LSE for a state educated Yorkshire girl?

[EhUp]

DD17 is currently exploring options ready for university applications later this year

Her current favourite is LSE to study History & Economics (she is also considering Edinburgh, Manchester, York & Liverpool amongst others)

Putting aside the finances which would definitely be a challenge, I am worried that LSE will have a high number of students from very wealthy backgrounds and DD may find it harder to find 'her people'. Ultimately, she will choose (plus there is the small matter of being given an offer and getting the required grades!) but I would be interested in hearing experiences from non public school Mumsnetters (or their DC) who are currently or have been to LSE

DH & I are both graduate healthcare professionals so we are more MC than WC but we live in a very down to earth and semi-rural area of Yorkshire and are the opposite of protentious!

You find your people at any university. I went to a red brick whilst coming from a working class background.

A number of my friends went to LSE and they lived at home (we're Londoners). I don't think it has more very wealthy students than Kings/UCL/Imperial. London does/did have a lot of international students who can be very wealthy.

London is a huge place and I think she'll find her tribe. It's also very common for students to work p/t so differences in income are hidden IYSWIM.

Sounds like you're setting her up for life with a chip on her shoulder! Why shouldn't she fit in anywhere?

@katy1213 I promise you I absolutely haven't said anything negative to DD during discussions we have had and will champion whatever choice she makes!

All Russell Group unis, and plenty of others, will have plenty of students from richer backgrounds. Why do assume none of these will be your daughter's 'people'? Are you trying to teach her that she can't mix outside her socio-economic class? Trying to store up as much culture shock as possible for her professional life?

University is about meeting and mixing with new people from a range of backgrounds and exchanging ideas and experiences. It's about unlearning inherited prejudices and working out how to navigate as an adult in a professional and social setting. Why would you want to narrow her horizons?

I think you are making too much of this.

Think of it this way. She's bright and ambitious. Where better to find her tribe?

My DD is starting at LSE this September (grades permitting 😬)
We are middle class ish. Whatever that means. We are not 'wealthy'. My DD has mentioned that on all the group chats she's been added too with other students that everyone is 'so rich'. But I don't know if what she sees is what I would see. She's always going on about other people having more than her. But in reality I think she has more than a lot of kids her age. She's naturally attracted to well off people and has expensive tastes ... I think she'll fit right in 😂😂 (she seems to think in normal years there is high percentage of foreign students there)

@Palavah where in my OP have I said that I am discouraging DD from expanding her horizons?

From the replies so far it appears I am worrying unnecessarily (and I can assure these are internal worries and I haven't voiced them to DD).

I'm not sure where I have got the idea that LSE is full of the super rich!? Bizarrely I don't have the same preconceptions about Oxford or Cambridge so I am grateful to have been corrected!

I don't know where you got the idea that LSE is posh. It's a very respected institution so I think the issue with it will be that there are usually a lot of foreign students there. Plus going to university in London in my view, you don't get a great student experience. London is expensive, particularly housing, transport, bars and cafes and home students can be housed at great distance from their colleges - meaning there are less student areas where lots of students are sharing the same community experience.

I'd say more upper class students go to Oxbridge, Durham, St Andrews and Exeter.

But your daughter will find her people anywhere for sure.

University is about meeting and mixing with new people from a range of backgrounds and exchanging ideas and experiences. It's about unlearning inherited prejudices and working out how to navigate as an adult in a professional and social setting.

MNHQ should have this at the top of every Higher Education thread.

I think it's easy to assume that any London university institution must be full of impossibly wealthy foreign students (given the astonishing fees they have to pay) - but in reality a fair proportion must be supported partly through scholarships and loans and partly through relentless paid work.

Why are you even worrying about it unless you have an innate feeling your dd isn't as good as students from better off backgrounds. Why are you trying to limit her aspirations.

DH was from a lower middle class family in Yorkshire. He went to Oxford. His mother frequently has the chippy whinge of "cruises aren't for people like us", "racing isn't for people like us". DH moved on. His sisters didn't despite going to good uni's. They turned into socially inadequate, chippy whingers who aren't lucky like DH.

Get over yourself OP and let your dd spread her wings. Best things you coukd do for her is make sure she knows what to do with a knife and fork and make sure her teeth are perfect. Those things matter. MIL didn't think so. DH paid for his teeth after his pupillage; I taught him table manners and had to boost his inner confidence. Nobody did it for his sisters so they never optimised. No point going to uni if families minimise opportunity and aspiration.

