Results for London School of Economics and Political Science

2004 Results for London School of Economics and Political Science

Identify the best one or two aspects of your degree course and say why.

 Ability to specialise in final year  This degree exposes me to both a qualitative approach and a quantitative approach in the analysis of the economy which is important because both appraches are essential for a thorough analysis. The dissertation that I have to produce in my final year is a challenging test of my ability to apply everything that I had learnt during the course. This provides an excellent overview of the knowledge that I had picked up and their applications.  The amount of flexibility in choosing my courses in the final year and the possibility of choosing outside modules as well. Also having academic staff who are actively engaged into their research stimulates me to higher learning.  Seminars in the first year of my MSc that allowed me to meet prominent economist from both the academia and the private sector.  the flexibilty of my degree programme, it is a two-year master programme so we have more choice than in an ordinary Msc economics degree, i.e. more than 1 option  The third year options present a rather wide range of selection and we are allowed much discretion in setting out our own choices. Some of the lecturers clearly feel a rich passion for their specialisation and it is inspiring to attend their lectures  good research environment and quality of LSE city and location of the school  Excellent communication with supervisor and staff in my area of research. Excellent research environment  individual research project. It gives the opportunity to study something I am interested in, without external influence.  A very well structured degree course which will equipt you with the proper mathematical tools to conduct your own research.  Research strategy seminars. Very usefull to get feedback on ones progress.  Quality of lecturers  Quality of lecture materials - lecturers generally provide excellent material to back up lectures and to prepare for classes.  Quality of lecturers, broad range of topics covered  I find the microeconomic theory involved in the course to be very interesting with excellent lecturers but I have always enjoyed microeconomics more  pretty good lecturers for some modules  Intellectually stimulating, and the material is worthwhile  Course material - intellectually stimulating Class tutor - very keen and patient  I find the breadth and depth of the topics covered very intellectually stimulating.  Highly Mathematical - makes the course intellectually stimulating and sharpens my analytical skills, plus I enjoy Maths.  The potential for practical and real economic investigation and being taught the skills by the best in the world.  Learning macroeconomics allows one to comprehend what is going on in the world much better not only from an economic perspective, but also a social and political one.  Contact with world famous economists. Prestigious university  Attempting to develop models to tackle real world problems.  The quality of teaching for the Economics and Accounting modules of my Economics BSc degree is extremely high.  Opportunity to take modules outside economics - gives me the chance to explore other areas  The Economics module offered is interesting, and the tutorials given really ensure that one understands the Economic concepts.  Independence - the staff leave you alone to do what you want. An economics degree is highly regarded.  It allows you to choose outsdie options, which is interesting.  The combination of Economic and Economic History makes it a special and well balanced course in that both analytical and quantitative skills are emphasized. It also provides an interesting mix of historical perspective and recent developments in theory.  The fact that we have so feel study hours - chance to explore more of life as an overseas student  Let the student have more room to grow of thinking.  the university logo gets you a job. the LSE library is very swanky.  Danny Quahs lectures are a highlight in terms of both content and delivery. LSE library...  The classes help the pupils to integrate the knowledge properly.  The course does encourage lateral thinking and encourages you to push the limits of your knowledge; which is key in developing intellectual rigour and other mental skills.  The applications of what Im learning, there is a wide variety of topics.  Cutting edge topics studied in Micro 2, pushing the boundaries.  Maths, easy to understand  The use of models to simplify complex concepts and the emphasis on intuitive reasoning behind the models. The models have enabled me to understand real phenomenon with relatively simple tools and the emphasis on intuitive reasoning complements the use of model by giving logical foundations to its results.  It is extremely challenging and pushes my learning capabilities.  Challenging syllabi  INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY  Solid fundamentals based on mathematics  The high standard of work expected of me forces me to push myself in my studies.  Being taught by experienced/ well known staff  specialized courses and excellent researchers teaching them  up to date  That it has 4 different modules so there is variation. Identify one or two aspects of your degree course that could be improved and say why.

