倫敦政經 (LSE) 讀經濟的學生的生活是怎樣的？

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學經濟有如何的幸苦和收穫

（轉帖）一個外國學生在LSE 學MSc. Econ 寫的學業感受（僅供參考）

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Mid Year Review and Advice for Incoming Students

February 13, 2005 By Vinayak Nagaraj

Version 0.05 – 14-02-2005

I didn』t have much time to sit down and write this out earlier, I』ve been extremely busy trying to get my act together and see if I can still manage a respectable grade on my course. Now that the issue is moot, I might as well tell you how to get it right at the LSE.

First of all, congratulations! Beyond all doubt, you are entering what could arguably be the best ranked non-phd course in the world. LSE and it』s row of Nobel Prize winners (the first thing you notice when you enter the Students Service Center) still has better recall among people in the know, than any other institution serving Economics as a course. The biggest reason for this is perhaps the fact that it solely caters to instruction in the social sciences, but some amazing work has come out of this place over the last one hundred years!

This paragraph is mostly a quick review of where I』m from and a lot on the Indian educational system.

In case you haven』t read my profile, you can find little bits of it here, and here. I finished my undergrad in India, so coming here was obviously going to be something entirely different. In all fairness, I didn』t study much Economics in India – the style and approach to the subject could fool you into believing you are studying an Economic History course. I recently recieved some critique on this issue, and felt that I should elaborate a little further. At the undergraduate level, almost all Economics courses in India (excepting Calcutta which I don』t have any information on) are effectively a three year journey into the origin and development of the subject. Most of the reading material we used were 『do it yourself』 guides to understanding how to pass an exam… one that contains no problem sets and little or no mathematical material. Exams are usually essay questions geared to test your understanding of the historical significance of what you learnt. JG raises the point that Delhi/Calcutta offer problem set approaches with technical levels that may exceed those that are offered in the United States. My own personal opinion is to strongly disagree with that opinion. Atleast when it comes to Delhi/Bombay/Madras, friends who still study / just graduated from these institutions confirm that the system hasn』t changed in the last two years that I haven』t been around. Once again, with regard to Calcutta, I don』t have much information so I won』t say anything except for the fact that they』re one of the only institutions to offer a BSc. in Economics (a la United Kingdom) as against a BA. Please don』t take this as an absolutely negative comment on the Indian system. There are many advantages to the way in which we are taught. We get a much better bigger picture than most other systems in the world. Whereas history of Economic Thought is optional most everywhere, most Indian Economics students must compulsarily enroll in a HET course or related option. This brings about a much better intuitive understanding of Economics as a whole. However, I still stand by the fact that the entire systematic problem-set approach is on the whole a non-existent entity in India (Calcutta may be the sole exception). The first time I did a problem set was at the LSE, at summer school.

My offer of admission came in November last year; I was one of the first applicants, and I really pushed hard on my app for an admit. From the looks of it, most of my peers have an 800 in their GRE Quant. Its something that probably appears to be an initial way to chaff the applications, as do many other institutions around the world. However, that doesn』t mean they don』t admit non 800s… but those that get in without an 800, are exceptional on most other counts (and would have got an 800 on any other day). That leads me to an important point – expect to see the cr?me de la cr?me of students when you get here. One interesting observation is that I encounter people who would cruise through Grad school in the United States like a world champion ice skater. When I ask them, 「so are you thinking about Grad school in the US」, a lot of them often tell me that they』d love to do a PhD but rather die than go study in the US. They detest the thought of their European liberal freedom being curtailed. There are a *lot* of students who feel this way, and in a way, the American in me feels a tinge of sadness – these guys are insanely brilliant… and Goldman Sachs gets them instead

To keep this review in focus, I』ll stick to the MSc. Economics one year course, and dabble a little bit into the MSc. Econ two year and the MSc. Econometric and Mathematical Economics degree. The MSCE2Y is basically the combination of the Diploma course – a one year undergraduate course that beefs up your concepts – very often required for Indian students, and almost always required for non-economics students, and the MSc proper that I』m doing right now. The EME course is considered the gold standard of 「Psycho-Insane」 existence. It』s a year of crazy-assed Econ/Math/Stat courses, and a year of advanced Economics/Econometrics courses that are one level higher than what we learn at the MSc. Economics course.

