“I feel a little bit like they don’t understand me”

The LSE ‘has been ranked second in the world for social sciences for the third year in a row’ and is often referred to as a ‘global’, ‘elite’, ‘leading’ university due to its high-ranking position. It is claimed that such universities are occupied by high-scoring school-leaver students carefully selected from among the many well-qualified applicants who come disproportionality from the upper end of the socio-economic scale. However, this is not always the case. The LSE is also home to students not from professional or elite family backgrounds. I thought it would be interesting to understand a bit more about what students attending an ‘elite’ university, such as the LSE, feel about the relationship between their class, gender, race and ability to succeed. To help me answer these questions, I spoke to a current LSE student and heard what she had to say.