I noticed a little comment about LSE's take on the APs on the chat thing so I decided to pitch in here both to share my thoughts and to set the record straight. This is a matter that I've personally dealt with in the past and what I'll share will be useful if you're an NUS High student planning to apply to LSE in the near future.
For the uninitiated, I'll contextualize just a little bit: the London School of Economics (LSE) carries the status of an elite among social science institutions. I won't wax lyrical about its reputation because odds are, you've heard about it (my assuredness should clue you in). I'm more interested in telling you a little bit more about the institution that underlies the brand name and the global repute, facts that might be important in your evaluation of the school but which might slip by you if you're preoccupied with rankings and course choices and other 'typical' factors that you'll definitely have to consider before you apply.
The first of these things is that LSE is an incredibly hard institution to be accepted to. So far, NUS High has one alumna there and to the best of my knowledge, no one else (myself included) has been accepted. This is not to say that NUS High has no rapport with LSE (perhaps we do and perhaps we don't, for reasons to be evaluated in a bit) but that LSE is simply an incredibly selective school. In fact, for those of you interested in superlatives, LSE is the most selective undergraduate institution in the world (among those following a comprehensive selection process, thus excluding the uber-selective exam-based admission systems present in several Asian countries). Some of its courses, including one that I applied for have admissions rates in the range of 2-3%. This might not be new to those of you who've gotten used to the idea that reputated institutions are also highly-sought after but for those of you who're evaluating your chances, you should know that the likelihood of rejection is far greater than the possibility of acceptance.
Second, LSE is the most internationalized school in the world, with the student body split roughly in half between internationals and domestics. This is open to two interpretations. On a positive note, this means that you, as an international, will not stand the risk of being a marginalized minority or of being treated as an exotic species (not always a bad thing). This also means exposure to the people (and by extension, to sing a hackneyed tune, the culture, politics, blah blah) of every part of the world. However, not everyone flies halfway across the world and spends a small fortune looking for the same experience. Having an international community is important, but having too large an international community compromises the opportunity to experience assimilate another culture for several years. It's very plausible that at a school with as many internationals as LSE, you'll forget that you're at a British institution and consider yourself part of an international convention that just happened to convene in London for the sake of convenience, which might not exactly be your cup of tea. One of things that makes overseas study (and again, as an LSE reject, I'm speaking broadly) exciting for me is the opportunity to meet people to whom I'm an exotic species and where I'll actually be able to patiently explain that Singapore's not a part of China. Once again, it's a matter of personal preference, but the extent of internationalization will almost certainly affect your LSE experience, so it's a good idea to be aware of it before you think about applying.
The third thing you should know about LSE is a broader UK-wide thing which might be reason enough to turn down the UK altogether, but if like me, you're an aspiring social sciences student who just can't pass over trying for LSE, it's a structural issue to be considered. The reason why I never thought too deeply about the UK (in fact, I applied only to two schools there - LSE and UCL) was its structural rigidness. There's none of that mix-and-match academic freedom that characterizes college in the US which, if you know me, is a recipe for disaster especially since my serious academic interests include at least four or five subjects. Before you judge me, I must clarify that this doesn't make me whimsical or undecided (I am both of those things, but no logical link exists here); it only shows that I see the social sciences as an interconnected whole. My strongest interests are in economics and political science, but give it some thought and you'll see how my interests in history, international studies, sociology, philosophy and mathematics play strong supporting roles. But I digress. The point is this: the UK system, depending on your views of things, might be guilty of oversimplifying some these subjects, drawing boundaries where none should exist, and in a student who doesn't supplement his formal schoolwork with a broad-based worldview, this can result in a dangerous outcome. LSE, despite its preeminence, is a victim of the same problem. Attempts at merging subjects either in equal or in major/minor configurations are obviously signs that LSE is trying to rectify the problem, but the underlying rigidness of the UK system might prove unsuitable for the intellectually diverse student.
A fourth consideration should be about your plans after undergraduate school. To say 'consideration' would be a little bit of a mistake because of the versatility of LSE's graduates, which would make this more of a 'reason for relief'. For this reason, this important factor in institutional comparisons comes nearer the end of this post. LSE manages to strike that elusive balance between schools with careeristic (or pre-professional) focuses and institutions that are decidedly academic in character. To say it another way: LSE is one of the few schools that'll train you both to be an investment banker on the fast lane at a bulge bracket (LSE graduates are incredibly popular in London's financial district) or to be a scholar at the cutting-edge of economic policy (if the 'dismal science' really does have a 'cutting-edge' to speak of). It's easy to overlook how rare a characteristic such versatility is, especially in an age where schools are becoming known for producing certain sorts of students who will be channeled in truckloads into certain industries (Wharton grads into Wall Street, Caltech grads to Silicon Valley, Harvard grads into world-domination, and so on). Curiously enough, the flexibility that LSE (like any other UK school) lacks is made up for in kind when the time comes for its graduates to decide upon their career objectives.
