An Overdue Update: Classes at LSE

Sorry that it took me so long to update! I'm hoping to start posting more regularly now. 

I just wrapped up my second week of classes at LSE. Much like Kalamazoo College, LSE operates on a quarter system of three ten week terms and then summer making the fourth quarter. Unlike K, you primarily take a single set of four classes that last you through all three of your quarters. The result is that each class ends up going into more depth than your typical semester or quarter long course. For example, LSE's year long introductory math course rolls together calc II, calc III, and linear algebra. Because signing up for a course is a year long commitment, students are encouraged to shop around a bit for the first two or even three weeks to make sure their courses are a good fit. Each course has two different kinds of meetings: classes and lectures. At lectures, the professor speaks to everyone signed up for the course. During class, the students meet with a class teacher (often different than the professor) and have discussions or turn/receive feedback on homework. Classes are capped at fifteen students, so there are often many different classes for a single course. Another difference between LSE and most US universities is that the third quarter is entirely about preparing for a big exam or final paper. Each course only meets a handful of times, and students spend the majority of the time studying independently while meeting with course teachers and lecturers to revise essays and ask questions. This final paper/exam makes up the entire grade for each course, so this time is generally a big deal. 

Anyways, the courses I've settled on are: History of Russia, Economic History of Africa, Game Theory, and Econometrics. A little about each:

History of Russia: 

I signed up for this course because it seemed unique from what's typically offered in the history department at K. We're covering the tsarist period from 1645-1825, not that I have a solid idea of what the different periods are in Russian history. It's a small course, so there's only one lecture and one class, both of which are taught by the same professor. There's a lot of reading for it, but I really enjoyed our first class discussion. 

Economic History of Africa:

LSE has an entire department for economic history, something that's pretty unique. I kind of picked Economic History of Africa at random from among the different economic history offerings, but it's turned out to be a very interesting choice. The field is relatively new and the data before 1960 (or even now, for that matter) is highly unreliable. Of course, the economic history of Africa raises many interesting questions ranging from the impact of the slave trade to why the continent's growth has generally lagged behind. The discipline itself is also interesting because you combine a historian's study of primary sources and broad historical trends with an economist's analysis of statistics and basic principles. 

Game Theory: 

This is a math course all about mathematizing scenarios where players are competing against each other. The most famous example of game theory is probably the Prisoner's Dilemma. While economists sometimes use game theory to model competing firms and political scientists use it to model competing countries, we're starting off with a more abstract game: Nim. Here's a video the professor showed us where some of the characters play Nim. I played it a bit with my friends and we got really into it, to the point where they could beat me pretty consistently (except now we've learned the formula for how to make the winning move, so it's not much competition anymore). The professor for the course is also my academic advisor and he seems really cool. When we first met, we ended up talking about our favorite board games, with him mentioning one I'd never heard of before, Wealth of Nations. I'm hoping I can get him to come to board game club sometime. 

More updates to come soon, hopefully! Check my facebook for pictures. 

First Week in London

Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I am in London now and have been for just over a week now.

First, a brief explanation of what I'm up to here. I'll be studying for the next nine months at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) as a part of their General Course (GC) program. The GC is made up entirely of students from outside the UK who come to LSE. Normal LSE undergraduates spend three years completing their degree and are kept on a very rigid track where most of the courses they take are set in stone. In contrast, GC students can take whatever courses they want (assuming they have the prereqs) from any department. At the end of this, we receive a GC diploma and are considered LSE alumni.

Of course, this past week hasn't been about all that academic stuff but rather getting to know people during the British equivalent of orientation, known as "Fresher's Week". I got myself settled into my dorm at High Holborn, a pretty lucky spot as it's less than a ten minute walk from the school.

The school did a good job providing plenty of opportunities to meet new people. Every night there were free drinks in the basement of the dorm and the school sponsored trips to specific clubs around the city every night. The clubs seemed to attract more of the Freshers crowd, but the drinks were a great for socializing and making plans for the night.

On Tuesday we had a GC boat crews down the Thames that went by the financial district. This sounds very cool in theory, and it was pretty fun, but the execution of the event could have been better. We were told after a 5:30 meeting to make it to the cruise by 6:00. This was in the middle of London rush hour, and the result was that many (myself included) didn't make it there until 7:00. Fortunately the boat left late, but there was still another problem: no one had eaten dinner. Although the boat provided some "nibbles", these soon ran out. Luckily, we all had two free drink tokens! The cruise ended up lasting 4 hours, and when we got off we discovered that just about everything closes in London at 11:00. We barely managed to find a Turkish place where we enjoyed some delicious kebabs. So, all's well that ends well.

I've been meeting a wide variety of interesting people. About 2/3 of GC students come from a US university, but of those students many come from abroad originally. I've met people from Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, China, Canada, India, Singapore, Mexico, and across the US. I'm surprised by how many people come from the coasts, especially schools in DC. I'm also surprised by how many people are interested in finance. I've met lots of other people studying math and economics who are planning on going into consulting or finance, but so far no others interested in pursuing a phd.

I've got more updates to come on my trip to Cumberland Lodge over the weekend as well as the start of my courses this week. Hopefully I'll be updating more regularly from here on out! Check out my facebook for photos.