To become a fully registered student, you will be required to undertake a two-stage registration process: Online pre-enrolment and Campus Enrolment.

You will receive further information about the registration process in summer 2025.

Campus Enrolment is scheduled for Tuesday 16 September 2025. This takes place in person on the LSE campus and is where LSE will check your official documents.

You can find further details on what you will need to bring here.

A compulsory pre-sessional course covering essential quantitative methods and accounting techniques will be taught over the course of three evenings and one Saturday. An optional review session will also be held the Saturday before term starts. Please see below for provisional dates:

• Thursday 18 September, 18:30-21:30
• Saturday 20 September, 10:00-17:00
• Tuesday 23 September, 18:30-21:30
• Wednesday 24 September, 18:30-21:30
• Optional: Saturday 27 September, 10:00-13:00

You can find information on tuition fee payment deadlines on the LSE website.

You will also find instructions on how to make a payment via the website.

The indicative reading list is intended to give you an idea of the level and range of material covered in the various courses. These readings are not mandatory, but they may prove helpful to you in preparing for your arrival.

View indicative reading list.

You can find out more about the Careers opportunities offered by the Department of Finance and LSE Careers on our dedicated Careers page.

You may also be interested in our additional careers resources:

• LSE Careers CVs, cover letters and application forms
• CVs for experienced hires
• Video interviews
• Employment sector information: banking and investment

The programme also boasts an extensive community of alumni, with graduates working across the financial sector. We run a programme of events each year to give students various networking opportunities, and to ensure that alumni can remain connected to the Department.

There are also several opportunities during the programme to get to know students on the other Master’s programmes run by the Department of Finance.

In addition to your MSc programme you will have opportunity to gain from what is called the 'LSE experience'. Read more about LSE's vibrant campus life and diverse student body here.

To find out more about life at LSE you may wish to visit the LSE Students' Union. The SU is host to a wide range of societies, from sporting, to cultural, to academic - including a number of finance-oriented societies such as:

• Alternative Investments
• Asset Wealth Management
• Green Finance
• Microfinance
• Venture Capital

LSE hosts a public lecture programme featuring over 200 events each year, where some of the most influential figures in the social sciences can be heard, including internationally recognised academics, heads of state and leading professionals. Upcoming events are all featured on the LSE events website.

Previous speakers include Christine Lagarde, Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel, Robert J. Schiller and Muhammad Yunus.

Lectures and classes take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Year 1, and Mondays - Thursdays (depending on your course choices) in Year 2. All teaching runs from 18:30 – 22:00 and includes a catering break where food and drink is provided. All MSc Finance Part-time courses are taught in the Marshall Building.

The teaching format for the dedicated MSc Finance courses combines the lecture and class teaching into one three hour session. This teaching format has been specifically designed to aid the teaching and learning experience of students as it allows a much freer scope for class discussion throughout the lecture.

In the first year of the programme, there are also optional online Saturday Sessions that students can attend if they wish. These sessions review material covered in the lecture and are delivered by Course Support Managers (CSMs).

All academic faculty schedule weekly office hours in which any student may visit them to discuss academic issues. In some cases, students may be able to arrange a time to meet with a member of faculty outside of their office hours.

Associate Programme Director, Neesha Rai, is the main pastoral supervisor for all students on the programme and Programme Director, Professor Peter Kondor, is the overall academic advisor. Students are encouraged to see Neesha in the first instance for all non-specific academic matters. Neesha works closely with Peter and the Programme Manager, and is able to advise students on general issues regarding the programme, such as course choices, administrative and personal issues.

MSc Finance (part-time) students are also able to benefit from the assistance and guidance of Course Support Managers (CSMs). There is a CSM allocated to each course on the programme and students are encouraged to approach them with any queries or problems with the course content. CSMs also assist lecturers with the assessment of students and deliver Saturday review sessions for the Year 1 courses.

The Department provides many opportunities for students and alumni to mix and network with each other. This can be particularly useful for students as they can build their network of professional contacts. Twice a year the Department organises an MSc Finance Networking Evening where students from both the MSc Finance (full-time) and MSc Finance (part-time) programmes and alumni are able to socialise and meet.

Summative coursework:

All dedicated Finance courses contain a coursework element which contributes to the final course grade. At LSE this type of coursework is called summative assessment. Different courses set different types of summative work, however students should expect 2 or more pieces of work to be submitted for each course over the 11 week term, as well as sitting in-class assignments. Some courses require weekly submission of problem sets or homework assignments which all make up a small percentage of the final grade. Class participation counts for a small percentage of the final grade in each course.

Formative work:

At LSE any work which is set but does not contribute towards the final course mark is known as formative work. Formative work is used to inform students how they doing on the course and if they are understanding the concepts taught in lectures. Some formative work is informal, via the setting of problems sets that the lecturer will work through in the next lecture, however most courses will also ask for a piece of work to be submitted and then graded. This is usually to prepare students for the summative assignments.

For students who are new to studying in the UK it is helpful to note the grading system used at LSE. At postgraduate level the following scale is used:

Students should note that marks above 70 are very good, and anything in the high 70s is exceptional. LSE does not mark on a curve and grades cannot be 'negotiated'.