 more contact time with teachers smaller lectures  Lack of enough contact time with lecturers/teachers to ask questions. Questions are always shelved because teacher has no time or there is a long queue to ask questions.  The teaching quality can definitely be improved. In most of my courses, part time teachers are engaged. There is a lack of uniformity in the standards of the class teachers. Furthermore, the course would benefit from more cross-course integration. There are overlaps in some of the course content and this reinforces our knowledge but the employment of different models in some situations are potential sources of confusion.  More one on one time with teachers.  The introductory first year is a waste of time.  Some of the materials are repeated each year. Time is wasted by going through things which have already been learnt which can be allocated to learning more. Another aspect that can be improved is the inclusion of more empirical studies. Makes learning theories more useful and applicable to real life.  term time is only 10 weks. we get 22 weeks of teaching max per academic year. I think this is too short  The lectures could be more interactive and the pace of the course is very fast with a lot of content covered in a short space of time.  supervision is lacking, a lot of time is wasted due to lack of contact with supervisors. some class materials are old, contain mistakes and are not particularly taylored toward the exam or fuller understanding  I look forward to greater opportunities to assist academic staff during term time or during summer vacation. This helps students who are considering graduate degrees affirm their interest in research.  Econometrics and Stats overlapping. Repetitive, not very useful and time consuming.  There could be more classes per week, as problems will then have time to clear.  Teaching quality desperately needs improving... class teachers more willing to engage their students, and lecturers who are allowed to bring their personal research interests into lecture will cause the students to fully understand why these people want to pursure a career in economics, and will thus motivate the students to immerse themselves in the subject as well.  Lecturers not interested in teaching. The department is not interested in whether students learn or not, their primary interested is in making money. Extremely unfriendly athmosphere  Some of the lecturers may be top academics but arent always as good as getting their knowledge across to students.  The course is extremely big in this school, hence there is not much camaderie or sense of community between the students of the Econ department. Perhaps having more social events or groupwork would be good.  More tutorials and works. Gives more example before let the students to attempt the work.  There is too much career orientated pressure placed upon first year students  The level of attention given to students.  It would be better if there were more classes/office hours for students to attend to check the knowledge of the pupils.  Too rigid - there is very often a right and a wrong answer with little room for debate. Class discussions invariably end up with the teacher asking questions and the students answering rather than any proper debate.  More emphasis on mwork that is relevant to the final exam - exams tend to be much harder than the homework sets and often written in forms very different to the problem sets.  To have tests on the modules other than the final exam.  Having the final exam count as the entire course grade seems too high stakes-- I would prefer more evaluation throughout the year.  The quality of some of the lectures was below my expectations.  The quality of lectures and teaching is rather poor, something that should be addressed quickly.  The quality of a number of lecturers could be improved.  The teaching of Mathematics and Statistics should be reviewed. Regarding Mathematics, as a student who did not take Double Mathematics at A-level, I feel extremely disadvantaged. The pace at which material is covered, and the lack of comprehensible qualitative explanation in lectures is proving to be extremely frustrating. The same can be said of Statistics, although the teaching of this module as a whole is dire.  Mathematics is overused, to the detriment of economic analysis.  A bit more intuition to the economics paper would help rather than all mathematics based.  1st year obligatory course for MPhil/PhD (should be more general topics)  More formal (i.e. written) feedback on research would be helpful. At present feedback is mostly oral, either in meetings with my supervisor, or in PhD seminars.  too mcuh theory, should be related to real world  There should be more on how one could apply economic theory in real life.  Lecture timetable, I had lecture from 9 almost every morning. As my course was taken by majority of student; it is better idea to start slightly later.  A) STAFF-STUDENT RATIOS B) PERSONAL TUTORS WHO ACTUALLY TEACH THE INDIVIDUAL TUTOR  Better communication about degree changes and requirements prior to enrollment.  more stress could be put on the use of statistical software, is only a supplementary feature of our econometrics degree but we are not really taught how to use it  classwork in certain courses  some courses lacked structure.  The lecturers should engage us more  Too technical -- misses the bg picture  More depth should be given because we are only taught the basics and the rest is mainly up to us to "extrapolate".  maybe more preparation for the exams  2 half-unit options instead of a single full-unit  Lecturer - Ennui  have more group work or projects etc, rather than simply doing the written assignments, hand them in, and get graded. the lack of projects and team effort in learning is something LSE has to work on

What one or two aspects of your degree have you found the hardest?