MSCE1Y students are required to compulsorily take the September course in Economics (EC400). The rule is that you need to pass this in order to continue to the course. If you fail or are on the border, though they may ask you to leave, no one to my knowledge had that treatment meted out to them. Instead I think some may have been asked to attend additional Math prep classes organized specially for them. I』m not too sure on this, but this is what they had told us would happen.

EC400 can be a nightmare to anyone, irrespective of what kind of a background you』re from. The reason is that it is extremely cramped. In three weeks they take the life out of you – filling you with information that you would ordinarily wish to consume over a few months. You attend one week of economics revision, one week of Micro-Math, one week of Macro-Math, and three weeks (concurrently running) of Statistics. Econ revision is out of a Hal Varian』s Intermediate Microeconomics and is fairly straightforward. Micro-math is out of Simon and Blume – concepts such as concavity/convexity, quasi-concavity, optimization, Kuhn-Tucker conditions. If these are strange terms to you, now is a good time to start brushing up – you have about six months, which should be a fairly good amount of time to get started.

The macro-math is by far the most interesting. One gripe I had was that the math-macro is only taught for 4 days. It was exciting stuff – differential equations to get you warmed up, followed by dynamic optimization techniques such as the Bellman Equations and Hamiltonians for continuous time. There is an extra chapter on Markov chains, but we didn』t get time to go through it.

Now a quick warning: The math that we do at the LSE in EC400 is not the math that Chris Silvey burned in hell with. It is far more theoretical in the US – they spend a lot of time using basic set theory / functions / mapping concepts and build you into more advanced ways. Here, its very cookbook – its a one year course and they teach you how to apply the tools you need to get through it. If you are expecting hardcore theoretical Math, then you』ll be in for a surprise (pleasant or otherwise).

Once you get through the September course, you have to write the exam. You then get a weekend to cool off all those 2 hour nights. Some of my posts from back then will give you a flavor of what life was like. 1) 「The Butchery Begins」 2) 「Ten days on」 3) 「Week Two and the Torture Ahead」

For the first few weeks of the main course, you won』t really feel the burden of the material being covered. The reason for this is that there is a significant decrease in the speed of things. September was all about 5 hour work-days with quizzes every day and problem sets on top of that. October is a slower pace – especially the first three weeks when you still don』t have classes or tutorials.

Three core courses are required – Micro, Macro and Econometrics. Each of these comes in two versions, MSc. and Advanced. This year, they were particularly strict about not allowing MSc. students to take the advanced course. It is something that I felt strongly about earlier (here is my post on that), and I still strongly believe that it is an unfair decision to be stringent about admitting MSc. students into the Advanced course. My personal gripe comes from Micro, where I am still to learn something that is profoundly new. In my summer school course (Intermediate Micro), which is a 2nd year level course, we pretty much learnt everything that we』re doing in MSc. Micro. The main text is Varian in the MSc. course, whereas in the advanced course it is MWG… which is the bible of all bibles in Microeconomics. My advice: if you are sure you have done a significant amount of Micro in the past – especially game theory and basic industrial organization (monopoly, price discrimination, duopoly, bargaining etc), then push hard for Advanced Micro. Dr. Pratt, who was the person responsible this year, can be deceptively sweet, but will send you back to Msc. quite speedily. You have to burn with passion with whoever is deciding on admitting you. Make sure you do it! This applies for Macro and MEI as well. However, there is one caveat to this. The MSc courses are a lot more 『fun』. They give you a nicer take on what the subject is about. This applies to all three subjects… but most importantly to Micro and Macro. In Micro you get to do classic papers that may not be covered in Advanced Micro (which is highly theoretical and covers a smaller footprint of the subject). A good barometer is, 「if you』ve read The Market for Lemons (Aklerof) and can solve a problem set on it, take Advanced Micro」. Watch out for Corner Solutions (the famous Piccione Corner Solutions are exam classics… and should always be respected deeply!)

