Hi guys,
it's Saemi here!
Today I'm going to walk you through what your academic year
is going to look like as a master's student at the LSE.
So once you arrive in London as a master student,
your one year is going to fly by,
and be ready for the challenge,
the exciting journey that's waiting for you.
I won't say it's going to be easy
but it's going to be incredibly rewarding and fun -
just be ready to dive in
and be open to all the amazing opportunities!
So first term dates!
If you look at masters' programmes at LSE
as one full year programme
your year is going to be divided into six parts.
First, Michaelmas Term,
Christmas Break;
and then Lent Term,
Easter Break;
and then Summer Term;
then your time to complete your dissertation!
So the arrival date is going to be different for everybody,
for those of you who plan to have a private housing
probably would need to get to London,
say a month earlier than the starting date of the Michaelmas Term.
So for the academic year of 2020 to 2021,
Michaelmas Term started from September 28th,
one term consists of 11 full weeks,
but in the middle, the sixth week, is usually the Reading Week,
and almost all Media and Communications core modules
would have the Reading Week,
both during the Michaelmas Term and the Lent Term.
But depending on what programme you are doing
some modules do not have the Reading Week;
and the Reading Week is the week that you have a little break
from all the seminars and lectures.
This one week is for students to catch up on any of the readings
that you might have missed
and usually right after the Reading Week,
you would have to submit a formative assignment.
In terms of assignments,
you are obliged to do one summative assessment for each course.
So formative assignment,
it's basically for you to show your work,
your understanding of the course,
to your course instructor or your professors,
and get feedback.
So some of the things that you need refinement on your work,
you can apply that to your summative assessment.
And the formative assignment does not count
towards your final mark for the course but the summative does!
After the Michaelmas Term
you have a month and a half long winter break;
for this year, from December 11th until January 18th.
And usually, a week before the Lent Term starts
that's the exam week;
so any exams or summative assessments
will be due during that time.
Then Lent term started from January 18th to April 1st,
it's the same as the Michealmas Term;
during the sixth week, we had a Reading Week,
and right now we have a month-long Easter Break,
which started from April 1st;
so I am working really hard on my summative assessments
which are mostly essays.
And the Summer Term is seven weeks long.
the Summer Term will start back on May 4th
and then it'll end on June 18th;
and during this time, you're going to design,
refine your research project for your dissertation
and you will have office hours for professors
to consult on your work.
And then from June 18th till the end of the academic year
which is the first week of September,
you're on your own - to do your dissertation journey.
And some of you might be wondering
when do we start thinking about dissertation,
dissertation topics and whatnot.
Dissertation is something that you will vaguely start thinking about
from the Michaelmas Term,
and in my case, I started developing my research topic
by mid or mid-late November.
I mean before coming to LSE,
if you already know your research topic, great, fantastic;
but most of us don't and it's totally okay,
it's completely natural
for most of you not knowing exactly what you want to do
for your research.
And that's the part of the research journey:
exploring what you want to investigate deeply,
and discovering your passion.
And as we get into the Summer Term
I will share more with you guys on my dissertation process as well.
So this is basically what your year
as a master student at LSE is going to be like;
I hope today's video was helpful to you
and I'll come back with the next video!
Bye!