Information for General Course offer holders

You should accept or decline your offer to study with us online via your LSE for You account. We must receive the form to officially record your acceptance of our offer. 

• If you do not receive an invite to set up your LSE for You account within two weeks of receiving an offer, please email gc@lse.ac.uk (include your LSE ID number) for support.
• Accepting your offer is not binding, and should you subsequently wish to decline your offer before registration you will be able to do so without incurring any penalty.
• There is no formal deadline for accepting your offer, however until you have accepted we cannot continue processing your application which may delay sending important documents.

We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with a number of key sources of information.

• The General Course Offer Pack is your essential guide to finding answers to frequently asked questions and learning more about what to expect during your programme.
• The LSE Welcome Guide provides information on what to expect once you arrive in the UK and at LSE. These pages will be updated for the 2021-22 academic year over the summer.
• LSE's Coronavirus response webpages provide up-to-date information and advice on LSE's COVID safety measures.

In your offer email we may have let you know that we need additional or official copies of certain documents. It is essential that you provide these as soon as possible as you won't be able to register as an LSE student until we have received and approved them.

• Check your offer email and ensure that we receive all outstanding documents as soon as possible. 
• Send official documents and transcripts directly from your institution or study abroad adviser. This includes transcript services such as Parchment or National Student Clearinghouse.
• Any requested documents should be sent to gc@lse.ac.uk.
• We cannot accept hard copy documents

LSE accommodation:

All General Course students who have accepted their offer and made their accommodation booking by the deadline of 10 June 2021 (extended from 31 May 2021) are guaranteed a place in LSE or University of London accommodation (subject to availability).

Though the deadline for guaranteed housing has passed, you can still make an application and may be placed on a waiting list until a room becomes available.

• Browse and learn more about our available student accommodation on the accommodation webpages.
• Apply for accommodation using the LSE Student Accommodation System.
• You must have accepted your offer in order to be considered for guaranteed accommodation.
• Plan to arrive in London and move into your accommodation by Sunday 19th September 2021. If you are required to self-isolate after your arrival in the UK you should plan to arrive earlier so you can join in-person events on campus on Monday 20 September.

Private accommodation:

General Course students can also opt to find housing in the private sector.

• If you wish to live in private accommodation, please visit our accommodation pages for further information and advice.

• Applications are open from 1 February 2021 and close on 1 June 2021.
• Apply by downloading and completing the General Course Scholarship Form (PDF). If you have any queries please email gc@lse.ac.uk.
• Please ensure that you read the guidance on the last page of the application form.
• Please return your application form, including an academic reference (this can be the same as one used on your initial GC application), by email to financial-support@lse.ac.uk. We cannot accept hard copy applications.

The Financial Undertaking Form (FUF) tells us who will be paying your LSE tuition fee.

• You will receive an email requesting that you complete the FUF. Please complete the form as soon as possible once you receive it, as this informs us who should receive the invoice.
• Please speak with your study abroad advisor prior to completing the form if you are unsure of how your LSE tuition fee will be paid.
• If you are applying for scholarships or financial aid, you will still need to complete the form so that we can invoice the correct person. Fill out the details regardless of potential funding, and this can be taken into account if it is granted.
• You will need to fill out this form before we can issue your CAS number (see 'Applying for a visa' below), which you will need for your visa application.

Obtaining a visa:

The General Course team is not legally permitted to give you advice on obtaining a visa to enter the UK.

Visit the LSE International Student Visa Advice Team (ISVAT) webpages for information about visas. If you have any questions regarding visas then please contact ISVAT by completing their online enquiry form.

Your CAS number:

Receiving a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number is essential before you can complete your visa application. In order to be able to receive your CAS by the earliest possible issue date, ensure that you meet the following criteria:

• You hold an unconditional offer.
• You have accepted your offer on LSE for You.
• You have returned a scanned copy of your passport photo page to gc@lse.ac.uk (we will email you to request this in the coming months).
• You have completed the Financial Undertaking Form.

To help us better plan for the coming academic session, we require all General Course offer holders to confirm their course preferences prior to the formal course registration period in September.