Macro is exciting. From day one you are introduced to the fact that most of the macro you learnt as an undergrad was all crap. I remember that in high school, many of my friends who took Chemistry used to whine about how everything they learnt in the 9th and 10th grade was pure bullshit and that they had to effectively unlearn everything and start from scratch on completely different principles. Macro at the graduate level is a lot like that. IS-LM and many related concepts are usually not mentioned at all for fear of the Dynamic Optimization gods showering lightning on you. It is very micro-founded, and goes into great lengths to teach you about representative agents, utility functions in macro, asset pricing, monetary policy, et al. Alex Michaelides and Danny Quah do justice to the course in terms of the footprint. Michaelides』s section requires you to be quite nifty with discrete time, whereas Quah』s course will have you mastering differential equations and dynamical systems a lot faster than you might have wished for. I have a lot of respect for both of these people and the stuff that I』ve learnt for them. It』s the ONLY subject that I wake up in the morning and actually want to study. It is the only Mock exam that I crammed my brains out for. In short – don』t miss it for the world.

Econometrics is a slightly weaker spot for me. The course is quite interesting – they don』t get too complicated with the stuff you have to learn. In fact, I studied out of Gujarati, which is an undergrad textbook to learn the concepts, and then used lecture notes to actually get by. Though Green is the recommended textbook, you will find that both Vassilis Hajivassiliou and Stephen Nickell are excellent with their lecture notes. The problem sets are very difficult. Don』t be surprised if you cannot answer most of it until the end of each term. I personally have given up attempting them… and will study like crazy in my vacation time to make up for it. The lectures themselves are harmless – they』re fun to attend and you learn a lot about basic theoretical Econometrics. If you haven』t done Econometrics/Time Series before, don』t think about doing Advanced Econometrics.

I』ll write a brief bit on my own personal opinion of what this course has done for me. I』ll refrain from being personal, but let』s make sure you know that I have a lot of personal opinions just like any other young hot-blooded 22 year old in the middle of his test of manhood

I have learnt far more than I had expected to at the LSE. The sheer experience of interacting with all these people is maddening. Every other guy on the row you』re sitting in is from some kickass institution, or (this ones for you Kevin) comes from the Potato/Chicken heartland but can solve a mean differential equation while levitating in yogic bliss. The strongest feeling I often get is that I am extremely academically inadequate to be here. Very often I feel like I didn』t deserve the admit… and that I was just really street smart to get in. Look, I have a big ego, so don』t think for a second that I』m NOT pompous. I』m as street smart as you find them… but you know what… this just isn』t a place for that. You may survive one Danny Quah quick fire question (as I just about scraped through in our first class with him), but after that, you』d better run like your arse is on fire and start reading and cranking out those problem set solutions. LSE forces you to tune up more. It pushes you to demand more of your own knowledge. It however knows when to let go – unlike most grad schools in the US. This is both good and bad. Its good because just when you think you』re going to die, you get a little breathing space. Its bad because popular belief sides with death as the only way bring out the best in you. When you graduate from LSE you still won』t be ready for Grad school in the US – not by a long shot. However, in a crude way you』ll be academically street smarter – a better player at the jack of all trades game, and that will be your best weapon when you reach the doors of hell. I discuss grad school at length, only because there?s so much to talk about. If you want to study at the LSE and get a job… its just a one line affair: no shit… you』ll get lapped up before you can count to ten… provided you』re shrewd enough to get hired. Lehman, Goldman, ?everyotherman? will come by, drop a business card, and invite you to drink and eat with them. Do it, apply smart, and you』re in before Dorothy reaches Kansas. I』ll leave it at that.

