Coronavirus FAQs for prospective applicants

LSE does not usually participate in Clearing or Adjustment processes. Should vacancies become available via these routes after A level results day in August, information will be published on our webpages.

We are taking advice from exam boards and anticipate that they will take this disruption into account when awarding grades. We will also refer to the information supplied in your UCAS Reference to gain a greater understanding of the disruption caused to the teaching provision at your school/college.

UCAS have announced that the January equal consideration date for undergraduate applications will be the last Wednesday in January.

For 2022 entry and deferred 2023 entry, the on-time equal consideration deadline is Wednesday 26 January 2022 at 18:00 (UK time).

More information is available on the UCAS website. 

All applicants to our LLB Laws programme are required to sit the Law National Admissions Test (LNAT).

The LNAT is classified as 'testing for essential purposes' and therefore Pearson VUE-owned and operated Pearson Professional Centers test centres in many countries remain open.

Country specific testing information and safety measures can be accessed on the LNAT website. 

LSE requires students studying certain qualifications to complete the Undergraduate Admissions Assessment (UGAA) before a final decision can be made on their application. If you are required to take the UGAA, LSE will invite you to sit the assessment. 

The assessment is usually held in the first week of March. Please see our Undergraduate Admissions Assessment (UGAA) page for information about the assessment. 

Following the cancellation of this year’s summer exams, Ofqual and the Department for Education have announced that grades will be based on teacher assessment, with teachers supported in making decisions with guidance and training from exam boards. We will continue to assess candidates based on predicted grades supplied by the school/college, and will use teacher assessed grades as the basis for our confirmation decisions. We continue to work with UCAS, exam boards, schools and the rest of the university sector to make the necessary arrangements for our applicants.

We are also closely monitoring the situation with schools overseas and their exam boards. 

The Department for Education has advised that private candidates or candidates studying a qualification independently, will need to work with a school, college or exam centre in order to receive a centre assessed grade. Candidates will be required to provide a range of evidence, such as exam board provided assessment materials, existing work or mock exam results, to enable teachers to determine a grade. Private candidates should receive their grades at the same time as other candidates. Please refer to the information here for more detailed information on how qualifications will be awarded in 2021. 

Whilst LSE does consider applications from private or independent candidates, please note that applicants who are unable to provide predicted grades may be disadvantaged in the selection process. In the absence of predicted grades provided by an individual who is familiar with your academic performance, it will be more difficult for LSE to make a judgement on the suitability of your academic profile and the likelihood of you meeting our usual standard offer requirements. Where predicted grades are not available, applicants will be assessed on their existing education profile (such as GCSEs or equivalent), their Personal Statement and UCAS Reference. 

If you are still at school/college but studying one or more subjects independently, in some cases private tutors may be able to provide predicted grades. 

If you are unhappy with a calculated grade received in summer 2021 and subsequently decide to sit the exams in autumn 2021, we will not consider them as re-sits and you will not be disadvantaged. You are expected to sit the exam at the earliest available opportunity, i.e Autumn 2021. 

Please refer to the publications on the gov.uk website for more information relating to the awarding of GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in the academic year 2020 to 2021.

Applicants should still be predicted to meet the entry requirements stated on our programme pages. 

As we anticipate that exam boards will take disruption caused by COVID-19 into account when awarding grades, we would expect that you attain a grade 6 in English Language and a grade 6 in Mathematics (this requirement may be higher for some programmes).

It is not necessary to provide proof of English language proficiency at the time of application. This does not form part of our assessment process. If you are made an offer for one of our programmes and we require an English language qualification, we will request this as part of your offer conditions. Please see our English Language webpages for details of acceptable qualifications and the required scores:
Undergraduate English Language requirements
Graduate English Language requirements

Visit our accommodation COVID-19 pages to find out more about the current measures in place to ensure the safety of our students. 

Propsective applicants and offer holders are advised to consult our International Student Visa Advice Team's COVID-19 advice page.

There are a number of enhanced health and safety measures in place on campus and in halls of residence to help make LSE COVID-secure. This includes social distancing, mandatory wearing of face coverings in School buildings and designated campus areas (unless exempt) and our LSE Track and Trace system. For the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year, all compulsory teaching, learning and assessments will be delivered online.

Please visit our COVID-19 FAQ page for current LSE students for more detailed information. 

Prospective students and applicants with long-term conditions who have questions or concerns about their wellbeing whilst studying at LSE are welcome to contact the Disability and Wellbeing Service.

LSE is committed to offering you the best possible teaching and learning experience within the constraints of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Our expectation for the 2021-22 academic year is that all LSE students will be in London and studying on campus, where we will provide flexible teaching and learning which blends both in-person and online elements. This flexible approach has been informed by our student and academic community and builds upon the innovations and improvements we have put in place over the past year. 

We aim to run in-person teaching for the vast majority of seminars and classes, alongside face-to-face community-building and networking activities. You will also have opportunities to interact with fellow students and academic faculty outside of the classroom in LSE’s many social spaces, halls of residence, cafés and Students’ Union societies. The Library, support services and all campus buildings will be open for you to use and enjoy. 

Larger group teaching, such as lectures, will be largely delivered online, either synchronously or asynchronously. Some other aspects of your programme may also be online but, when this happens, we will always prioritise opportunities for interactive engagement between students. Department and programme teams will develop the balance of their teaching, learning and assessment to enable you to learn effectively and benefit from your programmes of study. It may be possible to deliver more lectures in-person in the Lent Term.  

Students are expected to arrive in London from the start of their programme for in-person teaching. However, some students may, exceptionally, not be able to arrive in London at the start of their studies due to coronavirus travel restrictions. If this were to affect you, we will support you by offering flexible arrangements at the beginning of Michaelmas Term. However, students should aim to arrive in London as soon as possible to join their programmes for in-person teaching.  

We expect the government to share more guidance about social distancing and COVID safety measures in the coming weeks as we follow the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown. Our priority remains the health and wellbeing of our community and our flexible approach to teaching and learning means that we will be able to flex and adapt our campus to the evolving COVID situation. We will provide further updates to our approach to teaching and learning as government advice is issued. 

More information about LSE’s flexible approach to teaching and learning and how we are keeping our community safe can be found on our website.  

19 April 2021

Yes! We are running a number of online events for prospective students and offer holders. Visit our Virtual Undergraduate Open Day, Virtual Undergraduate Offer Holders' Day, Virtual Graduate Open Day, join a Discovery Session, listen to a webinar or talk to us on Live Chat. Use our events finder to view upcoming events.