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- Hey everyone.
My name is Mardin, I study at the London
School of Economics and Political Science here in London,
in the bachelor Language, Culture, Society,
and I'm originally from Austria.
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So right now we are in the old building
which is the obviously oldest building of LSE.
And this is the undergraduate room
and yeah, I sometimes come here to check with people.
And generally I'm at university every day,
I find it really a go-to to study
because there are a lot of sort of smaller rooms
where it's usually very quiet
and not as much as in my residence.
And yes, I really enjoy being in library particularly,
and yeah, it gives you a really good study vibe.
So the reason I chose LSE as my university,
was mainly that I was really in love
with the internationalities had to offer.
So after my international high school,
I really wanted to continue studying
in an environment where there are many nations represented,
and especially in social science,
I find that is something you benefited from immensely.
And yes, LSE has a great opportunity center
with many careers, advisories and outside activities
of university to do
that have a lot to do with the city of London of course,
and you have the opportunity to go out
and explore and really live in a global center
where many decisions are made
and where many things happen.
And I think in combination with the great academic
environment that is here the city itself
gives it another aspect that is really unique.
So my bachelor is called Language, Culture and Society.
And my generation is actually the first one to do it.
It is a collaboration between the Language Center
and the Department of Sociology.
And what they're trying to make us do
is sort of gain interest in sociology,
but in combination with another language.
So they want us to focus on
sort of the more linguistic anthropologicals
less sociological aspect,
and by really studying one language in depth
and by exploring different social issues
within that sort of linguistic field,
they're trying to stimulate research
for this particular sources of language group
that we're studying and drawing the attention
to all the cultural difference that come sort of
into the fact that a lot of things are lost in translation
and we're freely immersing ourselves into another language.
We're trying to sort of get another cultural perspective
on how things are running.
And in my first year I have an introduction to sociology.
So we're basically studying the major sociological fathers
of the discipline.
And yes, I take an intermediate level for French now
and yeah, it's going really well.
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My course is structured over four years.
Usually bachelors are only three years
in the United Kingdom,
but because I have to go abroad in my third year,
I'm personally going to France
because French is my language.
Probably to the University of Sciences Po,
but it's not really sure yet.
Yes, and the fourth year I'm then returning
in doing my dissertation and usually every year
I have four courses and around 15 hours of classes
and lectures every week.
And there's a lot of reading material in addition.
And even though in a first year has not a lot of
options you can choose from in the upcoming years
you will have more flexibility and to really
choose a focus of study, especially in sociology.
So that might be sociology of general,
sociology of politics.
I'm not quite sure what I'm taking yet, but we'll see.
Yeah, next year.
So, the advice I give to students that are interested
in coming to LSE is to whatever bachelor you apply,
try to really offer a sort of unique perspective
in your personal statement specifically,
even though good grades are important,
LSE cares a lot about sort of your perspective
on social issues.
So if in your personal statement, you could bring in
a particular topic or research field you're interested in
and that you find gaps in then you kind of envision
to close those gaps,
then that's something they really value
and like to see in the application.
And of course you should offer sort of a broad range
of extracurricular activities you have done
that spiked this interest.
So they wanna see sort of a development of thought
and projects throughout your life that led you
to the point where you are now and how we can integrate LSE
sort of in this way of career I would say.
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The most important sort of aspect there is about studying
and about feeling maybe insecure about your future,
is that everything you do kind of leads up and builds up.
So, sometimes for me, when I was studying
I didn't really know where I was going,
and I think you really important thing is that,
you try to have a goal and that everything you do
all the work we do at high school
and all the extracurricular activities really educate
and build you.
And that when you put effort in this,
the admissioners we will see that in your application.
So they will sort of see that
you know, everything that you've done
even if it's, sometimes it feels
like a bit useless, eventually builds up your portrait.
And I think that that's something
that I would tell myself is that,
yes, the effort is worth it,
and yes, you will be able to utilize
all of the skills you gain
throughout your high school and university.
So I think you definitely shouldn't feel discouraged
if other people have maybe a bit of a better CV or profile
because they're,
LSE really tries to see the uniqueness in you.
And if you can offer them something that
maybe they haven't really seen before
or that you did that others really didn't do,
so, something very specific,
I think it's important to present that in that way
and just stay yourself and then LSE will welcome you.
So for students that are maybe worried
about coming to London and not finding friends,
I would say that it is really important in your first year
to maybe live in a residence simply because
it will give you the opportunity
to get to know a lot of people outside academics,
because obviously it's sort of,
you have very different courses
and there are a lot of people
maybe in your lectures and classes.
So at times it might be a bit hard
to sort of get to know people.
But for me, I think, and for many other first years,
they really all say that living in residence
is the first year since you have a guaranteed place,
is really sort of the platform to network and find friends.
And then of course, I really recommend going to societies.
So if you have any sort of creative, political,
or other interests, sports in particular,
I think that there're smaller communities
you can really connect with.
For me personally, that was Model United Nations
where I would also found a lot of my friends
that I have now.
So the important thing is to not really stress so much
in the beginning, no one here has friends.
And when you come here
just be engaged, be open, sort of go to different societies,
connect with people in your residence,
and yeah, you then shouldn't really feel alone.
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