I haven』t talked at all about the optional subjects – purely because this is a more opinionated discussion and I thought it best to leave it until later. You get the first three weeks (and more if you really need to) to decide on which optional you want to take. There are lots – go read the LSE website – and you can attend different lectures to decide which one you want to attend. One word of advice: decide on your shortlist before week one of main term and attend all lectures that are on your shortlist. They don』t wait for you to make up your mind – you make it up as you go along. If you didnt attend the lectures you missed out on a crapload of stuff.

My own optional was Monetary Economics, and my various frustrated constipated posts (click here) will enlighten you on that. Make sure you choose wisely – this is the subject that you』ll obsess over. You have to write a master』s thesis on it which counts for 50% of your grade… the final exam being the other 50%. You will quite often read sleep and eat this subject – especially if most of the students in your class are PHD students (optional subjects are common for MSc and PHD students). Monetary is a course dominated by research students – the level of the course is far higher than the rest of the MSc. Seriously – I』ve written enough about this one so I』m going to let it go. You will enjoy it… but only if its where your interest lies. Mismatches on the optional subject will lead to a slow and painful conclusion to your year.

There is a lot more to write about – the social life, living and adjusting to London – but these are well covered by many other sources of information. If you think something is missing in this lengthy and burdensome write-up, mail me and I』ll add to it.

恭喜你進入倫敦女校就讀，恭喜你每天忙得要死，在學校時就已經想著下課回家要買些什麼菜做飯吃，以及平日唯一的娛樂就是做飯。。。聽某住在國家美術館對面的高考狀元朋友的吐槽。

倫敦政經（LSE）在我看來，真心是學霸的天堂，學渣的墳墓。而我，在與世界各國大學霸濟濟一堂的日子裡，正在用生命和愛國主義精神的紅墨汁譜寫學渣的報應與逆襲。當看到三位分別來自美國英國澳大利亞的室友，萬聖節都沒有去party各自在寢室自習的奇景之後！我就知道，這個所謂渣和霸已經不只是說學習認不認真刻不刻苦熬到幾點這種程度。這些學習心態上的問題，在這裡好像已經是一種必然要做。渣和霸的區別在於，吭哧吭哧讀完一樣的reading後seminar上的不同表現和反饋。首先，老師並不會幼兒園大班似的梳理理論，劈頭蓋臉就請問，你對作者在研究方法和理論分析方面有什麼評價！對這種現實問題，比如人們在FB髮狀態照片日誌或者某少年因為看黃片累覺不愛，基於Sherry Turkle的Growing Up Tethered中的論點，你能提出什麼研究問題！還是Sherry Turkle，她對Mediation這個概念所持的基本觀點跟之前學的哪位學者對媒體與傳播的觀點類似！我：...... 半懂不懂看了後邊忘前邊隨大流的濫雙魚的玻璃心分分鐘被秒崩潰！但就在這時，人家某國禿頂小哥說話了：Coming up with any research questions based on Turkle is one sided, coz as Nxxx Mxxx and Axxx Xxxx(兩個貌似耳熟，但就是想不起來是誰但是肯定是大學究的學究）states...Turkle is too pessimistic towards mediation... 我：!!!...所謂旁徵博引大概也就這程度了吧...

所以我無時無刻，特別是初到的第一月，都在蒙圈！都在覺得我其實還是沒對讀研這件事做足準備。我一直以為還會是那種周周要quiz，兩周一小考，一個月一大考的那種學習模式，雖然辛苦，但只要好好準備，完全可以HOLD住。政經似乎給了學生許多＂自由＂的空間。除了MT5和6需要交不算成績的formative essay和自選時間的幾次presentation之外，學習真的好像＂輕鬆＂許多。但每周動輒一兩百頁的課前必讀學術著作或經典論文，真是讓智商越來越捉急的我理解不上去。或許這不單是英美，也是undergraduate和master教育的區別。小夥伴給我腦補因為晚到錯過的各種orientation活動的時候，也特別提醒，老師說的很明白：seminar上如果不發言，會在最後專門留出十分鐘讓你陳述自己的觀點；沒有看reading不要來上課，沒有觀點也不要來上課！兩次不來上課會通知academic advisor （因為之前有人承受不住壓力直接偷跑回國了）找談話。實在不行遭到層層上報就要捲鋪蓋走人。我：!!!...有人說，We don"t need sex because LSE fucks us every day. 也有人說，政經的學費就為內一份書單，但是真的值。