• You will be emailed and asked to complete an online survey to indicate your course preferences. These will then be reviewed and you will be contacted over the summer months should we have any comments or concerns. 
• The courses you select at this stage will be used to allocate you to an academic department at LSE.
• Please note that your course preferences are not guaranteed. However, we will do everything possible to ensure that you can join your preferred courses.
• You will be asked in early September to officially register for your chosen courses.
• When making your final course choices please consult the Undergraduate Course Catalogue and the additional guidance provided on course levels and economics options.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that the courses you have chosen fit with your home university’s academic requirements. It is the responsibility of your home institution to determine whether credit will be awarded.

You are eligible for National Health Service (NHS) treatment once you have paid the compulsory immigration health surcharge.

• For information about access to healthcare while in the UK, please visit our healthcare in the UK webpage.
• You may be exempt from paying the immigration health surcharge if you meet certain criteria. Visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website for further information.

Even if you are entitled to free NHS healthcare during your time in the UK, you may like to take out private health insurance. Private health services are often able to offer treatment faster than if you went through the NHS.

There are many companies who provide private healthcare insurance, but LSE is unable to make recommendations about the best provider for your needs. 

Traffic light system

Currently, a red, amber, green traffic light system is in use across the UK to guide what you must do before and on your arrival into the UK.

You must follow the guidance on international travel and quarantine as appropriate when travelling to the UK.

It’s important that you understand what entry requirements you will need to adhere to when travelling from another country into the UK, particularly if you will be travelling from a red- or amber- listed country.

Travel to the UK is permitted for those entering on a Student Visa. This applies to all countries including those on the red list.

Please follow the latest government guidance published on the gov.uk website.

• Latest government guidance on entry to the UK
• Red, amber and green list rules for entering and quarantine in the UK

Travelling from/through a ‘red list’ country

All international arrivals coming into UK airports from red-listed countries must now book and pay for managed isolation in quarantine hotels to help protect against the importation of COVID-19.

Information on which countries are on the UK's 'red list' can be found on the UK government website.

If you are arriving into the UK, regardless of your final destination within the UK, and have visited or passed through a red list country, you will be required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel. You will need to book and pay for this independently using the link below.

• Booking a quarantine hotel

The Managed Quarantine Package costs £2,285 for a single person and includes 10 full days (11 nights) including food, beverages, transfers, security and two Covid tests.

Updates to the ‘red list’

The following countries will move from the UK government’s travel ‘red list’  to the ‘amber list’ at 4.00am on Wednesday 22 September:

• Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey

If you have booked a place in a Managed Quarantine Facility hotel for 22 September or afterwards, please contact CTM, the booking agency, directly at

• Phone: +44(0) 207 429 9732
• Email: quarantine.hotels@travelctm.com

If you are arriving into the UK from an amber or green list country and have not been in a red list country for 10 or more days prior to your arrival in the UK you are not required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel.

What is the latest UK government advice on vaccinations?

It is really important that you get the COVID-19 vaccination when you are offered it. The vaccine offers you the best protection against catching the virus and is one of the best ways to help stop the pandemic.

The UK government does not require students to have had a COVID-19 vaccination before entering the UK and LSE does not require students to have had a COVID-19 vaccination before arriving on campus. However, if you are able to get the vaccination in your home town or country before travelling to London for the start of term we strongly encourage you to do that.

The UK is now offering vaccinations to everyone over 18 at local sites run by General Practitioners (doctors) or community pharmacies, at larger vaccination centres and in some hospitals. If you are unable to get your vaccination before you arrive at LSE you should do so as soon as possible after you arrive.

Information on how students can get their COVID vaccination can be found on this NHS FAQs for students in higher education institutions.

Applying for deferred payment for hotel quarantine

If you will find it difficult to pay for the Managed Quarantine Package fee immediately, you can apply for ‘deferred payment due to financial hardship’ as a student with a visa to study in the UK. To find out how to do this, please click on the link at the very bottom of the quarantine hotel booking page. This is the section of the Booking page which says: If you are facing financial hardship and unable to pay immediately - find more details here.

On arrival, you must quarantine in the hotel you’ve booked for 10 days. If you test positive for COVID-19 while in quarantine, you may need to quarantine for longer.

You should book your quarantine package in good time so that you can campus enrol at LSE for the start of your studies.

Means-tested financial support for students from red list countries

LSE has a means-tested In-Course Support fund available for registered students who face unexpected financial hardship once they have enrolled at the School. 

LSE students from red-listed countries who face financial difficulties, as a result of paying for the hotel quarantine arrangements, can apply for a £700 award towards these costs. These awards will be means-tested and students can apply once you have completed your quarantine period and have campus-enrolled at LSE.

