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Well I'm a mature student myself so when I saw the scheme,
I looked back at my year - what I'd found was difficult and
what was a challenge and successful about my year - and I thought, well
should there be another mature student, should have been other student similar to myself,
if I could offer them advice to make their pathway through that first year easy, then
I'd like to give that a go. I think it's nice to have someone
within the whole course who is a point-of-reference for you,
a friendly face, someone who you can rely on and have immediate access to answers that...
maybe for questions that you wouldn't feel you want to pose to the lecturers
or staff - many of those can be on an informal basis and to have someone has been through this scheme
a year ahead of you - I think it's very good for the mentee to have someone who they can really feel
hopefully relaxed enough to ask anything about. But at the beginning of the year,
obviously it's settling into the University, changing to a new academic style,
new friends, maybe new city, living accommodation. And then gradually as the course settles,
it probably goes a little bit more academic.
I thought that the scheme came to into its strengths in the second term
because in the second term, you have got to know your mentee and the mentee's got to know you very well
and the course is settled. And then, once the course has settled and the mentee understands what is being required of them,
they're probably more aware of where their strengths, where their weaknesses would lie.
And you - as the mentor - can tailor your advice
to match their requirements. I think I've become a better student,
I've been able to hone my own skills.
but also I've actually got a good deal of satisfaction about seeing
the advice that I've given hopefully being taken on board
and helping someone the year below me. And made their life easier through year 1 than maybe how I found it when I first started.