以上種種，當然不只適用於政經的MSc Finance Economics 學及相關專業。聽說政經最牛Master之一計量經濟學系，上周有三個中國學生輟學回國了...後來一問，他們每周每門課都至少要讀一百多頁文獻的節奏，同學也多半是有工作經驗的三十歲大叔。如果趕上seminar leader是剛畢業的博士，大叔們分分鐘就能把博士吊崩潰...我也是現在才懂，reading，senimar，對研究能力的培養和對critical thinking的看重是倫敦政經之所以成為倫敦政經的原因。由於是社科類院校，政府對LSE的財政預算僅為IC的十分之一不到，但這種情況下仍有17位諾獎獲得者，國際學生學費平均比IC少五萬RMB左右，seminar確保15人左右的課堂容量，讓我對政經充滿敬意。當然，也不是所有人都能接受理論學習或者喜歡這種教學方式，LBS或者IC的Business School，或許是更適合的選擇。（最近總回答各種可愛學弟學妹的問題，有點兒扯遠了...）

除了提高閱讀效率迫在眉睫，不知道該高興還是無奈，我似乎太糾結學習以至於很快就適應了這種本該格格不入的生活。翻著自己以前寫下的卡鎮記敘，突然發現儘管著名景點倫敦塔橋就在對面，路上熙來攘往、定時跑過的超Q紅色雙層巴士，自己卻沒有第一次出國讀書的時候那股好奇勁兒了，也好像再寫不出那樣有趣的對陌生文化的獨特體會。但即便如此，除了極度憎惡不放血的豬肉的騷味以至於馬上要變vegetarian，我還是非常喜歡這個學校和這個城市。倫敦的古典厚重，不像北京的快速喧囂，高樓林立的同時文化底蘊卻留下太少。各自小店門臉上紅黃藍紫的盆栽小花和在城市中心的Hyde Park，Green Park，St. James Park,三個巨大的公園連成一條線，一條我們或許永遠不會理解的寸土寸金的頂級城市中的綠地線。這種無需高樓卻不輸氣勢的氣質竟讓我覺得很有安全感。Oxford St.上HM，ZARA，River Island，Topshop的門店到Bond St.上最頂級的獨立設計師品牌。再有錢倫敦也可以讓你花的身無分文。甚至淘寶樣的Primark也遍布倫敦，有許多中國沒有卻很漂亮款式。倫敦極具奢華，卻也一樣貼近大眾。最最最喜歡的，當然還是獨立上演各自音樂劇的大小新老theatre們。當我坐在歌劇魅影的現場看高中音樂課反覆學過的這部劇時，依然有好多地方聽不懂，但當頂燈落下，卻有一種穿越時空的心醉感。時隔多年的親身感受，一種對後天不能改變的與生俱來的殘缺的無力，最後一幕落下，我也流下淚來。

