Supporting 2nd year undergraduate students

In the second year of undergraduate study (for some in first year), students will now have the ability to choose some of their courses. As their Academic Mentor, students will be coming to you for advice on what to take. Therefore, it is important that you have a good knowledge of the content of courses available to your students. This can help students make informed decisions and increase their likelihood of a successful and enjoyable academic year. Students will make their decisions through LSE for You. Here is how the course selection process usually looks:

1. You discuss course choice with your students and take note of their preferences.

2. You advise your student to enter the choices into LSE for You as soon as possible.

3. You then check LSE for You and approve the choices if they are within the programme regulations.

4. If a student chooses an unlisted course (e.g., one from outside the programme regulations), you should add comments to justify the approval of the course. The Departmental Tutor will also need to approve the course choices in these circumstances.

5. You shouldn’t approve any course choices that haven’t been discussed with your student.

6. Students can make further changes until the system closes, and you will receive an email to approve each of these changes.

7. A timetable will be automatically generated in LSE for You by the advertised date, usually at the end of week 3 for undergraduates and week 2 for postgraduates.

If a student has a timetable clash, their timetable won’t appear on LSE for You. They will have to make appointments to their selection or complete a timetable class approval form, available from the Departmental Tutor.

Students in their second year have had a chance to develop a better understanding of expectations of university study and how they tackle their assessments. However, in the second year, the results of their assessments will have a larger impact on their degree classification. Therefore, it may be worth reviewing with students what they have learned from the feedback from assessments in their first year to apply to upcoming assessments.

You could use questions like the ones below to help guide the conversation:

• How did you do in your assessments? Were your results what you expected? (Why / why not?)
• What kind of feedback have you received on your assessment?
• What were the strengths of your work?
• Were you told about any areas for improvement? How could you work on these?
• Do you understand what you need to do to improve next time?

In the second year, many students that had been living in halls will be living in Private Rented accommodation. They may need support that is no longer offered through LSE Residences. If this is the case, students can contact the LSESU Advice team or the University of London Housing Service for information, advice and casework.

Beyond LSE, students in rented accommodation can seek information and advice from organisations such as:

Shelter: a national housing and homelessness charity who can advise on rental rights

The UK Government: on local services and renting, as well as Council and Housing Association housing

Citizens Advice: further information on all areas of housing 

The second year of study is a good time for your students to develop areas beyond studying and attending classes. There are many ways for your students to get involved, gain experience, meet new people and prepare for life after LSE. 

• LSE GROUPS allows undergraduate students to gain experience of completing an interdisciplinary research project.
• There are several student mentorship programmes that students can join to develop their leadership skills. They could become an LSE Peer Supporter which could help them develop skills and support other students in the LSE community. LSE LIFE also runs a Student Academic Mentoring programme where second year students support first year students transition into academic study. Finally, students can be an Off Campus Support Mentor where your students would help first year students who don’t live in halls connect with each other.
• LSESU offers societies, sports, media and RAG as well as opportunities to get involved in representing other students in School meetings as a Course Rep.
• LSE Volunteering offers a range of different volunteering options and supports students to gain experience and support local communities.
• Students may also be undertaking paid part time work and may wish to discuss this with you, particularly if it's causing timetabling difficulties.

Many students will want to undertake an internship while at LSE. These offer an opportunity to engage with hands on, ‘real world’ experience and to see how the study of a discipline looking in a professional context. LSE has a variety of schemes that students can apply to, and it is worth discussing them with students who are keen. 

Some advice to offer students who are considering applying for internships:

1. Pay attention to deadlines.

2. Begin the application process early to give you plenty of time to ensure you are happy with what you submit.

3. Balance your applications with your LSE work- you do still need to complete assignments while you’re applying.

4. Remember that with certain internships, such as Spring Week, students will be studying for exams at the same time as the internship.

5. It's a valid choice not to seek an internship and you will still be able to get a good job even if you don't undertake one.

There are a variety of internships available including LSE Parliamentary Internships, Santander University Internships, LSE Graduate Internships, and Spring Week Banking Internships. For further information and help on how to apply for these, students are encouraged to speak to an LSE Careers Adviser.