 The macro and maths sections of the degree demand too much of their students - there are simply too many things that need ot be memorised and remembered at once.  the maths part, but as it is a necessary component of the econmics discipline, it is just an element I have to face  Getting to grips with some of the more advanced maths has been tricky.  filling the gap between theoretical maths and it´s use in actual economic research  The step up in the level of difficulty in both statistics and maths.  maths  Solving microeconomic problems with maths.  Maths  Mathematics and Statistics are taught but until now, it is still difficult to see the link between these 2 subjects and Economics.  The Mathematics and Statistics aspects.  Statistics  Without a doubt, the tedious algebra to be found in Statistics.  The statistics and also understanding Economics from a different perspective to what I studied at A Level.  The high content of calculus and statistics  Difficult to solve the problem without the help from tutor  Coming from an independent school background, the pastoral system with which this degree is run, has been the most difficult to get used to.  Econometrics difficult to get motivated for  Settling in to the type of work in the first year  There is too much to learn as you are examined on a whole year worth of work in one week.  self evaluation, considering there are very few assessments during the whole year.  Courses which are more disorganised -- I usually do not know what work is expected from me for classes the next week. Direction of course is unclear. Also that the whole grade on the course is conditional on the final 3hour unseen exam -- perhaps some weightage should be given to coursework and class participation.  class room participation is not very active  Knowing how much time I should be spending on the material outside of class.  It is hardest to see the overall picture and cross linkages between the various course topics. There is a lack of emphasis on the flow of ideas between topics.  Lack of contact time with your supervisors.  lack of supervison, especially in early stages, lack of communication in what the standars are and feedback  technical aspects -- I am not unskilled in math (A Level Mathematics A grade) but I find the technical content sometimes unecessary and does not add to the essence of the course.  Highly technical microeconomics. Elements of finance.  Some very technical courses (Advanced econometrics) are sometimes hard to follow.  exams understanding material on my own  Understanding economic intuition, which is different from my natural mathematical intuition.  Learning a completely new subject in a university environment.  Adjusting from the MSc in Economics, which is a learning-based degree, to the PhD in Economics, which is a research-based degree.  Industrial organisation  waking up for early lessons and exams. I advocate shifting the timetables forward. 9am classes are a lot more cumbersome to attend rather than 6pm ones due to the morning rush hour.  NOT KNOWING WHAT IS EXPECTED  Advanced Macroeconomics (442)  One aspect is the initial difficulty in grasping and explaining abstract concepts but this gets easier as one gets used to it.  absorbing the course material in a short time.  To thoroughly go through all the required reading, and to study the important areas.  coping with hard courses  Stats  Econometrics  Microeconomics. Period. Its obfuscating.

What types of activities in seminars/tutorials have you found the most useful?

 more related to the general issues and discussion with analyst it.  solving problems related to the lectures. In seminars: identifying key terms to help focus the discussion.  Class discussion of theory.  Class discussion.  Discussion of set questions.  Active discussion of problems  The revised structure whereby students PhD students present for half an hour and then an hour of discussion and feedback ensues. This is far more useful than having a full seminar.  Class discussions  Participating during tutorials and class discussions on certain issues.  Discussions  OPen discussions have helped reveal the real world relevance of the theories we cover, keeping the subject interesting.  Presentations and group discussions.  discussions  Being taught by PhD students researching the same area and when they are capable of openly discussing and incorporating the latest research work, encouraging you to read around the courses more than the reading lists do.  Discussing with other students about how to carry on my research project.  Discussing lectures  a brief revision of the lectures before the teacher starts discussing the answers to tutorials.  In some tutorials, the class teachers have a brief summary of the relevant lecture material before discussing the problem sets. Though a short recap, it highlights the main takeaway points and clears any nagging doubts we have.  PRESENTATIONS  Doing presentations and answering questions.  presentations  group presentations  Problem solving sessions  Class sessions where we review problem sets  Extra Example Sessions  The Mathematics examples sessions.  Seminars on economic policy and its applications.  seminars in which people presented their papers, as it gave the students a real insight into what it means to be a researcher in economics, of course classes in which we solve problems are always useful as they help understand the material  work in progress seminars where the faculty is actively engaged and present on a regular basis  Problem set walkthroughs are very helpful.  Going through homework is always helpful.  When the teachers summarises the main points learnt in lectures.  Where teachers go through the answers.  Going through the tutorial questions are useful because it helps discover other ways of looking at the questions.  maths tutorial are most useful  Weekly assignments to motivate me to do work regularly.  i havent!  going thru the homework that I have done before hands  Exercise sets  step by step derivations of basic models  teacher having a structured method of teaching  worked example  n/a.  Interaction  small group discusion  Listening and taking notes!

