College Alumni Mentoring Programs

When many of us hear a request to “Give back” to our college alma mater, we think of financial donations and dollar signs. But college alumni mentoring programs provide a fabulous opportunity for alumni of all ages to donate their time and experience to current students.

Mentoring programs are set up in different ways, but all are designed to connect students to alumni for professional development purposes. Students can receive advice on internships, careers, business etiquette, networking, resumes, and interviewing from those already practicing in the field. Many programs set out guidelines for professional behavior, number and frequency of meetings, and topics that may be addressed. The best student mentees are those who approach the relationship committed, eager, prepared, and goal-oriented. Students need to respect the mentor’s time as well.

Alumni can serve as an objective sounding board for students’ ideas or ask thoughtful questions. They can share their own career paths and experiences, as well as introduce students to their place of work and range of responsibilities.

Both alumni and students can benefit from the mentoring relationship. Students gain the perspective of an objective professional. In some cases, students may be identified as potential interns or new hires, though this is not the primary purpose of the relationship. Alumni build mentoring skills which can then translate back to their own workplace and job. Certainly professional relationships and friendships develop as a result of a rewarding mentoring relationship that may last a lifetime.

Profiles of several mentoring programs Here are some of the variations among alumni-student mentoring programs:

At Fordham University, alumni and students apply to the program and are matched by staff. It is a yearlong commitment where the alumnus and student are required to attend four milestone events as well as meet periodically. Checkpoint surveys are completed at certain intervals to provide staff with feedback on the progress of the mentoring relationship.

Amherst College’s mentoring program offers a structured framework that helps ensure productive conversations between each mentor and mentee. The pairs meet twice a month during one semester and like most programs, are expected to set goals. The intended outcome, according to Amherst’s website, is that a student gains greater assistance with making strategic and informed decisions regarding his or her academic and professional life. Alumni stay connected to the college, and get to make a difference, in a personal way, in the next generation of alumni. Amherst’s offers helpful forms and guides for their mentoring program, which can be a resource for anyone wanting to learn more about being a mentor or mentee.

The University of Michigan Alumni Association puts a different spin on its alumni-student mentoring program, calling it “30-Minute Mentor Sessions.” Five dates during the course of the school year are set aside for on-campus mentoring days. Students register online for a 30-minute meeting with an alumni mentor. There are also three months identified where “Virtual 30-Minute Mentor Sessions” are held. Students register to meet with their selected alumni volunteer via phone, Skype, FaceTime, or Google Hangout within the month. This is a new program at U-M that expands the geography for alumni who would like to participate but live outside the Ann Arbor area.

Some large universities focus their mentoring programs within a college or department rather than university-wide. A good example of this is the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where students and their alumni mentors meet or talk one to two times per month on suggested topics like exploring career paths, building a resume, and networking skills.

The UIUC Department of Psychology has introduced a new mentoring program where alumni share stories of how they are using their Psychology major in their current field or job. The department provides a template of questions to address in the story, and intends to post the submissions on a special website for their psychology majors.

The UIUC Law School has a Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program designed for recent law school graduates and law school alumni to interact. These pairs meet eight times a year in face-to-face meetings where professional responsibilities are discussed, supporting the graduates’ successful and smooth transitions to law careers.

Departments of business or business schools most often seem to have established alumni mentoring programs. For instance, at the University of Georgia, the Terry College of Business has a mentoring program. What is unique is that UGA has a mentoring program for students in its Honors Program. Alumni who participated in the Honors Program, as well as parents and friends of the program, serve as mentors.

Mentoring for current alumni, too College alumni mentoring programs are typically designed to assist current students in learning about careers, meeting professionals, and successfully transitioning into a career. On the other hand, those alumni who are already out in the world of work can seek mentors by tapping into the power of their alumni networks, which connect professionals on a peer-to-peer basis. By creating these networking opportunities, colleges strengthen the bonds with the school itself as well as among their graduates, and everyone wins.