LSE Open Day

LSE Open Day- Learning:

Pure economics:

Why you may want to study economics and why at LSE?

Quite overlapping with other social sciences. In recent decades has become broad; the recent nobel prize was about how institutions. Data from satellites used to figure out what is happening with ships and which ones are caring about sanctions imposed on resources.

Skills developed are quite versatile, analytical and rigorous. Requires financial modelling of economic relationships and testing hypothesis against data. Econometrics; advanced statistical methods.

There is emphasis real world relevance and evidence, goals with policy design

Good money as well. However, quite surprising to see women earning about 200k less than men. Economics reasoning help you see patterns, and explanations through mathematical models. Econometrics, techniques to specifically analyse data. All useful for the real world. LSE 100- social problems are good to study. You also need to be comfortable with maths but a skill you develop over time

What is the Pure Economics degree like:

The New curriculum from 2021, allowed students to become economists of the future. 

Year 1- option A

Year 1- option B

 

Year 2:

In year  2, you use Python to come up with a solution to a problem of your choice. There is also a eesearch problem in recent world and give a different solution to what has been suggested.

Year 3:

This year is more free, you can use more research or pick modules better for career options.

TIps for the personal statement- Applying to LSE:

“to study the betterment of things for society”

Make sure to refer that to you enjoy maths

“When I read this, here was my reaction”

Econ essay competition. It’s about what you say, learning. 

Politics and economics, the government department.

The structure of the course:

The Politics and economics course offered a rigorous foundation in economic theory, which I enjoyed, but the politics side felt overly theoretical and disconnected from real-world application. I prefer more tangible, practical approaches, so the abstract political content didn’t resonate with me.

Other courses offered in the governments department

Taster slide from one of the lectures:

The prof looked at data from his slides. Between 1945 and 2024, labour and the conservatives have received about the same number of votes; labour with 250.0 million and the conservatives just slightly ahead with 256.6 million. Despite this, the conservatives have ended up with more seats (6416 compared to Labour’s 6185) and significantly more time in power;  43 years versus labour’s 39. The overall picture is that even with basically equal public support, the conservative party has governed for longer. That’s not just down to chance; it's about how the actual electoral system works.

Under the first past the post system, what matters isn’t just how many votes a party gets, but where those votes are actually concentrated. Labour’s support is heavily packed into urban areas where they win by huge margins, but that doesn’t help them win more constituencies. On the other hand, conservative votes are more evenly spread across rural and suburban areas, meaning they can win more seats with fewer votes. This vote distribution gives us conservatives a clear structural advantage in turning votes into parliamentary power.

What the figures suggest, too, is that over time, the conservative Party has been more successful at crafting a message that appeals across different regions and demographics:manifesto. Our focus on economic stability, national identity, and law and order has consistently attracted a wide base, including swing voters and older populations. Labour, while strong in cities and among the younger voters, has struggled more with national-level appeal under the same system. This makes it harder for them to turn their support into consistent election wins.

In short, the Conservatives have not necessarily been more popular in terms of total votes, the difference is marginal, but they have been more efficient in winning under FPTP. They’ve also maintained a broader electoral appeal across key regions. Labour’s challenge is structural and strategic: its support base is deep, but not wide enough. Until that changes, or the voting system does, the pattern of conservative dominance in government is likely to continue.

Although I found this analysis interesting, I found today's experience eye opening and that politics and economics as a combined course might not be the right fit for me. My real interest lies much more in the economics side. I enjoy working with data, understanding markets, and exploring how economic theory plays out in the real world. The political focus of the session didn’t really engage me in the same way, and it confirmed that pure economics is the direction I’d prefer to take. The people in the talk were crazy good, and I just didnt feel that I could match their vibe. Econ is more of my passion, my home and where I belong. Also, if you are reading this, I'll let give you a secret, this stays between us but the people that put their hands up in the lecture are POSH. Jeez, the private school energy was CRAZY. 

Overall summary:

Today was a great day. I learned two main theings. The first thing I was very happy was to be given more of a clear direction on what to include in the personal statement and what to avoid. Best take away was to show and not tell. The other thing that was to really understand where my passion lies in. Economics. Sure some politics modules may be cool but I would rather just economics.