沒有quiz的步步緊逼，只憑自覺自尊自願的reading和presentation的教育形式，確實似乎更能激發學霸的潛力。但對於政經的喜愛，卻更多的來自接觸到的人們。當認識到或聽說身邊的同學曾是巴西某著名節目的製片人，三四十歲曾做過發言人、記者、NGO諮詢顧問的非洲男人，在法國和德國各交換過半年的立志做國際新聞記者的俄羅斯美女，已經獲得劍橋經濟學碩士學位但因為政經金融項目能彌補自己研究領域方面不足又來讀書並且正在奮戰申請哈佛金融博士的西班牙姑娘，人大新聞本科畢業在遼視做了四年的電視編輯，上海衛視某著名製片人帶著上幼兒園寶寶來讀書的中國姐姐，還有上文提到過的每每發言都能旁徵博引的光頭小哥……從他們身上，我似乎第一次接觸到看到人生放慢腳步後的無限可能性。聽到許多IC的同學說，身邊的同學都在聽宣講填網申找工作，就好像在貿大一樣。我打心裡喜歡感謝貿大教會我的危機意識和苦幹精神，但同時也慶幸現在的自己終於逃離了那樣一種做什麼都過快過急的生存方式。與倫敦與政經，或者任何大學，或許短期內的這一年緣分，埋沒在對未來對工作的焦慮與急切中真的好嗎？

所以我也常問自己，對未來的期許到底是什麼？落腳點究竟在哪裡？其實我自己也沒有答案。只是每每抬頭，看到倫敦風雲變幻卻仍能從烏雲縫隙中隱約看到的烏雲之上的藍天，就好像總能更安心一些。這是個島國，還好我從不是一個缺乏夢想與目標的人。

———

「我並沒有通過寫作來變成完人，我只是藉此消磨掉了一些愁悶和青春。」

--《不存在的騎士》，卡爾維諾

作為LSE PPE項目的畢業生，這個問題感覺必須要回答一下~

答主背景：兜兜，本科北京師範大學學金融學專業，研究生倫敦政治經濟學院 MSc Political Science and Political Economy (PPE) 項目學習，現在擔任棕櫚大道主導師。愛好是旅遊，吃遍美食，參加各類有趣的藝術活動。

下面就跟大家具體地介紹一下我在 LSE 的學習生活還有就讀體驗吧！

我在LSE學習的那點事兒

超級累，超苦逼，但很有收穫，很值得。重新選擇？絕對願意——

學習強度一年項目，包括 4門必修課，2門選修，1門選修和一篇10000字的畢業論文。

選修課在一個list裡面選擇，基本在Government，European Institute， International Relations, International Development , Methodology，Economics六個院系。自由性很大，但是設計還是很合理的，可以根據自己的興趣選擇適合自己的課程。上課除了主課是小班，其他都是和department的大班一起上課，其實我覺得差別也不大；教授的話，取決於你選的課，有大牛，總體來說我對教授的質量還是滿意的。

來到LSE之前自我感覺良好，覺得只要比大學努力一點點就可以順利畢業了，結果到了這裡，發現自己完！全！跟！不！上！因為本科是金融專業，學的也比較水（沒有黑母校的意思），所以到了LSE 發現居然要學什麼Stata。SPSS，甚至還有R（流淚ing）但LSE讀本科的同班同學，還有周圍的其他學院的陸本同學，跟我說他們大學都學過了。可能因為這個原因，基本上我的時間都在圖書館度過，做problem set,看paper,聽lecture record幾十遍，所以學習強度特別大。。。（最瘋狂的時候是凌晨四點起來看書我會亂說？到了圖書館就像打了雞血一樣）

清晨的圖書館

強大師資

教我的教授基本都是美國專業top 5學校出來的，話說之前上methodology學院的一個教授的課（也是我最喜歡的一個老師），是哈佛大學Physics的本科，研究生和Ph.D.畢業於普林斯頓畢業，其他專業課老師，很多也是畢業於普林斯頓、劍橋、哈佛等），我的女神，亞投行首任行長金立群的女兒金刻羽也是 LSE 的經濟學終身助理教授，可惜她只給本科生和Ph.D.學生授課，嗚嗚嗚。

雖然在歐洲，老師多半接受美國教育，很願意解答同學問題和討論Idea。雖然接觸時間不長，但他們對學術的嚴謹認真的態度對我影響很大。博弈論的TA是個Ph.D.，長的非常陽光的一個美國人小哥哥，人超級nice，每次office hour我都跑到他辦公室去問題，受益匪淺，成績有了很大的提高，期末考得了distinction

