The School appoints examiners to prepare and mark the Undergraduate Admissions Assessment (UGAA), designed to test use of evidence, written communication skills and numeracy. The UGAA is conducted as an online examination.

The purpose of the Undergraduate Admissions Assessment

The Undergraduate Admissions Assessment is used to fairly assess applicants from non-traditional educational backgrounds or those applying with qualifications we do not recognise for direct entry. It provides an opportunity to see a trial of the applicant’s original work, produced under examination conditions, and seeks to assess applicants in a fair and equitable manner.

There are several reasons why applicants need to be tested in this way:

• the applicant has no recent or relevant record of study and examination i.e. within three years of the proposed programme start date 

• the applicant’s qualifications are acceptable but only in conjunction with the UGAA

Key dates

The Undergraduate Admissions Assessment usually takes place at the end of March. 

Applicants who are required to sit the Undergraduate Admissions Assessment will be notified in March, as soon as details have been finalised.

The assessment is three hours long with is two sections: an essay question; and mathematical problems. It is not an assessment of general knowledge.

There are two different Mathematics papers. Depending on the programme you are applying for, you will take either :  Mathematics for non quantitative programmes without a Maths requirement OR Mathematics for quantitative programmes with a Maths requirement.

Applicants applying for LLB Laws (M100) will not be asked to sit the UGAA. 

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William A. Galston writes the weekly Politics & Ideas column in the Wall Street Journal. He holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a senior fellow. Before joining Brookings in January 2006, he was Saul Stern Professor and Acting Dean at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal. A participant in six presidential campaigns, he served from 1993 to 1995 as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy.

Mr. Galston is the author of 10 books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics. His most recent books are The Practice of Liberal Pluralism (Cambridge, 2004), Public Matters (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), and Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (Yale, 2018). A winner of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey Award, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

Medical mistakes are all too common in hospitals, but you might not hear much about them from patients themselves. For one thing, many victims and their families, understandably, don't want to talk publicly about painful memories. And even if they do, they're often prevented from speaking out by gag orders or sealed legal settlements.

That's unfortunate, says Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project. "The best cure for medical harm is full disclosure," she says.

Before you tell your story, follow these steps to protect yourself:

Get prompt medical attention. A trusted primary care doctor, for example, can help you decide how to proceed. Or see an independent doctor for another look. If you suspect a friend or family member is in danger, call a meeting with all of her or his doctors.

Get a copy of your medical records. They belong to you and can help you and your other doctors understand what happened, and what needs to happen. Your physician, or the hospital's records department, can help you obtain a complete copy, including medical summaries, doctor and nursing notes, test results, and diagnostic images. Note that you might have to pay for copies. If you believe that someone died from hospital harm, ask for an autopsy, to determine the most likely cause of death. Hospitals don't always do them automatically, but the person's next of kin or the legally responsible party can request one. Because autopsies help doctors learn more about illness and ways to Excellerate medical care, autopsies are usually performed without charge. Although you have the right to pay for an independent one on your own.

Report the problem. Only about 14 percent of medical harm events are reported by hospital staff, according to federal estimates. Make sure you tell your version of events to the hospital. Then contact:

• Your local or state health department.

• The Joint Commission, an organization that accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations.

• Your state's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, if you are a Medicare patient.

Don't pay. "You shouldn't have to pay for a mistake or its consequences," says John Santa, M.D. director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. For example, patients shouldn't be billed for treatment related to hospital error, such as treating a broken hip after a preventable fall in the hospital.

Consider hiring a lawyer. Medical malpractice has a high standard of proof, and attorneys might reject your case. But a lawyer can also help you negotiate with hospitals over medical bills or compensation agreements, even if you aren't considering legal action.

Tell others about your experience. If you have been harmed in the hospital, we encourage you to consider sharing your story with our Safe Patient Project. Consumers Union's advocates use those patient experiences to help push for legislative and regulatory changes. ProPublica, an independent newsroom that has also written extensively about patient safety, also maintains a database of patient stories. In addition, it recently started a Patient Harm Community on Facebook.

1. What are the usual standard offer requirements? 

A*AA – AAB at A level / 37 – 38 IB points with 666 or 766 at HL. Visit our entry requirements and international students pages for details of alternative accepted qualifications.  

