Panicking now re LSE no news

[MiddleOfThePack]

My son applied in October and still hasn't had any 'email with an application ID'? He has emailed and had no response. He's now filling in a contact form and planning to phone tomorrow. Should he have heard something more concrete by now?

They asked him to send a questionnaire back which he's done, but that was a while ago now.

Thanks for asking @Notagardener, he has an AAA offer from Oxford and ABB from York, he's not confident he'll make the grades for Oxford since the assessment process has been such a mess, and he's not sure he wants to go there anyway. He does like York, but Edinburgh is the one he seems to have fallen in love with. LSE is a bit more of an unknown quantity but he'd love to live in London!

It's so damn stressful isn't it, I haven't been this anxious since I was waiting for my own A Level results. Especially with the coronavirus craziness, the poor kids haven't known which way was up

sadpapercourtisan, yes all very uncertain times.
For Edinburgh the requirements for dc's course were higher than LSE (and Oxford)! But both Edinburgh and York are nice, even though quite different.

Congratulations. LSE places seem hard to come by this year.

Bath and LSE are two completely different Universities, with two very different student experiences. It will depend on what appeals to him more. We had barely pulled into the car park before London raised DS decided Bath was not for him. An opposite view is equally valid. Both seem to generate good employment prospects.

In terms of accommodation, LSE guarantees accommodation to all.first years. I don't think applying late makes much difference. DS did not get his accommodation offer till August, but then we live within walking distance so he would not have been high priority. There is quite a variety of accommodation available, from Passfield, which may still have shared rooms, through the well-located intercollegiate halls to some fairly swanky new ones. Plus, obviously, a plethor of private halls. The student body is equally diverse so there is something for everyone. Also as people drop out or fail to make their grades it is quite possible that rooms in more popular halls come up.

My advice is he is looking for somewhere central would be the older LSE halls: Rosebery, Carr Saunders, and Passfield and then the Intercollegiates and other LSE halls dependingon your price preferences. The Garden Halls were recently done up and so may be more expensive, whilst International, whilst close to LSE, is huge. DS was there and did not meet anyone but was able to play an active role in LSE societies so met people there.

I think the shared rooms are popular as they are cheap and there are not many of them, so no danger of being forced into one. (And they may not exist any more. DS is now onto his PhD first year is a bit of a distant memory.)

Many London based students live in halls for their first year. Quite a lot of these may drift back home in their second or third years when work pressure builds and a free room at home starts to look like a better alternative than a shared flat. DS shared an ex Council flat in Holborn in his second and third years but in his third year someone new moved in and the dynamic changed and his original friends decided to go, so he was happy to be home in his Masters year. Coming home after living away is quite different. (We have the same with DD whose course has been entirely on line this year.) Neither parents nor DC wanted to slip back into parent/child habits and there is something quite nice about spending time with the young adults they have become.

One advantage LSE has is that it is open a lot. The library is 24 hours, a lot happens on campus in the evenings, and because of the international students, it is busy during vacations. Where you live is then less important.

I am an LSE (and Passfield) grad so one Sunday I drove DS round to look at the outside of the halls. The halls are in pretty good locations and being a student is a pretty unique chance to live in Central London.

LSE guarantees accommodation for all 1st years. DD is in a shared room and she could have stated who she wanted to share with, but chose to allocated roommates by LSE. She has shared with a 3rd year home student and a 1st year EU student. They got on brilliantly and loved sharing. However, DD and the other UK student did not return in the Lent term due to lockdown. So her EU roommate had an enormous triple room to herself but could not return home over Easter due to essential travel restrictions. Her hall usually rent out rooms to tourists in the holidays.

LSE are having lectures online (and blended classes) in September. With 70% of the student body coming from overseas, many will not be taking up their rooms and studying remotely. The UK may be getting back to normal but South American students and South Asian students may not be able to travel.

It's good to hear about LSE accommodation as DS may insure it. The 70% international student body has always concerned me as I don't think they necessarily mix with students from UK or even Europe......... however for this reason I don't think it will make that much difference socially if they are not able to travel .

LSE have stated they will do face to face tutorials though @Oldowl ?

Has your DD met anyone in her course or at LSE who are not her roommates?

Chopc, international students are pretty diverse. Plenty make friends, some don’t. Curiously it was the French who had the reputation for being the most cliquey.

If your DC is comfortable mixing with people from different backgrounds, there will be plenty forum different backgrounds happy to mix with your DC. It is one of LSEs real strengths.

