The Importance of Mentorship for Students: Benefits, Mentoring Types, & How to Get One

Our college years are full of exciting moments but also hardships. Dealing with all of the difficulties alone can feel overwhelming. A mentor can help you choose classes, manage time, prepare for tests, and help you tackle other challenges.

Mentors are people with experience in academic and professional development who support, advise, and guide students. Having a mentor is like having a tutor that helps you get the best results in the different spheres of your life. In this article, our expert team discusses various college mentorship programs and how you can benefit from working with a mentor.

🔦 Student Mentoring 101

The concept of mentoring has a long history and originated with the character of Mentor in Homer’s Odyssey. In this Ancient Greek epic poem, Odysseus leaves his young son to his trusted companion, Mentor, and goes to fight in the Trojan War.

Nowadays, mentorship exists as a supportive learning relationship between a mentee, who wants to gain from someone else’s experience, and a mentor who shares knowledge. Mentorship is a common and beneficial practice in the spheres of education, career, and personal growth. These are the universal principles of mentorship:

1. A mentor provides a safe environment where a mentee can reflect without being judged.
2. A mentor provides accurate feedback but doesn’t make decisions for the mentee.
3. The relationship between a mentor and a mentee is built on trust and shared values.

Mentoring can be especially important in college. The Gallup Alumni Survey conducted in 2018 revealed that college graduates were almost twice as likely to find a job if they had a mentor who encouraged them to follow their goals. Student mentors offer academic, professional, and personal help and can be a source of support when needed.

What Does a Student Mentor Do?

A student mentor can help you achieve academic goals and assist with personal and professional issues. Here are some examples of what a mentor can do for you.

🎓 In education	A mentor can notice the early warning indicators that you may be off track. A mentor helps organize your schedule so that it fits your needs and you won’t be overloaded. A mentor assists with maintaining a work-life balance and having time for extracurricular activities. A mentor monitors the exam and test preparation to ensure you get the best results possible.
🛠️ In career	A mentor helps identify the most critical classes for a future career. A mentor provides information on career events on campus, such as job fairs and public talks. A mentor provides feedback on a CV and can write a recommendation letter.
🎭 In daily life	A mentor helps explore new ideas and increase self-confidence without judgment. A mentor creates a safe space to tackle mental health issues like anxiety or depression. A mentor guides how to improve communication with other people.

6 Undeniable Benefits of Having a Mentor

For many students having a mentor is a life-changing experience. Here are some of the advantages of having a mentor you should consider:

1. It helps set and track individualized goals. Together with a mentor, you can work on setting individual short and long-term objectives and developing an action plan. Such an intentional weekly interaction helps achieve a lot in college, career, and life.
2. It improves self-awareness and decision-making. An essential component of working with a mentor is self-reflection. If you regularly practice reflection with your mentor, you can assess your strengths and recognize areas for self-improvement.
3. It allows for constructive and supportive feedback. When working with a mentor, you get helpful and timely feedback that can boost your progress. Having a mentor also creates an opportunity to address any issue quickly and resolve it on the spot.
4. It offers psychological support. A mentoring relationship is a safe space for you to grow spiritually without fear of judgment and receive reassurance from someone you trust. The opportunity to share your feelings with someone else eases stress and anxiety.
5. It creates the foundation for a lasting personal network. In many cases, the relationship between a mentor and a mentee remains even after college graduation. In other words, mentoring creates a special bond that you might find helpful throughout your life.
6. It offers a diversity of perspectives and experiences. College offers plenty of extracurricular activities. You can consult with your mentor to learn more about them and find activities that best fit your needs.

🤔 Who Needs a Mentor

Everybody who wants to achieve great things in life needs a trusted mentor. However, there are specific categories of students for whom having a mentor might be especially beneficial, such as:

• First-year students and the ones who transferred from another college. In this case, having a mentor will help them adapt and become independent sooner.
• Students who experience mental health issues. For these students, weekly sessions with a mentor can help reduce stress and anxiety.
• Students who represent ethnic minorities. This group of students needs a mentor they can trust to avoid feelings of isolation.
• Students who experience burnout. A mentor can help students under academic stress to evaluate their priorities and maintain a study-life balance.
• Students who have low self-esteem. A mentor can help students with poor self-image to embrace their vulnerabilities and show up for themselves.
• High-achieving and motivated students. High-achieving students also need a mentor’s support to stay on track. In fact, mentorships are most successful when the student is committed to their goals.

Checklist: Do You Need A Mentor?

Are you still wondering if you need a mentor? Here’s a checklist to help you figure out if a mentor is right for you.