What types of activities in seminars/tutorials have you found the least useful?

 It is least useful when the teacher asks students to write their answers or solutions on the board.  The teacher writing down answers on the board without much response to the needs of the class.  The teacher telling us the answers.  Simply being told the answers to problem sets.  repeating answers available online  Teachers reading out the answers.  Sometimes the answers given are just too brief.  Repetitive production of solutions to problem sets.  tutorials where no alternative solution to the problem sets was allowed to be discussed (it does happen)  Going through problem sets in length that most students find easy to complete.  Solving the mathematic problem is least useful. In the short span of an hour, I think it is more important to provide the intuition behind the solutions than trying to work out some tedious arithmatic.  WHEN THE LECTURER USES THE CLASS TO LECTURE. EXTREMELY BORING.  I have one seminar that I get very little out of--it is an economic history class, and my background in the material is not strong enough to actively participate in the material. I would much prefer a lecture  It is useful, but sometimes the teachers do not speak clear English and also do not have class solutions, so therefore give inaccurate teaching.  the teacher goes through every single question without asking if the class needs it  just going through homeworks and not actaully explaining any of the course in the classes.  The quiet and intimidating nature of most classes makes answering questions very difficult and creates a lot of tension and pressure on students.  Nothing much is useless  Group work- in undergraduate econometrics, group work is useless. What is useful is group discussion of questions.  just normal seminars without discussion, will be very boring.  The Statistics examples sessions.  n/a  Repetition of similar mathmatical problems.  Going through methods of using statistical packages  professors who have to show off their knowledge during a seminar (even though they are themselves NOT presenting). their contributions are rarely productive and this happens mostly when a woman is presenting  Too much student participation can slow the pace and it is frustrating for those who have looked over the material when others have not done so.  individual presentations usually dur to lack of preparation  general discussions that lead nowhere and when the teacher doesnt comment on the opinions of others  exercises  Some of the lectures in stats.  n/a.  none  Listening and taking notes (helps to understand concepts but not to get a proper rounded education in Economics)  Presentation of articles.  Hmmm....

If you know what career you intend to pursue, please identify it.

 Investment Banking  Investment Banking (Operations)  Investment banking, financial, or business analyst  Investment Banking  im going to start with investment banking but i dont know if thats what im going to end up doing for life  Investment banking - trading.  investment banking,media  Retail banking  Banking, development economics, academia  Economic Research/Econometrics  Economic policy research  Economic consultancy  economic consultany/work for competition commission (comment: your education section is completely geared towards the UK educational system which many overseas students do not know - and theres no reason while they should actually)  Economic consulting  finance  Finance  Finance.  Corporate finance/management consulting  Consulting  strategic consulting  civil service  Im already bonded to the public service of my country.  policy analyst in an international organisation  either international organisations or academia  academic career in Economics  Research in Economics  TEACHING  teaching  Professsional economist  I would be working in a government agency responsible for pormoting the trading sector of the economy and aiding the outward expansion of local firms.  Accountancy.  proceeding on to a doctorate but certainly not at the LSE.  Analyst or Civil Servant.  Management consulatancy  Equities Trader.  Investment Bank  Consultancy