How often should I meet my Personal Tutor?
Your faculty will inform you on how often you should expect to meet with your Personal Tutor. If you're not sure about where to find this information, please contact your programme team.
You can absolutely request more meetings than outlined in your faculty guidelines if you have more you wish to discuss with your tutor, or if something has changed between the scheduled meetings. Don't feel you have to wait until your next scheduled meeting for support.
How and when do I arrange my meetings?
You should meet with your Personal Tutor within the first few weeks of starting at King’s. This may be in a small group or one-to-one.
Your Personal Tutor will contact you to arrange your first meeting within the first three weeks of teaching. During your first meeting, you should discuss when and how future meetings will be arranged.
Important to know:
You can request an additional or alternative one-to-one meeting if your Personal Tutor invites you to a group meeting but there are things that you would like to discuss with them more privately.
You can also contact your Personal Tutor outside set meetings should a question or issue arise. Keeping in touch with your Personal Tutor will help you get to know each other better, which will be particularly useful if you ask them to write a reference for you.
At your initial meeting, they will tell you about the role of the Personal Tutor and give you information about how you can get in touch.
Contacting your Personal Tutor
You should use your King's email account to contact your tutor and set up meetings.
If you’re unsure about how to approach them or concerned about the level of formality to use, follow our quick guide, as provided by an Undergraduate English student:
Step 1: Greeting
This does not need to be overly formal so you can avoid "Dear Sir or Madam".
The best bet is to use "Dear/Hi [Tutor Name]", and if you haven’t met them before it is polite to use "Dr/Professor" followed by their last name
Step 2: Main Message
Write this as you would any other email. You don't need to use fancy or 'academic' language, just say what you mean so you can both understand what you're asking.
Keep the message polite and friendly and you're on the right track.
Step 3: Goodbye
You don't need to use “Yours Sincerely” or learn its distinction with “Yours Faithfully” you can use a stock phrase that's polite but not too formal.
For example: “Many Thanks”, “Best”, “All the Best”, “Cheers” or “Kind Regards”.
It will help to add an email signature to your new King's Outlook email with your name, course and year and your student number.
Will my meetings be one-to-one or in a group?
Your Personal Tutor might offer a mixture of one-to-one and group meetings, or they may have a preference for one type of meeting.
Group meetings offer a great opportunity for you to meet other students from within your department/faculty, some of who may be from other year groups. Sharing your experiences and achievements, as well as how you have overcome any challenges, can help you to learn new things about yourself and your peers. You may also hear about a society, activity, job opportunity or support service you weren't aware of before!
If your Personal Tutor invites you to a group meeting but there are things that you would like to discuss with them more privately, you can request an additional or alternative one-to-one meeting.
What if I can’t attend a meeting that’s been arranged?
If you can't attend a meeting, contact your Personal Tutor to arrange a more suitable time, or if you’re running late, please let them know as soon as possible. This is a good opportunity to develop professional skills such as time management and good email practice; important skills you will need in your career.
Regular communication with any tutor is a good practice to have, and this will help tutors and other staff members keep track of how you’re doing and support your ongoing wellbeing.
I’m doing fine and happy with everything. Should I still arrange to see my Personal Tutor?
Yes. Personal tutor meetings are good opportunities to reflect on your progress generally, including all of your successes. They can also be helpful for identifying other opportunities that you might want to take up alongside your studies so that you get the most out of your time at King's.
Meeting with your personal tutor can also be useful for keeping them informed of your progress - in and outside of King's. This can be helpful if you’d like them to provide a reference for you at some point in the future.
It is also important to build a relationship with your personal tutor so that you feel comfortable with them, should any difficulties arise later on.
I haven't heard from my Personal Tutor. What should I do?
If you have not heard from your Personal Tutor, or you have tried to contact them but they haven't responded or are unavailable, then you should contact your Senior Tutor. If you are not sure who your Senior Tutor is, you can speak with your programme team. To find out more about the role of the Senior Tutor, please check out our article Who is my Personal Tutor & what do they do?
Will Personal Tutor meetings be held in-person or online?
Personal Tutor meetings may be held either online and in-person; the format you are offered may depend on the availability of both you and your Personal Tutor.
If there is something that you would specifically like to speak to your Personal Tutor about in person, you can request this and they will do their best to accommodate it themselves or with another trusted member of the department (eg. your Senior Tutor) if they are unable to.
Online meetings will take place using Microsoft Teams. These may be group or one-to-one meetings. If you are invited to a group meeting, you are welcome to also request a one-to-one meeting with your Personal Tutor.