Finally, I come to the bit that's relevant only to students at NUS High (here in Asia, we take care of our guests first). The brevity of this part will make my title misleading but this is important: in case you didn't already know, LSE does not accept the NUS High School Diploma at this point. My own interest in this began when I asked LSE's Dean of Undergraduates (when she visited) about how an NUS High kid would be selected for admission. She said, in no uncertain terms (in fact, I made her repeat it thrice) that the NUSHS Diploma would not be part of the admissions process. It would be a lie to say I was stunned - surprise surprise, a school of economics and political science chooses not to embrace a qualification focused on mathematics and science - but I was understandably elated (this would make a lot of sense if you knew what my earlier grade reports at NUSHS looked like). But the important fact is this: LSE considers NUS High students solely on the basis of APs. In LSE's own words:
Dear Srinath,
Thank you for your email. You are correct that LSE does not currently accept the NUS High School Diploma. If you are taking AP examinations we would base any offer of admission on your performance in these qualifications. Our standard offer is four or preferably five AP subjects with grades of four or five in each subject. We do not use SAT scores in our admissions process.
Best wishes
Peter
Peter Williams Student Recruitment Officer London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE
Peter's wishes evidently didn't help, but I must confess that I'm feeling a little self-satisfied when I think about everyone who was skeptical when I told them what the Dean had said. But before my smugness prevents me from finishing this post, the important takeaway is that LSE considers you on the strength of your APs.
Another important thing you should think about is your choice of which APs to take, bringing new relevance to Yingzhen's recent thoughts about this matter (which I may not fully agree with). The subjects LSE classifies as relevant are:
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
English Language and Composition
English Literature and Composition
European History
French Language
French Literature
German Language
Italian Language and Culture
Latin Literature
Latin: Vergil
Physics (B and C)
Spanish Language
Spanish Literature
United States History
World History
(from the LSE Undergraduate Admissions page)
These subjects were until recently (actually, as recently as when I was applying) known as Group 1 subjects and APs not on this list were Group 2, which didn't count among the standard offer based on 4-5 APs. Perhaps the one AP that you'd find 'missing' from this list is AP Statistics, which might be something to bear in mind. From my conversation with the Dean, I can also share that AP Calculus BC is given some importance, so if you have the option to take it, don't turn it down.
In summary, if you're considering applying to LSE you should know that: (1) it's really hard to get in (2) it's an extremely internationalized institution (3) its adoption of the UK system might stifle your intellectual breadth (4) your post-college plans couldn't be better, at least within the UK (5) if you're from NUSHS, they're looking at your APs, not your school grades. I hope some of this has been new and useful to you LSE-prospectives and wish you (for what it's worth) the best of luck.
There will be an exhibition with Imperial, King's College London, LSE and UCL on 7th and 8th March, 11am - 5pm at Conrad Centennial Singapore. Refer below for further info.
Well I know that UCL and Imperial are going to our school on Wednesday (which is tomorrow), but still if you are extremely interested in UCL you can let me know, this is because UCL will be giving all admits a talk on Thursday and we are allowed to bring guests, so if you are interested let me know and I will bring you along this Thursday. Drop me a mail (angyingzhen@gmail.com) or sms me.
This was the email I received, if you are wondering: --- Dear Prospective Students,
UCL Reception – Thursday 05 March 2009
Congratulations! According to our records you have received an offer to study at UCL. We are now writing to let you know that, continuing UCL’s strong links with Singapore, we will once again be holding an independent education exhibition with our London colleagues (Imperial College London, Kings College London and London School of Economics) under the “World Class Study in London” banner. The exhibition will be held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore between 11am and 5pm on 07 and 08 March 2009. Further details about the exhibition can be found in the attached flyer.
The UCL representatives at the exhibition will be Mrs Olga Thomas, Faculty and Departmental Tutor, Faculty of Laws, and Miss Penny Zorbas from the UCL International Office. We would be delighted to meet you and answer any queries that you may have about UCL and the degree programme for which you have applied.
