Information for Students

What is Reach about?

Reach is centred on building strong relationships between mentors working in a variety of sectors and University of London students who feel that their chances of success in pursuing their chosen career are jeopardised by their race, disability or any other reason.

Reach matches each student with mentors who will help them to:

• Find out more about their chosen career
• Get first hand information and advice from someone already working in the field
• Develop the skills and confidence to succeed in their job search
• Discover how to get into your chosen role and learn about opportunities available

Who are the mentors?

We have mentors available from a variety of occupations including law, finance, media, charities and technology, but we welcome applications from students who are interested in other areas.

What will the mentoring involve?

If your application for Reach is successful, you will attend an induction event in central London in November 2008. You will then be matched with a mentor from the occupational area you are interested in. You will meet your mentor at their place of work four times over the course of the academic year. The content of these meetings is decided by you and your mentor, but could include discussing options open to you, disclosing a disability, getting work experience or making effective applications.

How do I apply?

Apply to join Reach by downloading and completing the application form on this page. It is important to give us as much detail as possible as we always receive more applicants than we have mentors available. We will use the information you provide on the form to prioritise applications. The more you can tell us about yourself, the more likely it is that we'll be able to find you a suitable mentor.

If you have any difficulties completing the form, please speak to a careers adviser in your college careers service for assistance or contact one of the Reach coordinators.

NB: when downloading the application form, don't forget to save it to your desktop otherwise it does not save changes.

How do you decide who gets a mentor?

As we always receive more applications than we have mentors, we have to prioritise those students who we feel will benefit most from the mentoring. We use an applicant's answers from the application form to decide who to prioritise.

Students who have been successful in the past have clearly demonstrated why they feel that people from their background are under-represented in their chosen occupation. Successful applicants have also demonstrated that they have thought about how a mentor will help them.

How can I find out more?

If you have further questions, you can speak to a careers adviser at your college or contact the Reach coordinators:

Anna Colls a.colls@ucl.ac.uk 020 8240 4055

Emma Baker emma.baker@rhul.ac.uk 01784 443073