Mentees

Connect with a trained mentor from your school by letting us know what’s most important to you in a match:

• Career interests
• Major
• Life experiences

Communicate with your mentor in ways that work for both of you, whether it’s video chatting, texting, meeting for coffee, or a combination. Common discussion topics include:

• Career
• Work-school-life balance
• Academic success
• Personal growth

Eligibility:

• Incoming first year students
• transfer students

Benefits of being a mentee:

• Gain practical advice, encouragement, and support
• Learn from the experiences of others
• Increase your social and academic confidence
• Become more empowered to make decisions
• Develop your communication, study and personal skills
• Develop strategies for dealing with both personal and academic issues
• Identify goals and establish a sense of direction
• Gain valuable insight into the next stage of your university career
• Make new friends 

FAQs:

• How can I get the most out of my mentorship experience?
  • Think carefully about the areas you most want to improve and communicate those clearly to your mentor.
  • Learn about your mentor’s background and ask about the connections and experiences that are most interesting to you.
  • Give your mentor constructive feedback and be prepared to receive honest feedback from your mentor.
• I was invited to join MC, but I don’t think I need a mentor. What should I do?

  Mentors can help you delve deeper into an academic interest, career field, or activity that you already excel at, whether it’s finding an internship, getting a promotion, succeeding in an advanced class, or being elected to a leadership role. Having a mentor also increases your networking and opens you up to a new group of people you might not have met on your own.

• What kind of preparation do mentors get?
  • Videochat training with a specialized MC trainer
  • Information on key resources at your school
  • Ongoing support from the Mentor Collective team as well as coordinators on campus
• What if I don’t like my mentor?

  We encourage you to try a few conversations with your mentor to get a sense of the areas they can be helpful with, but if you aren’t comfortable in your mentorship for any reason, email help@mentorcollective.org right away and we will connect you with a new mentor.

• What qualities will my mentor and I have in common?
  • As part of the sign-up process, you’ll take a matching survey indicating what common traits are most important to you
  • Many students prioritize common academic interests, career experiences, life challenges, or personal background and you choose which is the most important value to you in matching with a mentor.
• Can I become a mentor myself?

  Yes. Many of the best MC mentors are former mentees.  For the 21-22 year, we are not inviting sophomores to be mentors, as we would like them to have had a full year of being physically on campus. However, we will welcome back the 20-21 group of mentees to be mentors for the 22-23 year!

• When will I be matched?

  Matching occurs on a rolling basis. We try our best to match you as soon as possible, but sometimes we decide to wait until a great fit becomes available. For further details, get assistance from help@mentorcollective.org or the campus representative, Larry Rodriguez, larry.rodriguez@ucr.edu.

• What counts as a "conversation"?

  Throughout your mentorship, we ask you and your mentee(s) to log your conversations on our website or through our automated texts. But what counts as a conversation? It can be:

  • 1 phone call
  • 1 video chat session
  • 1 email exchange
  • 1 in-person “interaction” (grabbing coffee, spending 10 minutes talking before class, etc.)
  • 2+ text messages exchanged within 1 day

  If in doubt, please don’t hesitate to ask us at help@mentorcollective.org. Logging conversations helps your school gauge whether the program is helping students, and how to help them better!

• How can I be removed from the Campus Collective Mentor program?

  If you would like to opt out, please email help@mentorcollective.org or Larry Rodriguez at larry.rodriguez@ucr.edu.