Like all universities LSE works hard on outreach programmes aimed at encouraging applications from deprived students. LSE is very popular with wealthy international students (perhaps less so this year with Covid) but it also attracts students from backgrounds who would see your daughter as one of the wealthy. Students who grew up on some of London's extremely deprived social housing estates

People are mixed. The diversity of income background, nationality, opinions, and more, will exposure her to a variety of experiences. It's part of life's education. She'll find her people. It won't necessarily be based on income background but instead on shared interests or views. Sometimes people feel tempted to stick rigidly to what they know but once they open their minds they'll discover everybody is an individual. It's truly does broaden your mind.

@OhtheRoses you seem to have made a huge step from my OP, which was ultimately just asking for reassurance and to hear positive experiences from others to deciding that I'm a 'chippy whinger' (whatever that even means! ) just like your MIL

I obviously want the best for my DD and will be fully supportive of whatever route she takes in life

I work at LSE. We do have a very large proportion of wealthy overseas students - mainly because we are mainly postgrad. Pretty much every student working in the Library has their own MacBook. It’s not the best undergrad experience - the saying is that it is great to have been at LSE, not to be there. We do poorly in the NSS though this is improving. Also a large proportion of the students are aiming at city careers. That said, we do have a strong widening participation programme and the wealthy aren’t the only students. And she would find her tribe. The biggest complaint in the NSS is the lack of community, though. The education is great, but I think there are better places for the undergrad experience. And I enjoy working there!

Op, as a comprehensive educated girl who went to a private school dominated Oxford college, hated it and left, I don't think you're half as unreasonable as some of the pps here are suggesting. It's sensible to consider the culture of whatever institution your daughter goes to.

I only know a little about LSE, (DM did her PhD there) but I get the impression it's more mature and international students, rather than privately educated Brits. Not necessarily a bad thing, but something for your daughter to back aware of.

*be aware of

@ehup direct quote from your opening post "I am worried that LSE will have a high number of wealthier students and she will find it hard to find her people". To me that implies insecurity and chippiness and that there is something wrong with students from wealthier backgrounds.

DS did a Masters there. He is one of those wealthier students you imply she wouldn't be prepared to mix with or would be prepared to mix with her. I find your attitude offensive. She'd be lucky to go and ought to be grateful for the experience - at any university. I don't think she'd find Edinburgh much different but it would at least be cheaper for you. Providing of course you could bear her to mix with the Scottish students who don't have a student loan system.

Let her get on with it, spread her wings and fly.

One of the reasons why DD initially discounted London universities was the fact that the bulk of her cash would go on accommodation & travel, leaving little leftover to pay London prices for socialising. She was also concerned about meeting people if they were in London student accommodation rather than college specific accommodation.

The general impression in her 6th form was that you would struggle if you were completely dependent on a student loan and that London colleges were full of Londoners who could live at home or wealthy overseas students. I'm only aware on one person in her friendship group who applied to London Colleges and holds a firm offer with one.

We live in the bottom half of the country, but I think it's a fairly common assumption OP if you live outside London.

@OhtheRoses Not much point defending myself since you've clearly decided I'm the Queen of chippiness!

If you see my other replies I have clarified that I absolutely haven't voiced my inner concerns to DD and will not be attempting to influence her in any particular direction

If my biggest crime is worrying that DD (who would need to work if she was studying in London and wouldn't have a huge amount to live on even then due to the high accommodation costs) might have an inferior experience in London to the one she might have in pretty much any other UK city then I am guilty as charged but please stop will all the bullshit assumptions about my values and prejudices

@OntheRoses

If your son is anything like you then I understand why the OP is worried about LSE. It seems you are the one with the chip on your shoulder. You get ‘offended’ very easily.

@cinnamonbuns just looked, can't see it.

Why would it matter where your daughter is from?

As a Londoner myself I just think its not a great place to study for the student experience. I've always thought northern cities are much better value - accommodation costs, transport and costs of living. (My DD is in Manchester and she loves it - she loves the city vibe, clubbing, bars etc and I think its important for her not to be too southern centric and not to know anything about other parts of the country).

But if I were you I'd also explore what your daughter wants from her college experience. So my DD wanted a city experience as she's a city girl and was going to uni at 19 having done a years foundation in London. My DS is a little less city focused, he's a bit less mature and so he's chosen a campus university which I think will be a softer landing for him. He's gone for Sussex which is a lovely campus.

So consider the course, the environment and how they want to live. Watch the campus tour videos and get a feel for what your daughter likes. At any university there will be a huge mix of people from a range of backgrounds so thats not the issue to focus on.

Apart from the expense, one of the issues with London unis is that students tend to be spread out in terms of where they live (even when in halls) so it’s different to other cities which often have one area that students gravitate to. So it’s a different experience (but not necessarily in a negative way).

LSE is definitely somewhere my youngest will consider but his older siblings did not want a London uni & he may agree - mainly because we live too near & they wanted to try somewhere different.