Prior to the exhibition we shall be hosting a reception for UCL offer holders for this academic year, 2009/10. The reception, to which you and a guest are cordially invited, will be from 8pm on Thursday 05 March 2008 at The Arts House at the Old Parliament. The reception shall be hosted by Professor Derek Tocher, Pro Provost for East and South East Asia. The occasion will provide an opportunity for you to meet the parents of current UCL students, other prospective students, as well as representatives from UCL. We hope that some UCL alumni will also be able to attend. Directions to the The Arts House are included with this letter and parking is possible at The Parliament House for $2.06 after 5pm.
If you would like to attend the reception please complete the form and respond to this email by 25 February 2009. Also please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about the offer you are holding from UCL.
I hope I have the opportunity to meet with you at the exhibition and/or the reception next month. ---
This was the flyer they attached.
In addition there is an SMU open house as well on 7th and 8th March, from 10am - 6pm. You can go to this website for more info: http://www.smu.edu.sg/openhouse/2009/index.html.
Today's post will be about choice of schools. Many people often ask how do you choose your school? My answer is that first, decide on your country of study, then choose your school based on course and culture.
I am not too sure about Australia other than that their school term starts in February and that UniMel and Murdoch are good for vet science, but I will talk about US and UK and what made me decide to go to US.
US: - Broad based education (allows you to take a double degree) - Flexibility in choice (dabble in anything you want) - More holistic education - Good in psych!
UK: - Focused education (meaning if you know for e.g. you want to do only 1 degree and nothing else UK would be good) - More academic oriented - evident from their admission process - The UK culture has a certain allure to it, for me anyway but of course you have your opinions about it
The reason why it is easy for Singapore students to get into UK universities is because the norm for UK students is to take 3 A levels (and for the good ones get 3 As) but in Singapore it's 4 As for the good ones. However, for our school I guess the requirements are slightly different.
I will first talk about the admission process for UK and US unis before going to why choose 1 uni over others etc.
For UK unis, submission of any application is done through this portal, called UCAS. You can access it at www.ucas.com. Other than your particulars, you are also required to fill in your subject CAPs and any other relevant qualification. That would mean any APs, SAT scores if you want, even your HCl O levels would be helpful. Any employment history can be recorded as well, and then the personal statement and a referee's statement (which you will need - go find a teacher to write this for you). SATs should be filled in as much as possible because a good CR score (> 650) would exempt you from taking the TOEFL / IELTS which some schools require. Yes, you would notice you dont need to include your CCAs.
Of course, you choose the schools you want as well - under 2 schemes. The first scheme is that you only pick one school (and 1 course as well) and you pay less, the 2nd scheme is that you pick 5 schools (and 5 courses as well) and you pay slightly more. So it's either 1 or multiple (max 5). Regardless of which one you choose, only 1 of your choices can contain Cambridge/Oxford. Big universities like Cambridge/Oxford would require you to choose your college as well within the uni.
So my choices were something like this: 1. Cambridge, Natural Sciences, Homerton College 2. Imperial College, Chemistry 3. UCL, Chemistry 4. London School of Economics, Govt and Politics 5. UCL, Natural Sciences (this choice was added really late because I didnt know what I should put to use up my last choice)
Well I only needed 3 choices but since I was paying for 5 I thought I'd try my luck at LSE. If you dont know how to use up your choices yet, you can just fill a few first and fill up the rest of the choices later.
The moment you hit the send button on the UCAS form, the whole application goes to all of your choices simultaneously. Hence there is no way of modifying your personal statement to make it specific to each university you are applying to.
Your personal statement normally contains information about yourself, any achievements you want to highlight, why you want to study in the UK, and (very importantly) why that course. My personal statement was about why I liked chemistry, so little wonder I got rejected from LSE in the end - the 1st university that replied me. :P
Cambridge and Oxford have a supplement that is specific to them. I am not sure about Oxford - I am sure you can check it out - but for Cambridge, the supplement doesnt require any additional information you haven't already filled up other than your SAT score (if you didnt put it in UCAS) and a short essay on Why Cambridge.
