Going to a lecture even though I'm not a student?

Hello,

I'm a student from France and am currently applying to study Linguistics in the UK. Next February, I will be in London for a week and was wondering if I could come to a lecture? I looked up UCL's common timetable and spotted a linguistics lecture during my stay here. In France you can technically walk in a uni lecture if you want to so I was wondering if it was the same here. If not, do you think I could send an email to the professor and ask politely? I'd love to get a taster of what my future lectures will be like.

Thank you for reading this and have a good day!

Reply 1

MathsLove

17

Original post by GleekingGeek

Hello,

I'm a student from France and am currently applying to study Linguistics in the UK. Next February, I will be in London for a week and was wondering if I could come to a lecture? I looked up UCL's common timetable and spotted a linguistics lecture during my stay here. In France you can technically walk in a uni lecture if you want to so I was wondering if it was the same here. If not, do you think I could send an email to the professor and ask politely? I'd love to get a taster of what my future lectures will be like.

Thank you for reading this and have a good day!

I don’t think they do walk-in thing over here but there are events which are open to public, there is also student shadowing programs runs from time to time at certain unis - where you get chances to accompany current students to lectures and ask any questions you may have about the uni in general, for scheme like this you have to apply beforehand and they also require for academic references in certain cases

I hope my input is useful to you :smile:

Reply 2

Plus7

17

Original post by GleekingGeek

Hello,

I'm a student from France and am currently applying to study Linguistics in the UK. Next February, I will be in London for a week and was wondering if I could come to a lecture? I looked up UCL's common timetable and spotted a linguistics lecture during my stay here. In France you can technically walk in a uni lecture if you want to so I was wondering if it was the same here. If not, do you think I could send an email to the professor and ask politely? I'd love to get a taster of what my future lectures will be like.

Thank you for reading this and have a good day!

Well at my uni (UEL) you need a student ID card to get around buildings. But if you fancy waiting for people and just letting them open the door I bet you could get away with it, literally new faces have appeared 2 weeks into my course, nobody takes notice lol. Tutors don't have time to know who you are and if you're on the list.

Reply 3

3121

21

You can go to a public lecture otherwise you can easily just get away with walking in, just act like you know where you’re going and belong there. If you need a card just say you left yours at home… prepare to be disappointed. Lectures mostly consist of being told about things you need to read more of

Reply 4

Plus7

17

Original post by 3121

You can go to a public lecture otherwise you can easily just get away with walking in, just act like you know where you’re going and belong there. If you need a card just say you left yours at home… prepare to be disappointed. Lectures mostly consist of being told about things you need to read more of

Hell, most students activey AVOID lectures (I'm not one so far, but some are bloody dull because one of the tutors explains things in a complex vague way lmao). You don't even need to look like you belong there, I'm pretty sure I wander into lectures looking like I'm not knowing what planet I'm on. He'd get away with this for sure. Nice touch if you can't wait to see how Uni is there since s/he is from France.

Reply 5

xoxAngel_Kxox

21

At my uni, they literally wouldn't have had a clue who was supposed to be in what lecture, so anyone could have walked in. I guess it depends how big the group is (if it's smaller, lecturers might recognise everyone for example) and whether you need ID cards to access buildings. Even if you do, you can just wait for someone else.

Reply 6

3121

21

Original post by Plus7

Hell, most students activey AVOID lectures (I'm not one so far, but some are bloody dull because one of the tutors explains things in a complex vague way lmao). You don't even need to look like you belong there, I'm pretty sure I wander into lectures looking like I'm not knowing what planet I'm on. He'd get away with this for sure. Nice touch if you can't wait to see how Uni is there since s/he is from France.

Yeah I barely go to lectures. I just read the PowerPoints and if there’s something I don’t understand I watch the video the guy going through that slide for a basic understanding then read/google for a better understanding. The internet has really made university kinda useless, but no one wants to take the step forward and do something about it. Rankings were because of information and research a university had exclusive access to but now everyone has access to it, apart from prestigiousness and course quality I don’t see why rankings exist.

At a time when university should be dying/replaced with a way better and efficient system, it’s being milked.

Reply 7

GleekingGeek

OP

7

Hmm interesting. Thank you all for your replies! I guess I will try to sneak in then.
I know it will most likely be like lectures in France but it's also so I can make sure I'm able to follow and take notes from a lecture in a real life situation, stuff like that.

Reply 8

Bio 7

21

Original post by Plus7

Hell, most students activey AVOID lectures (I'm not one so far, but some are bloody dull because one of the tutors explains things in a complex vague way lmao). You don't even need to look like you belong there, I'm pretty sure I wander into lectures looking like I'm not knowing what planet I'm on. He'd get away with this for sure. Nice touch if you can't wait to see how Uni is there since s/he is from France.

Yeah, it's easy to walk in and get food, attend a lecture and so on.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 9

3121

21

Original post by GleekingGeek

Hmm interesting. Thank you all for your replies! I guess I will try to sneak in then.
I know it will most likely be like lectures in France but it's also so I can make sure I'm able to follow and take notes from a lecture in a real life situation, stuff like that.

Just thought I’d add, it’s so much better if you go to a public lecture. They actually discuss ideas and teach stuff, you’d have a far better time (but you won’t get the real boring university experience)

Reply 10

Andrew97

Entertainment Forum Helper, Debate & Current Affairs Helper

20

Where I am, anyone can walk into any of the buildings apart from the library.

Reply 11

cheesecakelove

20

When I was at university, my friends and I used to go to each others lectures. Usually the class sizes were quite big, so lecturers wouldn't notice. At my university, you didn't need a student ID to get into classes (only the library).