Unlocking Opportunities at LSE Summer School

In 2024, I attended LSE Summer School, where I was fortunate enough to receive the Academic Director’s Scholarship under the Responsible Leadership category. In this blog, I will share some tips that helped me land the scholarship, as well as how I made the most of my time studying and living abroad.

Scholarship Application Tips

It's no surprise scholarship applications can be challenging – it's hard to know exactly what to write and how to write it. In this blog, I wanted to share three actionable tips that I used when filling in the scholarship application to help you with yours.

To start, reflect on your leadership experience, community impact and motivations. Yes, pretty standard, but these will be key topics of your application. Importantly, think about your experiences and link them to the category of the scholarship you are applying for. In my case, for the category of Responsible Leadership, I focused on my passion to innovate and solve problems surrounding energy sustainability.

Secondly, think carefully about your story. The person assessing your application does not want to read a list of your achievements. Instead, you want to create a compelling story and illustrate how each experience contributes to a bigger picture. In my application, I talked about how a business competition in high school sparked my love for solving problems in a business context. I then connected my passion for start-ups with my desire to create impact, which stemmed from leading a consulting group to develop an Aboriginal youth leadership centre for a non-for-profit.

Even from just this brief description, my story and motivations are made obvious.

Lastly, align your response with the LSE 2030 vision. The reader wants to see that you want to shape the world, which should be made evident with your experiences and ultimately your motivations. The three priorities of LSE 2030 include educating for impact, research for the world and developing LSE for everyone. Reflect on how these priorities align with your experiences and passions.

Ultimately, the scholarship made it possible to enjoy the best of London given the reduced financial burdens. But more importantly, the application itself made me consider how I can align my mindset to the qualities LSE Summer School seeks to instil in their students.

Leadership, future thinking and impact. This shaped my approach to learning, thus maximising my academic experience. But regardless of your outcome, the application itself is a great way to reflect on your experiences and passions!

How to Maximise your experience at LSE Summer School

Whether you are considering applying for the scholarship or not, you’ll want to start thinking about how to make the most of everything on offer at Summer School. I recall touching down at Gatwick Airport after a 28-hour flight from Sydney, Australia. It was all so surreal - the big red buses, posh accents and historical landmarks. I vowed to make the most of my time in London, and I did - here’s some tips to make sure you maximise your LSE experience.

Travel London by bike - Every morning, I rented a Santander bike, and cycled from my LSE accommodation (Carr-Saunders) to campus. Though it took me a couple of days to familiarise myself with the road rules, it was my favourite way to start the day. Being able to ride past iconic landmarks and witness the hustle and bustle of London was absolutely surreal.

Get out there! - During class, I would introduce myself to as many people as possible. By the end of the first week, we had formed a large, diverse group of students! We would all grab lunch during our breaks in between lectures and tutorials, and the beauty of it was that everyone was welcome to tag along. As we all shared our unique cultures, favourite musical artists and snippets of our languages, it was made clear that everyone is in the same shoes as you, wanting to make the most of their study abroad experience. Beyond the classroom, I signed up for several Spark workshops and social events, which focused on both professional skills and having fun around the UK. These were great ways to meet new people outside of class, experience guided events such as day tours of Cambridge and upskill in various relevant topics like AI.

Outside class, you have the freedom to enjoy the mostly great weather in London - the European summer! The sun will set late, and I mean very late (21:00). This makes for an ideal and lengthy downtime. Alongside LSE friends, we would occasionally organise dinners or social activities. This was a great way to properly explore the best of London, and create lasting connections with people all across the world. Some of my favourite memories included watching the 2024 Euro Cup at a pub, taking selfies outside of Buckingham Palace and hiking the White Cliffs of Dover - all with the company of fellow Summer School students. I also had the opportunity of doing two weekend trips to Amsterdam and Copenhagen!

LSE Summer School was truly an amazing experience, filled with lifelong memories and friendships. The quality of your time really depends on your effort - being proactive by socialising and saying yes to opportunities will open doors to so many new relationships and memories.

But if you prefer to fly solo, the city is full of things you can do on your own - whether you want to explore night markets, famous cafes and even go on day trips, London is never short of an experience.

So, my final advice to maximising your time at LSE Summer School comes down to this - say yes to opportunities and savour every moment. Seems pretty generic, but these simple words allowed me to make the most of my experience, which I can safely say was one of the highlights of my life!

 

This blog was written by one of our 2024 Student Ambassadors, who are here to share their stories and help you understand the summer school experience at LSE.