Following that, the school may conduct interviews with you to determine your eligibility for them. They will make references to your personal statement and ask you questions about it. At this point I think I will post my profile for UCAS before I talk about my interview:
Qualification 1
Qualification type
SIPHSMSD (Singapore Integrated Programme High School Math and Science Diploma) Date taken
01-Sep-2008
Examining body
NUS Subject
Singapore-Integrated Programme-Nat Uni Singap Module details
Date: 01/09/08 Title: English Grade: 4.34 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Higher Chinese Grade: 4.23 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major in Biology Grade: 4.18 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major in Chemistry Grade: 4.5 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major in Physics Grade: 3.47 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major in Mathematics Grade: 4.54 Date: 01/09/08 Title: History Grade: 4.17 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Literature Grade: 4.25 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major with Honors in Chemistry Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major with Honors in Mathematics Grade: 4.5 Date: 01/09/08 Title: Major with Honors in Biology Grade: 4.5
SAT I: CR 740, M 800, W 720 SAT II: Math Level 2 790, Chemistry 800
Personal statement: (I took out some parts that were sensitive and not meant for the public to see)
“I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination.”–W. Disney. I can perfectly understand how he feels as I am also a person who simply cannot stand still.
I walk with that distinct bounce along the classroom corridors, a goofy smile constantly on my face. I jump, I skip, if I could I would fly to my destination, as time is always of the essence. Have an assignment for me? Don’t rush me, give me a deadline, give me the freedom to do what I want to do, don’t come at my ear giving me constant reminders, and I will give you your product coupled with a touch of my perfectionist streak.
Most of my academic achievements lie in research. I have worked on 2 projects in the field of spiders. The 1st project was a finalist at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) 2007 and was presented at the International Students Science Fair 2006 and the London International Youth Science Forum 2007. The 2nd project won a silver award in SSEF 2008 and was presented at the Ritsumeikan Students Science Fair 2007. In addition, both projects were presented at the 12th International Society for Behavioral Ecology Congress in Cornell University.
My strongest subject is Chemistry, where I represented the school in the Singapore Chemistry Olympiad and won silver, and was selected for phase I of the national team training. I find chemistry an interesting subject as it is the foundation of all science; everything in the world can thought of as simple compounds, molecules and atoms. It amazes me that these atoms are the building blocks of life, bonded with other blocks in different combinations and concentrations to create different materials that can be used in so many different ways. Given my active nature, together with my friends, we set up a Chemistry Interest Group in our school, aimed at introducing the wonders of chemistry to our juniors through fun experiments such as creating ‘dye’ (which are actually acid-base indicators or complex ion mixtures).
I love organizing camps and teaching kids values such as leadership and teamwork. I have organized camps for organizations such as the Children’s Kidney Centre and other primary schools. My experiences in the school debating team, model UN conferences and leadership positions in school were certainly helpful in my work.
Student leadership is something that I am very passionate about. I have taken up various leadership positions, such as Vice Captain of Canoe Polo, President of Student Council and Vice House Captain, among others. In addition, I was also one of the authors for the book “50 Math and Science Games for Leadership”. Out of school, I am the Head of Volunteer Management and Development in ECO Singapore, an environmental organization that promotes environmental friendliness through youth-initiated projects.
Being the eldest child and the first college entree of my family meant that I am often forced to find my own solutions to any problems that I may encounter in my life. I find this a blessing in disguise as I have the freedom to solve problems in any way I can. This meant lots of surprising discoveries along the way (it is possible to walk on a mixture of cornstarch and water), lots of learning (you can’t trisect an angle with just a compass), and of course, lots of accidents as well (pouring phenolphthalein on my shirt and it turning blue when placed in the wash), but it really isn’t a bad thing, is it?
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As you can see I didnt really talk about why I want to study in the UK, but I had a significant amount of my essay dedicated to my achievements and extracurriculars. I am not too sure if my extracurriculars were taken into consideration, because there was no mention of them during my interview at all.
Cambridge and Oxford require your app to be submitted by September, while the rest by January. It is then redirected to the college and faculty and they will contact you with regards to an offer / interview / whatever else. Offers normally come in 3 forms: Unconditional (you get a place regardless), conditional (fulfil XXX conditions or you arent coming, or rejected (sorry no go).
Imperial was the 1st successful one to respond for mine - sometime in October. It was an unconditional offer.