Overall, having a mentor is beneficial for any student and can prove helpful in many unexpected ways. In the next section, you’ll find a guide on how to find a mentor.

📜 Types of Mentoring

Mentoring exists in many forms to suit the needs of different students. Let’s consider the most popular types: one-on-one mentoring, group mentoring, situational mentoring, peer mentoring, and reverse mentoring.

Traditional One-on-One Mentoring

A one-on-one mentoring relationship usually lasts for a defined period — often several months to an academic year. The mentor and mentee meet with some type of regularity; several times a month. However, if the relationship is mutually beneficial, it can continue for far longer. One-on-one mentoring can occur in person (such as grabbing a coffee) or online. The format depends on whether a student prefers to be mentored in person or remotely.

Traditional one-on-one mentoring can create a safe space for an open dialogue about your academic and career goals. This format also allows a mentor to aid when needed.

Group Mentoring

Group mentoring occurs when three or more students share their knowledge and experience. If everyone in the group is in a similar college year, this is similar to peer mentoring. However, there can be a person who has more academic or professional experience and can guide group sessions.

Group mentoring is an excellent solution for students who want to grow their network. Sharing your experience with like-minded people helps boost personal growth, build skills, and develop healthy peer support relationships.

Situational Mentoring

Situational mentoring is useful when a student wants to develop a particular skill or solve a specific problem. This type of mentoring involves a mentor with experience in a similar context. The goal is to create an action plan and track progress with a mentor.

If you want to try situational mentoring, it’s essential to identify the issue you wish to address, such as working on your time management, choosing classes for the next semester, or joining a club on campus. Usually, situational mentoring is short-term, requiring only a small number of meetings.

Peer Mentoring

Peer mentoring happens when students, usually in the same year or major, come together to tackle specific issues and share their insights. This approach allows you to learn from your peers’ experiences and develop multiple solutions to a problem.

Peer mentoring can be super helpful because it creates a trusting atmosphere where each student matters. This approach promotes transparent and fear-free communication so that students can share their problems without being criticized. However, there is the risk of a group getting stuck without an experienced mentor.

Reverse Mentoring

Reverse mentoring happens when a student mentors someone more knowledgeable, for example, a senior student or an administration officer. This might sound counterintuitive. However, this approach helps foster intergenerational understanding and friendship. For example, a student may introduce a range of apps and websites that they use for learning or creative purposes. When reverse mentoring maintains an attitude of openness and dissolves barriers of status and position, all participants can significantly benefit.

🪜 How to Get a College Mentor

We have prepared a guide to help you find a mentor:

I. Identify Your Goals

Before starting to work with a mentor, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your goals. Determine if you want to improve your studies, career, or personal life. You might also want to picture your ideal self and share your vision with a mentor. Together you can then come up with a strategy and track your progress. If you cannot describe your goals, don’t worry. Consider sharing your doubts with a mentor so that together you can come up with some solutions.

II. Research Different Mentorship Styles

The next step is to consider mentorship styles such as those we discussed above. When choosing a mentorship type, think about which one will best suit your needs. It might be a hard choice if you haven’t had a mentor before. However, remember that you can always change your mind and pivot to a different mentorship style.

If you’re a communicative person, group or peer mentorship might be the best fit for you. Consider a traditional one-on-one format if you prefer individual sessions.

III. Map out Your Network

When looking for a mentor, think about people in your social circle who inspire you. These could be people with a similar mindset or who share your interests. If you feel you might not have an ideal mentor candidate, try asking someone from your network for recommendations.

An advantage of mapping out your network is that you can identify if you’re at the right place. If you feel like something is missing and you need to socialize more, try joining some campus activities. There is a high chance you might meet your future mentor in one of these college clubs.

IV. Present Yourself

Many colleges are eager to help students find their perfect mentors. Nevertheless, you also need to put effort into finding a mentor that will be a good match. Consider your personal strengths and how you contribute to the mentorship practice. The more sincere you are, the higher the chance you’ll find a mentor with whom you can create a strong bond. Moreover, identifying your strengths and weaknesses will make mentorship more effective.

V. Look in Larger Networks

You can find a mentor in the more extensive networks outside your social circle. Don’t hesitate to talk with your professors, join campus clubs, participate in honors societies, or start an internship.

In addition, many colleges have mentorship programs. In the next section, you will find examples of different college mentorship programs.

🧑‍🏫 College Mentorship Programs

A great variety of college mentorship programs exist to help very specific groups of students. For example, there are special mentorship programs for young women in tech, international students, youth of color, and many more.

