Mentor Collective FAQs
Mentor Collective is an edtech software and service provider that partners with colleges and universities around the country to design and implement large-scale mentorship programs. The technology allows for a safe and accessible experience driven by student preference and helps colleges and universities learn how to better support students’ needs.
UNCG has three active mentoring programs:
- Spartans’ First Mentoring- for first-time to college students
- Transfer2Transfer- for new transfer students
- Minerva’s Mentoring- career mentoring by alumni for students with at least 60 credit earned hours
The UNCG Mentoring Programs are a part of our Spartans Thrive campus-wide initiative designed to nurture not just your academic prowess, but your overall well-being.
If you received an email or text from Mentor Collective, that means that UNCG is inviting you to be a mentee or mentor in its Mentor Collective program. Mentor Collective programs also utilize email and texting throughout the program duration to help make mentorship more accessible and easier to integrate into your day-to-day. This is also how we have periodic check-ins with mentors throughout the program life for regular updates on the mentorship and/or to see how we can support your mentee. We find this encourages people to make the most of their mentorship and their school’s resources.
UNCG gives Mentor Collective permission to reach out to you initially; however, should you decide that you do not want to participate and/or do not want to receive further communications, you are always able to opt-out.
Technically, mentorships last one academic year; however, we encourage you to remain in contact with your mentee(s) beyond this if you develop a strong relationship with them.
Our mentors at UNCG are volunteers. The staff in the Division of Student Success will work with you to include your experience as a mentor on co-curricular transcript through Spartan Experience, your LinkedIn profile, or your resume. As a mentor, you have the chance to develop strong leadership and communication skills. We also invite mentors to special events, as well as provide mentors UNCG swag!
That’s fine! You always have the option to adjust your involvement. Email success@uncg.edu if you want to opt out of the program, reduce or increase the number of students you are supporting or if you have questions.
When filling out their matching survey, mentors will share how many mentees they are able to support. Most mentors support somewhere between 2 and 3 mentees at a time. The most important thing is that you do what feels right for you.
After you register, there are a couple of next steps:
- Fill out a brief matching survey that tells us about you and your preferences (5-10 minutes)
- Complete your mentor training that goes over the basics of Mentor Collective and being an effective mentor (45 minutes)
After those steps, you are eligible to be matched! You and your mentee can determine together what timing works best for you. You will be expected to speak with your mentee once a month, but anything more than that is up to both of you. Most mentors spend between 1 and 3 hours a month per mentee.
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 success@uncg.edu. Logging conversations helps us gauge whether the program is helping students, and how to help them better!
We take concerns like these very seriously. As a mentor, you will have different opportunities for sharing a concern like this with your college or university. While reporting conversations on your Participant Dashboard, you can indicate any concern you have about your mentee (or that your mentee needs extra support), as well as by responding to the monthly texts you’ll receive. After you’ve shared your concern, your program administrator may reach out to you to ensure they have all the necessary information to provide your mentee with extra resources and support.
Mentors are given on-demand training focused on supporting you in the program and honing critical thinking and listening skills. Upon completing and passing your training, you’ll receive a LinkedIn certification that you can add to your resume. And… you will receive University recognition with a turquoise & white graduation cord and a chance to add the Connections competency on your Spartan Co-Curricular Transcript.
If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to success@uncg.edu