Yeah my DC lived abroad for several years and can confidently mix with people of any nationality

I have the impression of LSE that it is pretty much each to their own and there is no camaraderie....... but will be pleased if this is not the case

I have said in other threads - the non academic aspects of university life is just as important to me as the academic aspects . DS is bright and driven and will do well. But university is so much more than just getting a degree

@Needmoresleep

Chopc, international students are pretty diverse. Plenty make friends, some don’t. Curiously it was the French who had the reputation for being the most cliquey.

If your DC is comfortable mixing with people from different backgrounds, there will be plenty forum different backgrounds happy to mix with your DC. It is one of LSEs real strengths.

You probably mean that plenty [international students] make friends with others from different nationalities, rather than suggesting some don't make friends at all? I'm sure the latter demographic exists but it's hopefully rare.

What you say about French students is ...odd. They are only 2.7% of LSE's total student population, too small to be noticeable no? Perhaps they were cliquey because they were such a minority! Unwise to make comments like this without making it clear whether you're basing it on a study or personal experience of your DC or even yourself. Any personal experience is at risk of being biased. Maybe the reason why your DS noticed the tiny percentage of French students being cliquey that may have been more to do with him than them. Just a thought.

Being concerned about the unusually high percentage of international students at a university is a legitimate concern. Those students from the same nationality being cliquey is also legitimate, of course when in a foreign country you're likely to bond faster with those who are also new to the country and who speak the same language as you. 30% of LSE students are from Asia, obviously there will be a range of languages spoken within that group but that still means that many of them will speak the same as each other. It's perfectly natural they'd gravitate towards each other.

I'm not sure what you mean by "if your DC is comfortable mixing with people from different backgrounds" either. How much experience will most 18 year old British-born-and-raised DC genuinely have at that? Most statistically will have gone to school with a majority who were from the same area, likely to be a similar eco-social class, and who were born in Britain.

When I attended UCL a couple of decades ago there wasn't much mixing between people of different demographics. I was hoping it had changed but as per my friend who has nephew and nieces attend UCL in more recent years, apparently not.

I know what needsmoresleep meant by people being comfortable mixing with others eg at DC school, most boarders are from HK and students are widely travelled. So these DC would feel more comfortable mixing with people who are different to them.

However I can totally understand that a British born DC who has lived in a non cosmopolitan area their whole life and who has not travelled abroad, may find it difficult to mix or not feel so comfortable doing so

I knew what @needsmoresleep meant too, I was giving her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't being elitist by asking her an open question

She was essentially saying that if if you've gone to an independent school, preferably a boarding one, you're likely to be fine because you'll have mixed with people from other nationalities. That does nothing to dispel the stereotype of LSE as being full of international and public school students...

There's a snobbiness in your post too tbh. I'd argue that I'm not sure how comfortable these DC you talk about really would feel comfortable mixing with people who are different to them if that difference was a different a socio-economic group and class I say this as someone who went to private school. What you meant was a different nationality from them, which of course could include a different culture too. But the values held would likely be similar.

Of course those who went to independent [boarding] schools with a large percentage of Chinese students are going to feel more comfortable going to LSE. That's a minus for LSE in my book. But I can see how for Needmoresleep it was a plus.

I don't mind if you perceived my post as coming across as snobbish - I said it as it was. I am from an ethnic minority group and not British born. My experience of being a student in UCL was that people of different demographics - whether it's colour or nationality, didn't really mix. I am less aware of the different socio economic groups not mixing. When I was a student, people came from different backgrounds and had different spending capacities and it didn't make a difference so if there were issues between mixing, I was not aware of them . For what it's worth I also didn't go to a private school but didn't feel inferior to those who did.

For what it's worth I also didn't go to a private school but didn't feel inferior to those who did.

Also? I said above I did go to private school.

Class and different socio-economic groups are major, major reasons why certain people don't mix. Speaking generically, not about universities specifically, at universities there's usually more mixing.

To put difference down to just ethnicity and nationality would be very narrow-minded, there's class, politics, sexual identity, wealth (or lack of), upbringing, religion, disability, etc.

I am pleased my DD2 made good Chinese and Singaporean friends whilst at LCF. Probably because they collaborated together on work and this fostered friendship. However, after their degree, they went home.

My DD1 at another university (not in London) did notice international students dividing into their cultural groups. It’s natural to do that and even at school the Nigerian and Chinese girls didn’t all mix with everyone (some did) and the Saudi girls didn’t mix with the Jewish girls. They respected each other but friendships were a step too far.