2. How do you use contextual information?

For Home/UK applicants, we also use contextual information to gain a more complete picture of the educational and individual context of an applicant. 

The selector may use this information in the following ways:

- to make an applicant a standard offer where the applicant’s academic record (eg, GCSEs/AS levels or equivalent) or personal statement may be marginally less competitive than the cohort overall

- to make an applicant a standard offer where the applicant is predicted marginally below the usual entry requirements

- when making confirmation decisions for offer holders that have marginally failed to meet the entry criteria (usually this means one grade below the standard entry requirements)

- to make a contextual offer, where the contextual offer is one or two grades lower than the standard offer for the programme. Any mathematics requirement must still be met.

Visit our Admissions Information page for more detailed information. 

3. Are there any interviews or admissions tests?

LSE does not interview for any of our degree programmes. All LLB Laws applicants are required to take the LNAT (National Admissions Test for Law), and the TMUA (Test of Mathematics for University Admission) is recommended for our maths degree programmes. Please see our Applying to LSE page for more information.  

4. How competitive is it to get a place at LSE? 

Overall applications to places ratio = 13:1 

Economics 17:1 
Government/Philosophy 16:1 
Law 15:1 

Each of our programme pages list the application/offer/registration data for the previous application cycle.  

5. Can students apply to more than one programme at LSE? 

Students can apply to more than one degree at LSE, however they will only be able to submit one personal statement. The programmes will therefore need to be closely related to enable the applicant to show sufficient interest and enthusiasm for their chosen discipline. Applicants are only eligible to receive one offer in the same admissions cycle, so are advised to think carefully about whether applying to multiple courses at one institution is the most effective use of their UCAS application. 

6. Is a student more likely to be made an offer if they apply early on in the application cycle? 

No. All applications received by the UCAS January deadline are treated equally. Applications received early on in the cycle may therefore be held as part of a ‘gathered field’ to ensure that the students we make offers to are the best fit for their chosen programme, rather than simply the first to apply.

7. Do you consider deferred entry? 

LSE is happy to consider applications from students who are taking a gap year. We would encourage them to briefly outline how they intend to spend the year in their personal statement. If the student is applying for a quantitative course, providing an indication of how they intend to maintain or refresh their mathematical knowledge during their gap year is helpful. Students can also request a deferral after they have been made an offer. Whilst the Undergraduate Admissions team will try to accommodate these requests, it is not guaranteed.  

8. Is there an age requirement? 

We can consider applications from students who will be under 18 at the time of registration. Details of successful candidates under the age of 18 at the time of registration will be communicated to the relevant academic departments and the senior adviser to students. This enables the School to consider putting in place reasonable adjustments or conditions of study to protect the interests of one or more parties, including those of the applicant. Notification of the School’s policy for under 18s is included as part of the standard offer letter. Halls of residence will also be notified.  

9. What is LSE doing to widen participation? 

Our Widening Participation Team run a number of projects for students attending non-selective state schools and colleges, designed to raise aspirations and encourage progression to higher education. Our Access and Participation Plan details our commitment to improving access to, and success within, the School for those groups currently underrepresented at LSE and in the wider HE sector. 

10. Can a student drop a subject after they’ve been made an offer? 

Please ask the student to contact the Undergraduate Admissions team before they drop any subject – even if it has not been included in their offer conditions. Offers are made based on the information supplied on the UCAS form, therefore any changes in study circumstances will need to be re-assessed. An admissions selector will consider the request and we aim to provide a final decision within two weeks.  

11. Is there a quota for international students? 

The number of student places at the School is determined through the School’s capacity to teach them. The School meets this requirement by setting caps on the number of UK and overseas students on each programme of study. This system therefore involves two selection processes for each programme (i.e. one for home students, and another for overseas students). LSE receives many more applications from highly qualified candidates than there are places available. In 2021, we received around 26,000 applications for 1,700 places. The level of competition for places is intense, and therefore, the School is unable to make offers to many of these highly qualified candidates. 

12. Is there a limit to how many students you can accept from one school? 

No. Each applicant is assessed based on their individual academic merit, personal statement and UCAS reference. We do not have a set limit of places per school or college.  

13. How do I communicate extenuating circumstances to LSE? 

Please complete the online Extenuating Circumstances form.