周圍同學

我的Program只有20個人左右，包括我在內只有四個中國人，其中三個同學的背景分別是英本經濟系、寧波諾丁漢大學國際經濟專業、台大經濟學，其餘外國同學大多來自於美國、歐洲，還有一個日本妹子。這些同學絕大多數都有工作經歷，其中有投行、聯合國工作的，從第一天上課就深深得感覺和他們不是一條起跑線的，但也看清楚了自己待提高的地方。

校園一角

如何考核？

典型英式考試，期末2小時的考試佔100%的很多，淘汰律很高。備考壓力相當相當大。所以大家備考起來很瘋狂，詳見圖片：《考試季圖書館眾生相》。到了期末複習最瘋狂的時候，我七點出門，有一天早上七點去宿舍樓下公共電腦房列印資料，發現十幾個作為都坐滿了人。

想起自己前段時間因為始終讀不懂的paper而大哭一場，突然意識到自己的承受力實在太弱。這一幕到現在回想起來都異常清晰。回憶那些奮筆疾書通宵達旦的夜晚，深夜和我媽打電話說讀不下去的嚎啕大哭，還有為聽不懂lecture，考試fail的擔驚受怕的日子…但我想說，謝謝這一年的磨礪與折磨，我的內心開始變得強大。

考試減壓：LSE會有一年一度的減壓動物園，每年的考試月，學校都會招來一堆小動物，在校園裡為學生考試複習減壓，如今已經成為一種傳統，學校說：壓力太大么，來摸摸豬、摸摸小馬吧，摸完，你就減壓了

然後，繼小動物後，LSE又出了新招，邀請了Abercrombie Fitch的男模（估計是考慮到學校女生太多，學校真是感人啊）…

PPE項目就業

LSE的career services非常不錯，據金融專業的同學說他們會有pre-sessional的課程，2-3個星期，幫忙改CV、練習面試、networking、了解金融城，還有諮詢case面試的課，非常有用。開學後，十月份有四五次大型金融諮詢機構的career fair，有各大公司，比如摩根斯坦利，瑞銀，等各大投行，諮詢公司等等等等。

我這個項目因為只有20個人作業，也不屬於大熱的商科專業，所以就業支持相比沒有那麼大，當中只有4個中國人，其中有去外資銀行的，不過ta後來跳槽去了華為做金融，，有去農業銀行上海分行的，有去中糧的，也有在LSE繼續讀Ph.D.的

吐槽時間到（看到這裡是真愛）

1. 因為LSE的地理位置很好，坐落於倫敦市中心，離泰晤士河，倫敦眼，大本鐘，國會大廈，特拉法加廣場很近。吃喝玩樂真的很多。我的宿舍是Northumberland
House，位於特拉法加廣場胖，是距離泰晤士河最近的宿舍，交通非常方便，對面是一家夏洛克福爾摩斯酒吧，是英劇《神探夏洛克》的拍攝現場。因為位置非常好，宿舍房源特別緊張，建議大家早點通過LSE
Hallpad網上申請，如果人品爆發，就能選擇到自己最喜歡的宿舍啦！

位於NH宿舍對面的夏洛克·福爾摩斯酒吧，每天生意非常火爆

玩的話，倫敦本身也是一個極具魅力和文藝氣息的城市。Covent Garden，大英博物館,
St James Park都是我複習累了常去的地方。周四中午學校的Shaw Library Lunch time concert也很贊，中午一小時換換腦筋，享受一場高水平的音樂會，相當推薦。LSE 附近有很多劇院，每一個都很有名，值得一看。倫敦西區的劇院演出質量都特別搞，數量也很多，我在這一年看了《歌劇魅影》《悲慘世界》《雨中雨》等音樂劇，簡直不要太開心。