Then I received an invitation for an interview for Cambridge (most colleges have 1), which was to be held in RI, and the time to take the TSA, which was held on a Saturday at HCJC. Most colleges for Cambridge and Oxford require you to take a Thinking Skills Assessment test. You can try 10 questions of it here: http://www.admissionstests.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/adt/tsacambridge
During my Cambridge interview, I was asked about topics related to my course of study - natural sciences. I was first asked to describe my IR - which I did, both projects - and then told that they want to know if I am able to handle the coursework at Cambridge. So I was given some paper, and asked a few questions - I will quote from 1 of my previous posts about the details:
"After that she got me to estimate how many cells were in a person's body, I didnt really know the answer so she asked me how big was a cell. I didnt know either and she told me 10 microns long. So I said something to the effect of assuming it's a sphere, calculate volume of person via mass/density (assume density is equivalent to water) and divide accordingly.
After that she gave me a few math questions. First was to differentiate x^3 sin x. So I did that with a bit of ease though I was kind of caught unaware. Then it was to integrate x ln x, which I could do as well. And then she got me to graph y = xe^(-x), and I got stuck halfway because I could do y = e^(-x) but I wasnt too sure about y = xe^(-x) but I got the graph half-right so that's better than nothing.
Next she asked me about cornstarch and water and what happens when I mix them together. So we spoke a little about the structure of cornstarch (which I didnt know again but I knew the structure of carbohydrates) and how it changes as you add water. Then spoke about coloured compounds - why do they have colours? So I said conjugation, excitation of electrons make them jump up the orbitals - sigma, pi, n, pi star and sigma star and as they fall back down they release energy that corresponds to a frequency in the visible spectrum. She seemed really impressed at this juncture and asked did you learn this in school and I said yes. So she asked why doesnt everything produce colours then and I thought it was simple, because they might fall along other areas of the EM spectrum? And she seemed very happy after that.
Following that she kind of ran out of time on me but since I was the last person it wasnt so bad. She chatted with me about how she thinks Cambridge is a good fit for me and etc. "
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As you can see it is very academic/subject-oriented, I didnt expect that, but now you can expect that.
A few days after that I received a few emails from UCL with regards to their courses, etc but I think what's exciting you more is the following email:
"I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for your application through UCAS to study Chemistry at University College London. My apologies for the slight delay in responding to you, as I been finalising our process for overseas applicant to ensure fairness.
As I am sure you are aware, it is our normal policy to interview all candidates. As we cannot do this face-to-face, the "interview" will be conducted by email and followed-up by telephone if necessary.
On Monday I will be sending you some further information on the course at UCL and more general information, the same information I give UK-based students on their visit.
I will shortly afterwards send a series of questions for you to respond to. I wish you to do this as if we were having a conversation - I do not need essays, I need conversational responses (of course if you wish to attached drawn structures as scanned images then feel free). You should not need to refer to notes or other sources. The aim is to allow us to judge if you are able to think about chemistry in such a way to allow you realise your full potential here at UCL.
You should be able to complete the questions 20 minutes at most. I may then follow-up with further questions. Please respond within 7 days of receipt of the email. Once this process is complete, I will confirm if we will be recommending an offer and the Faculty Admissions Tutor should make an offer within 5 working days of receipt of my recommendation.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or call me (I will call you back)."
A few days later, I received an email again from UCL: "Thank you for your application to study with us in the Chemistry department at UCL.
I hope you found the mailing last week useful - do not hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions. I now wish you to provide answers to the following as part of our admissions process.
Could you write me some brief notes on the topics below. I would appreciate a reply within 7 days if possible.
I have two beakers of water, one at room temperature, the other at 50oC. Do you expect their pH to be the same or different? Why?
What property of constarch an water makes it possible to walk on? How is this possible? Why did you shirt go blue?"
As you can see - once again, very subject-based. This was my reply: "With regards to your first question about the pH of water being similar or different at room temperature and 50 degrees C.
I would definitely expect it to be different. pH = - log [H+] and [H+] is dependent on the K value of water, typically 1 x 10 ^ (-14).
Since 2 H2O <=> H3O+ and OH-, Kc value of H2O = [H3O+] [OH-]
However, K value is affected by the temperature of the surroundings because of thermodynamic properties. deltaG of a reaction = deltaH - T deltaS = - RT ln K. The temperature affects the direction which the reaction would be more likely to proceed.
Offhand I dont exactly know the deltaH value for this reaction, but given that temperature affects K -- which in turn affects the amount of ions dissociated -- thereby affecting the concentration of H+ ions, the pH of water in different temperatures will obviously differ - although in this instance it wouldnt differ by a large amount due to the small difference in temperature.
