LSE: Titmuss Prize

As you may have guessed, I’m still on a moderate high off of a mix of things: graduating from LSE + getting my ticket to London for next month + doing well in my exams. As if I couldn’t smile any bigger, I woke up to one of the most amazing emails today. I just got a new iPhone (more on that later) and, as such, I tend to check my email non-stop just because I can. En route to work this morning, I noticed that I had an email in my gmail inbox from LSE with the subject line: Loch Exhibition/Titmuss Awards (that’s slightly truncated… the actual subject line was entirely too long). Assuming this was a bulk email, I opened it with the intention of skimming through. I stopped about a half a second in when I realized that I hadn’t received a bulk email; rather, the email was specifically targeted to a handful of Social Policy students: the recipients of the department awards!

Now, I haven’t vocalized this for fear of sounding like a super geeky grad student, but once I received my scores, I wanted nothing more than to be nominated for one of these awards. Prior to starting grad school, I flipped through the Social Policy handbook ever-so-eagerly, reading about the school, the department and the coveted departmental awards. I remember being jealous of the previous winners and fantasizing about winning one of the awards in the future, knowing that the likelihood was slim and the competition was fierce. Fast forward to this morning. As I scrolled down the email, I was literally shaking and screaming. Me?! A recipient? I am still waiting to find out which prize I have specifically been awarded but it’s one of three available to my degree program:

The Titmuss Award for Outstanding Dissertation
The Titmuss Award for Outstanding Performance
The Loch Exhibition

Regardless of which I receive, I am beside myself with excitement and am marinating in utter shock and disbelief. Knowing the calibre of students in my program, I can honestly say that I feel so incredibly honored to have been selected. I am thrilled that I made the choice to return to London for graduation and am so excited to find out which prize I’ve won. Either way, this is the most delicious icing on the cake that was the LSE experience. I couldn’t be happier!

Love from CA,

More about Shannon Kircher

Shannon Kircher is the founder and editor of The Wanderlust Effect. Founded in 2009, she has continued to document her international escapes as an expat in Europe and the Caribbean. Additionally, Shannon is the founder of Compass & Vine, a luxury boutique travel design firm, and is the Director of Marketing for the Frangipani Beach Resort. Shannon holds an MSc in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and is a current candidate for WSET Level 3 in Wines & Spirits.