Details of how to apply will be published in August.

Our expectation for the 2021 / 22 academic year is that all LSE students will be in London and studying on campus, where many of your learning experiences will be in-person, supplemented by some online elements. This approach has been informed by our student and academic community, building upon the innovations and improvements we have put in place over the past year.

From the start of Michaelmas Term 2021, we anticipate the following to be in place:

• We will deliver all compulsory teaching and learning activity in person, including seminars, tutorials, workshops, classes and Harvard style teaching sessions. However, there may be occasional rare circumstances, which must be well-justified, where we may need to move an activity online.
• We are not planning to have mandated social distancing in classrooms. However, we are prepared to reintroduce this if the need arises.
• The standard expectation is that other types of staff-student engagement will take place in-person on campus. These include office hours and academic mentoring.
• Some other aspects of your programme may also be online but when this happens, we will always prioritise on-campus opportunities for interactive engagement.

Lecture arrangements for Michaelmas Term 2021

• Lectures, which are non-compulsory, will normally be delivered online - either synchronously or asynchronously. We will aim to deliver a small number of lectures in-person.
• All lectures, whether in-person or online, will be recorded for your benefit.
• It may be possible to deliver more lectures in-person in Lent Term and we will continue to explore this.
• This approach towards lectures means that, should we need to reintroduce social distancing measures, we would be able to continue providing face-to-face class and seminar teaching for a much larger number of courses in-person on campus. This will also enable us to use these spaces for community building, networking activities as well as peer and faculty engagement while these measures are not in place.

Coming to campus for Michaelmas Term 2021

• We expect General Course students to join us on campus in London for the start of Welcome, Monday 20 September. Term starts on Monday 27 September.
• However, we understand that due to exceptional circumstances outside of your control, such as visas or local COVID challenges, you may not be able to arrive at this time.
• If this is the case, we will continue to support you remotely during the first few weeks of term before your arrival. We will aim to offer hybrid teaching to ensure your experience at LSE is maintained despite other delays outside of your control.
• You will still need to come to London for your studies which will include in-person components for all students, and you should aim to arrive within a few weeks of the start of term, enrolling by 22 October at the latest.

• The School may be able to offer some flexibility to this deadline for students who face significant extenuating circumstances beyond their control. If you think your arrival at LSE might be delayed by a few days beyond 22 October, as a result of significant extenuating circumstances, please contact us. 

Maintaining a low-risk environment and preparing for future scenarios

• We will continue to monitor the situation and may extend the COVID-secure measures that we currently have in place or introduce further protocols if required, such as mask wearing in classrooms and lifts and negative testing requirements to enter LSE buildings.
• All staff and students will be strongly encouraged to wear masks in LSE buildings particularly in high-traffic or confined areas.
• We strongly encourage all General Course students to get fully vaccinated, if you are not already. We are working on plans to offer on-campus vaccinations via our St Phillips Medical Centre.
• To support students arriving from overseas, over the summer we will also be introducing Day 2 and Day 8 testing, to help students comply with government-imposed testing requirements for international travellers. At this stage, we do not expect to be able to provide managed quarantine facilities (“hotel quarantine”) for arrivals from countries included on the government’s red list for travel.
• We are also preparing for a range of scenarios that will allow us to flex our approach to teaching and learning swiftly and with minimum disruption to our community, should we need to respond to changing health advice over the winter months. You can read more about this online and we will continue to keep our community updated as we progress towards the start of term and beyond

Before you arrive, we'll be hosting informal sessions to help answer your questions and give you the opportunity to meet other General Course offer holders.

You can also look forward to our annual series of Destination LSE events, which allow offer holders from the same international region to connect before arriving at LSE.

Further information will be released in due course.

Join the General Course Offer Holders' Facebook group:

Joining the General Course Offer Holders' Facebook Group is a great way to network with your fellow classmates before and after you arrive on campus.

See more of life at LSE on social media:

To see what it's like to be a study abroad student at LSE, follow @LSE_GeneralCourse and #LSEStudyAbroad on Instagram.

Countdown to LSE

This short video covers everything you need to have done before arriving at LSE. Watch the video on YouTube.

Countdown to LSE

Offer Holders' Q&A Session: Friday 4 June 2021

Watch the recording of our Q&A session on YouTube.

Offer Holders' Q&A Session