With regards to the 2nd question: It is interesting that you ask this question too because it is a question that I get asked a lot many times (in interviews, demonstrations, etc). A mixture of cornstarch and water yields oobleck, a non-newtonian fluid which behaves like a solid when pressure is applied to it and behaves like a liquid when allowed to flow freely. Other non-newtonian fluids include quicksand and ketchup whereby they don't follow typical 'newtonian laws'.
Honestly I have wondered about this question many times myself but despite checks from other reference sources in the past I never really got an answer to it. My guess is that given that cornstarch is a polymer in itself, its addition to water actually disrupts the VDW forces between the water molecules and causes the area within the water to be 'more crowded' in a particulate sense. It is in the state of balance between a solid and liquid (i.e. its particles are not clumped together enough to be considered a solid, yet its particles are also not spaced out enough to be considered a liquid - in accordance with the Brownian motion). Hence when pressure is applied to it, it causes the particles to now be clumped up together enough for us to consider it a solid, but otherwise it would flow like a liquid - not as quickly as a typical liquid like water would, but still behaving like a viscous liquid (I did notice that adding a cornstarch and water mixture to my vegetables while cooking actually made the gravy more viscous as well!).
My shirt turning blue - I assume you are asking about the statement in my UCAS personal statement? Well perhaps blue isnt that accurate, it actually turned purple. It is again based on equilibrium. Phenolphthalein is an acid base indicator which is colourless at a normal pH but turns purple when exposed to an alkali solution. Phenolphthalein itself is a diprotic acid - let's call it H2In. This compound is colourless but when exposed to alkali solutions (which gives off OH- ions that react with this acid), it gives us In2- ions, which are purple. Hence, the more alkali the solution is, the more purple my shirt would become.
In this scenario, the alkali solution is really the ammonia from my detergent. Ammonia, NH3, is a basic solution that goes by the equation NH3 + H2O <=> NH4+ + OH-, and is the prime reason for causing my shirt to turn blue."
We exchanged another 2 more emails about the details of certain things, and he replied: "Excellent responses - precisely why we interview: I want to know what you can find out, and you have that ability in abundance. I will process your offer on Monday. Let me know if you have any questions."
It turns out that he was the faculty tutor for Natural Sciences as well, so I got an unconditional to both Natural Sciences and Chemistry.
Cambridge's offer came in January. Most offers come in January so Cambridge wasnt late, it was on time... a conditional offer. My condition was a minimum 4.2 CAP overall, 4.2 for English, 4.2 for Math, and 4.2 for Chem - which I fulfilled.
So how do you choose which UK school to go? I say it's easy because if you are only putting 1 choice chances are you already know what you want (typical choices are Cambridge, Oxford, LSE), and if you are putting 5 choices, you pretty much know what school you are willing to fund yourself to and what you arent. Here are the university rankings, according to Times: http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/tol_gug/gooduniversityguide.php.
Between Cambridge and Oxford: Cambridge is better in the sciences, but Oxford better in the Humanities. As a sidenote, if you are keen in going into humanities, consider the course PPE (1 of the hardest course to get in) in Oxford, which stands for Philosophy, Politics and Economics. In terms of culture, Cambridge and Oxford are like little towns of their own and has this old but traditional kind of feel - you really feel like you are surrounded with tradition there. I have been to Oxford before and it's a beautiful place, an open campus within that little town and you can see the Great Hall in Harry Potter there (you got to pay I think, my friend paid and this is what he taped).
I have never been to LSE before, but I have been to Imperial and UCL before. Imperial is in the middle of a busy road and looks a little old (I personally didnt like the vibes that I got from Imperial but you may like it). UCL, wow I love the place. I stayed at Ramsay Hall, which was near Warren Street (the Tube). It's in the middle of the tube line, but it's not too noisy. Imagine the kind of quietness you get from staying at a bungalow in 1 of those private housing areas in Singapore, but yet the NTUC-equivalent (called Sainsbury), food stores, coffee places, etc are just along the streets, opposite you, next to your hostel, everything. Very convenient, and the Tube is just a 5 minute walk. It's an open campus as well, and it's near King Cross Station - you can see platform 9 3/4 there! Let me post a picture of what it looks like:
Most dorms at UCL are singles - you get your own room. My room looked like that, with my own sink.
Not too bad, I felt. The conclusion is that I prefer UCL to Imperial, but it's your choice. Some people also include King's College London in their list of choices, but I didnt feel like including it.
Okay since it's time for dinner I wont continue this post anymore (this is a realllllly long post), but the next time I post I will write about the US admission side.