Mentorship Programs for Women

Female mentorship programs are important because they help young women level up in their studies and careers, support gender equality, and close the gender gap in leadership roles. These are the top three college mentorship programs for women:

Sister to Sister Mentoring Program	Sister to Sister is a mentoring program at Santa Monica College that exposes middle school students to positive female role models.
Society of Women Engineers	Founded by the University of Minnesota, SWE empowers female students to achieve their full potential in engineering and demonstrate the value of inclusion and diversity.
Million Women Mentors	Million Women Mentors is an international program encouraging women and girls to pursue, persist, and thrive in different spheres of life.

Mentorship Programs for BIPOC Students

BIPOC student (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) mentorship programs are needed to support the academic and professional development of young people who often face discrimination. We recommend checking out these three mentorship programs for BIPOC students:

The Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community	MOSAIC is the mentoring program at Columbia University that helps self-identified first-generation students and students of color get the support and resources they need for professional development.
Brother to Brother Mentoring	The Brother-to-Brother mentoring program takes place at Santa Monica College and pairs less experienced male students with more knowledgeable mentors to boost their personal growth.
Sweatt Center	Sweatt Center at the University of Texas is a mentorship program that helps expose Black male students to opportunities, events, and guidance to enhance their academic and professional lives.

Mentorship Programs for LGBTQ+ Students

Mentorship programs for LGBTQ+ students play a crucial role in increasing students’ access to inclusive spaces where they can be who they are without fear of judgment or persecution. These are the top LBGTQ+ mentorship programs:

LGBTQIA+ Mentoring Program	The American Psychological Association offers a free mentoring program for LGBTQ+ graduate students in psychology. Students are mentored by colleagues who share similar experiences and goals.
oSTEM	The mentorship program oSTEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has over 100 student chapters at colleges across the United States and abroad. Mentors aim to empower LGBTQ+ people to succeed personally and professionally by cultivating innovation, leadership, and advocacy environments.
LGBTQ+ Mentoring Program at Roanoke College	The LGBTQ+ Mentoring Program empowers LGBTQ+ students to live happy, full, and productive lives. The program supports mentees to integrate into college life by making strong connections with themselves and others.

Mentorship Programs for First-Years

The first year at college can overwhelm young people who need to adjust to a new routine. However, first-year mentorship programs offer help with scheduling, classes, and extracurricular activities. These are some of the best mentoring programs for first-year students:

First-Year Mentor Program at Iowa State University	The First-Year Mentor Program focuses on students’ academic development and allows first-hand scientific research experience by working under the guidance of a mentor.
Peer Navigator Program	Founded by Santa Monica University, the Peer Navigation Program offers mentoring, frequent communication, workshops, and social events to support first-year students’ transition.
First-Year Mentor Program at Michigan State University	The First Year Mentor Program aims to foster a sense of belonging for first-year students, encourage successful academic and personal development, and create an extensive network.

Other Examples

For your inspiration, we have collected other examples of college mentorship programs:

College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Mentorship Program	The CSE mentorship program pairs students with more experienced mentors to share valuable career information, build their professional networks, refine communication skills, and explore new areas of interest.
Peer Mentorship at Santa Monica College	Peer Mentorship at Santa Monica College connects students so that they can provide advice and share their personal experiences. The program aims to create a safe environment where students can grow and develop long-lasting bonds.
The ScholarShot Model	ScholarShot is an international program that matches students with a trusted mentor who provides support, advocacy, and resources to ensure the student will successfully graduate. A mentor also assists with degree plans and budgets and provides emotional support.
Professional Mentoring Program at the College of Health and Human Sciences	The Professional Mentoring Program allows students to learn from successful and experienced professionals. Working with such a mentor enables students to gain valuable professional insights and start professional development.

☝️ Recap: Why Have a Mentor?

You should consider getting a mentor if you want to get the best out of your college years. Nowadays, there are a large variety of mentorship programs. If you still aren’t sure about getting a mentor, reflect on these benefits:

Building a relationship with a mentor is a life-changing journey. Don’t waste the opportunity. Get a trusted mentor who will help you become the best version of yourself.

🔗 References

1. Mentoring Impact. Connect with a Young Person | Mentor
2. The Mentoring Relationship | Human Resources
3. Why Every Student Should Have a Mentor (Opinion)
4. College mentor relationships reach savvy students most | Inside Higher Ed
5. What Are the Types of Mentoring?
6. How To Find a Mentor in 8 Steps (Plus Mentorship Tips) | Indeed.com
7. How to ask someone to mentor you | It’s Your Yale
8. The lifelong benefits of mentoring | APA
9. Why You Should Have a College Mentor (and How to Find One) – Azusa Pacific University
10. All the Benefits of Having a Mentor | Western Governors University