy most about LSE is the effort it puts into “understanding the causes of things” (LSE’s motto), demonstrated by the incredible group of professors, the inspiring lecturers, and the speakers that come to campus. A good reflection of LSE’s great academic practice is LSE LIFE – a program dedicated to helping students be the best they can be that I have found to be exceptionally useful.

LSE and General Course students are particularly good at balancing academic work with enjoying life and the city. I tend to study during the day and then get dinner or see entertainment with friends during the evenings and weekends, so I am able to maintain social ties and have fun, while I am knee-deep in reading!

The benefit of a full year abroad is congruent with the time devoted to it - the longer you stick with it, the more you get out of it, the more you understand it, and the more you reap its benefits. Spending a year at LSE means you get to build meaningful relationships with fellow students, and have time to explore London, the UK and Europe. 

Latifa Al-Mohdar / Smith College, Northampton, USA / General Course Class of 2017