I think friends at university can end up being a loose grouping if large numbers are international. You get along with people but lasting friendships may not occur when grads spread out all over the world after university. If they stay here and everyone makes an effort to keep in touch, it’s easier to keep friendships going. But you cannot make people leave their cultural groups if they feel “safe” in them.

Yes I saw that you did go to private school. I was referring to my experience - perhaps should have worded it - in addition I didn't go to private school

I think some people notice differences between people more than others ..........

Perhaps some people do notice differences more than others. I’m glad of those that do notice in a constructive way: noticing, understanding, accepting and - if necessary - accommodating for those differences leads to a fairer society.

All qualities which are usually encouraged at most state schools with non-cosmopolitan children. I’m sure any such children who find themselves at LSE would be comfortable mixing with international students. Whether they’d want to mix with such a majority of international rather than home students however is a valid question.

I didn’t see what Elkerica wrote, wow what a quick deletion!

Technically DS’ course was 33% British, one of whom, at least, was ethnic minority. However two others were British raised east Europeans. Then three Singaporeans, two Hong Kongers and an Australian. They got on very well. DS was the only one of the British educated students to have been to a private school, and at least two others were first generation University. By Masters DS was the only Brit out of 39, though the mix was greater and included north and South Americans, a good mix of Europeans, a south Asian raised and educated in the Gulf, some of his BSc coursemates and more. Again it was a pretty social group.

(Actually when I was at LSE I was the only Brit out of about 20 on my undergraduate course. I had friends from all over. As I suggested above, I think it is one of LSEs strengths.)

LSE attracts quite a lot of British ethnic minorities, so DS’s Chinese friends included one whose parents ran a take away in a Welsh village, a second from NW London, a third who had been to Winchester, another who had attended an international school in a third country, and a fourth whose parents were academics in mainland China. The Chinese diaspora is pretty diverse.

And no, I was not being elitist. I hope not. My experience is that people have different comfort zones, or perhaps curiosity. I have worked abroad, speak five languages, including an Asian one and still have a number of friends from those times. However, and inevitably, I knew other expats who barely set for outside the expat bubble. Not elitist, just people who were more comfortable with the known. The same applies to other groups, including, but not exclusively, the Chinese.

I did not know that the proportion of French was so small. It is quite an aspirational destination for would be banquiers. It was a bit of a throwaway comment. DS had friends round for a BBQ, a standard mixed LSE group, and they were agreeing that though they heard a lot of French in the corridors none of them knew anyone from France.

I’m not sure private school ever came into it. A fair number of international students went to international schools. Some had heaps of money, others were on ‘family scholarships’ where the extended family had clubbed together to find the money. I remember someone being amazed that I was friendly with one of his countrymen. Apparently my friend was from one of the very richest families in his country. I had not twigged. He threw some great parties...in his flat in Park Lane, and at one point the flat was a sort of spill-over dorm. He died young and his friends who I am in touch with, still miss him.

If DS finds himself working abroad he will probably find that he comes across LSE friends in quite unlikely places. For example a Danish friend in a meeting in Bangkok. Indeed access to LSE networks in different places was a real bonus, and a good way to meet locals.

A great place for some, but not everyone.

Maybe more to do with me, but after having spent many years in the UK, I still find I am struggling to "become friends" with "British" people, find them very clicky.
More likely to get together with non-British whether they are EU or further afield. As it happends most in my department are non-British...

LSE have stated they will do face to face tutorials though @Oldowl* ?

Has your DD met anyone in her course or at LSE who are not her roommates?*

I think September will be blended learning, so f2f classes with zoom allowing overseas or isolating students to participate and online lectures. DD's department has a uk field trip postponed from October going ahead this June.

DD knows quite a few people from her course and has met about 10 in person. She is still unsure how many are on her course! She speaks most days via facetime to people on her course but friendships are mainly with people on her hall corridor.

There is also a discussion to be had about what friendship actually means. Is it friendship for 3 years, or a lasting friendship well into adulthood? If the former it’s just getting dc through the course with an understanding there’s no lasting relationship afterwards as people go out all over the world. With fewer international students it’s easier to have longer lasting friendships. Just bumping into alumni abroad later on is not friendship. I also think some people are not bothered with friends. They plough their own furrow.

Percy, I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. What happened to your friends from University? Surely to some extent it is happenstance. DS is in the US so, pandemic allowing, has visited friends who are also in the US and they have visited him. I bumped into one old friend 20 years after we left only to discover she lived round the corner and had kids of the same age, ands we are still friends. International has nothing to do with it.

And yes, my Danish friend was super supportive of me in what was a potentially a difficult meeting. And we were both pleased to see each other.