音樂劇《歌劇魅影》現場照

倫敦西區皇后劇院《悲慘世界》演出海報

2. 男女比例：之前網上流傳一個段子，說一個男生在英國G5大學讀書，那麼他的戀愛關係，可能是這樣：

來到LSE發現，這裡簡直就是「倫敦女校」啊，因為不是綜合類大學，所開設項目主要是商科、社會與人文社科，所以就說華人圈子，周圍長的漂亮、學習成績好的女生真的不能再多，然後她們還都單身…
去趟圖書館，也是隨處可見美美的的知性型妹子（讓我怎麼活TT）。之前聽有個妹子說過「LSE的男生們因為數量稀少，在粥多僧少的情況下溢價過高，以至於眼高於訂，一般人眼中條件好的女生他們都看不上」，就我的例子，我只能說周圍的妹子們都是單身著來，然後單身著回國（淚流滿面）

3. 關於食物，食堂太差，學校中午在圖書館旁免費發放的食物是長這樣。周邊吃的也不多。

4. 關於校園，學校真心小，沒有真正的校園，兩條箱子，幾棟建築立在路邊，沒有校門，本科校園逛完大概要2個多小時，LSE走路最多10分鐘，跟附加的UCL比起來太寒酸…..

5. 校徽上的動物丑的不忍直視。。

最後我想澄清，之前有人說過一年的英國碩士學位很水，學不到什麼東西，但我覺得這一年裡我學到的，我所收穫到的比我在大學四年都過得多。水不水，還是看自己怎麼利用這一年的時間。

本次回答來自棕櫚兜兜

十幾年前Msc. Economics畢業的亂扯幾句。

不矯情的說，當年拿到offer的第一反應不是高興，而是我能從這地方畢業不？

比其他專業提前一個月報到強化數學。考完試開學，然後發現很多人已經不見蹤影……他們大概是想媽媽了。

看到有人說seminar怎麼苦，頓時覺得我上的可能是假LSE。我印象里就從沒過seminar，只有計量的習題課。

每門課都布置了好多好多paper，很勤奮的讀了一宿也只看了小半。眼看著天色漸亮，還有無數的功課木有做完，那種心裡拔涼拔涼的感覺真是終身難忘。

考試季學校里忽然多了好多人，同宿舍的PHD姐姐淡淡的說：他們是上屆的，回來補考。嗯，我們這屆也掛了好多人，還好我最後挺過來了。

選專業課的時候不知死活的選了Monetary Economics，這門課學的我痛不欲生。Tutor是個和藹的日本小老頭，經常在課上講一些不怎麼好笑的笑話。寫essay的時候有幾個問題想了幾個星期沒想清楚，去找小老頭寥寥幾句話就給我點撥明白了。很慚愧，多年以後才知道小老頭就是大名鼎鼎的清瀧信宏教授。

讀書的時候偶然遇到我太太。經濟學訓練讓我能夠判斷出人生曲線上最重要的幾個角點，然後勇敢把握住那些稍縱即逝的機會。多少年後回頭再看，曾經糾結過的成績啊、工作啊，其實都不是那麼重要的事。

我現在的生活很幸福。我很懷念在LSE的日子。

PS。馬克杯是開學報到的第一天在小賣部買的，小心翼翼的用到現在。當年的宿舍在Lafone Street，以後出差去倫敦還經常回去走走。滿滿的美好回憶。

大家好，我是LSE EME的總分第一名，單科也是，有什麼問題我會解答。

由於容易暴露身份，先匿了:)

難過，想自殺，想從HH樓頂自由落體

用生命讀reading還是不能理解

3個seminar group的tutor有三種不同的理解

It"s very math-based. Professors love models here. We do problem sets every week and basically don"t really have time for debates and discussions on real world matters or critiques of theories in seminars.

If you wish you study economics in a more history-based way, don"t come to LSE.

2005的東西搬到現在來是不是有點不合適...