Is attendance at Seminars compulsory at LSE?

This query is aimed particularly at LSE grads or current postgrads but also to anyone who might be able to help me.

I've been accepted onto a taught masters in law 2005/2006 at the LSE. Due to personal and financial circumstances I will be obliged to work a full time legal job for the coming year. I am not eligible for grants,scholarships etc and for various reasons will not be able to get a loan large enough to fund my studies. Part-time study also isn't an option.

I have been led to believe that attendance at lectures isn't compulsory but that attendance at Seminars is. Is this true? My boss is willing to let me off work occasionally to attend college but it looks like I won't be able to physically attend most of my seminars.

I am confident that I can do well on this course through my own personal reading and study as I am very focused and disciplined and have already completed a post-grad in law in another university abroad. Unfortunately no matter how well I will do at course work, exams etc it seems that I would not be allowed to graduate from LSE because of non-attendance at seminars.

I have tutored and run seminars myself in other universities and attendance record keeping was quite lax. The attitude was that as postgraduate students whether you attended seminars was up to you to do so or not and nobody seemed to be penalized for non-attendance.

Is the approach more severe in LSE? Is attendance keep on a rigourous basis? Are non-attendees summoned before the Dean?

Is there any way of doing the masters without being regularly in attendance as my subject choices allow me to pick subjects so that I would only have seminars in one subject, all the rest being lecture based.

Anybody with any helpful suggestions?

Reply 1

always + forever

hey

I don't know about postgrad. but at undergrad they can be quite strict - eg. if you are absent a certain number of times from class - like 5 times consecutively - you have to go see your tutor, who then threatens you with being barring from the exams (which would completely screw you over). If this happens (as it did to a friend of mine) they can ask that in order to sit the exam you attend every class from that point on.

however, lecture attendence is voluntary, so you can miss that as often as you want!

so, for seminars, I really don't know.. but i guess it would be somewhere between these two! But I think that maybe you should speak to the school about your situation and see what they say. They can (occasionally!) be quite understanding..

Also, i feel they maybe a little easier on the postgrads on terms of attendence, and you I think you should be able to choose your modules so to avoid courses that are seminar based.

Reply 2

Londo

So you will not go to the lectures, you will not go to the seminars, then, what are you doing at the LSE? Does the department know that you will not appear? Do they accept it? I doubt it. For undergraduates attendance is compulsory, I am not sure about masters, but they assume that you will go to both lectures and seminars.