Benefits of Summer School Events

I am very grateful for the LSE Summer School programme, as it gave me so many opportunities to meet new people and develop key skills. I attended a number of both social and Spark events, and was awarded a gold medal for my active participation in the Spark series (meaning I attended 6 or more Spark events while at Summer School). On the one hand, the social events helped me to better integrate and understand the culture of networking, which is not mainstream in the culture I originally grew up in, and on the other hand, of course, I had a lot of fun; In addition, I gained a lot of practical knowledge from each Spark event, which I can use for both my studies and my future job.

I had two favourite social events: the first was the Welcome Reception party on the first day of my session. Before this event, I had never tried to network with a lot of people I don't know in a completely new and strange place. At the party, when I went in, I saw that everyone seemed to be divided into several small groups already, chatting in a circle, which made me even more afraid of interrupting any of them. But seeing how happy and enthusiastic everyone was, I was suddenly motivated to join those groups, by asking a simple question like "Can I join?”. Of course, everyone was so friendly that it was easy for me to fit in quickly.

Another great activity was the Boat Party - the only word I can think of to describe that day is ‘fun’! Whether it was admiring the view of the London skyline from the boat, chatting with friends, or dancing to the music, everything about the party made me feel pure joy. In fact, as I write this blog, my mind is now echoing the party song with lyrics along the lines of "low, low, low", with everyone squatting lower and lower to the beat, and it was just so much fun.

In terms of Spark activities, I divide my gains into two categories - the first is is about academic learning. In the events such as ‘Write Essays that LSE Markers Want to Read’ and ‘Postgraduate Study at LSE’, the facilitators organised the subject matter in a clear structure, and answered our questions in a targeted way through a lot of live interactions. In particular, the ‘Write Essays that LSE Markers Want to Read’ event really helped me a lot. As different education systems have different requirements, having an LSE specific event helped us to understand the key points of essay writing as quickly as possible.

The second category of gains Spark gives you revolves around professional development. The events like ‘Your CV: Maximising Effectiveness’, ‘How to make sure your internship ends with a full-time job’ and the ‘Female Founders Evening’ gave me the opportunity to learn from the experiences of experts in entrepreneurial industries, and to understand the way of thinking like a leader, so that I can solve my current problems more effectively, and imagine my future possibilities in a more ambitious way. At the ‘Female Founders Evening’, where female entrepreneurs shared their personal experiences, for the first time I felt confident in my ability to start a business, as I used to think that joining a business or working for an entrepreneur was my greatest ambition. When I heard those female entrepreneurs share their experiences of how they started their businesses and how they have achieved a series of successes, I realised that becoming a leader and a driving force in an industry is not just a pipe dream, as long as you build up the relevant skills and experience, such as business strategies, marketing methods, etc., as well as possessing the insight or imagination to "spot a problem".

In particular, at the ‘Your CV: Maximising Effectiveness’ event, the facilitator first briefly introduced the basic categories that need to be covered in a CV, and then focused on what kind of language and content is more likely to be favoured by recruiters. I think it is important for students and job seekers to have the opportunity to understand what recruiters think. It was great to build a base for when I start thinking of applying for jobs.

In my opinion, the LSE Summer School event and Spark programmes and regular Summer School courses complement each other, and participating in these events has allowed me to develop my all-roundedness, which is what I consider to be the ideal state of learning.

 

This blog was written by one of our 2023 Student Ambassadors, who are here to share their stories and help you understand the summer school experience at LSE.