2010international

Hi, I did my MSc at LSE as well, so maybe I could be helpful. I don't know that there is any minimum threshold, and i think it's much more about you overall (ie work ex, publications, statement of purpose etc) than just being confined to GRE and your grades at LSE. that said, i would think that if you're aiming for top 25 then you should probably be aiming at 65+ to make a strong case for yourself. i don't think a low merit would have that kind of a cache, just because about 80% of the MSc students at LSE get a merit anyway, so the higher up in the 60s you can manage, the better (ie upper 60s - since distinctions are notoriously difficult. i remember in my department only one out of about 75 got a distinction). however, a MSc grade of 60+ would probably be countered for by great and relevant work ex (or a very strong dissertation grade, especially if your area of interest at the PhD level is very linked to your dissertation topic). hope this helps!

financial aid

My summer is kind of cut into three distinct blocks. June: holiday (yes!) - so just a lot of lazing around, spending time with family, reading, watching movies and so on July: work for a month (back to the place where I am currently working). August: first two weeks: relax etc again, and then go off to grad school. I'm someone who needs a schedule for everything, so I was actually kind of freaking out about having this 1/1.5 months off during the summer. But I am so happy about it now - I am literally dreaming of lovely sunny days, reading by a lake/river and just doing whatever I please. That said, I have looked at the '10 books every sociology student should read this summer' thread and since I am not from a soc background I feel like I def should read at least some of them. So I'm trying to figure out what a good balance would be. I know I'm going to be reading a lot of soc stuff over the next five years so a part of me wants to wait until sept to start, but the other part is terrified of falling behind...

love life

pink eye

That's a pretty hostile comment there. I don't think this is either so very audacious (ie. asking to be paid for working - is it really so audacious?) or illustrative of a sense of 'entitlement'. I would say it's a very practical way of going about things - since funding grad school for 5 (or even 2 or 3) years would be a major undertaking. I personally would not have considered a PhD at all if I had to pay for it, just because the kinds of employment I can get afterward don't guarantee that I could pay off my debts. I would hate to leave school with debt sitting on my head for 10 years. Not to mention the fact that one would be accruing this debt while working really hard. That seems like a loose loose situation to me. One way of looking at grad school is as a (low paying) job, if seen in this way the comment makes perfect sense.

no grounds

elephant man

two minds

hot box

drive in

fresh faced

heart break

This may be a little off-topic, but I thought I'd ask here anyway. I've come across mentions of stuff like 'Dropbox' and 'Zotero' as well as 'Endnotes' and so on - programmes which seemed to be designed to assist in note-taking/collating and so on. They sound like they would be useful, but I have VERY limited knowledge of anything beyond the basics- like word, excel and powerpoint. I want to explore my options for digital note-taking (I have a MacBook Pro) and was wondering what programmes you all would recommend (for someone trying to bridge the gap from handwritten notes to electronic) as a starting point. Any info on the prices/how to get the programmes etc would be great too!

This is ridiculous. To score in the top 10% for math you would need to get an 800. And since you are applying for English - this is highly irrelevant (even in the social sciences, where math is required, but not that much - the given reason would be utterly ludicrous). I think they have given a bogus reason for why they denied you admission, and if I were in your place, i would bring this to light and ask to be told the actual reason.