Become A Mentor

Becoming a Mentor

Program Description

Transfer Mentorship Program is a mentoring program that will connect you with a first semester transfer student, with whom you will provide insight on the transfer student experience such as navigating the university, academic expectations of upper division coursework, and student life. As a mentor, you will build on your UC Berkeley experience by giving back to your community through mentoring a new transfer student. This is a great opportunity for professional development and to build community. Communication will be done via email, video chat, and other messaging services throughout the semester.

Mentor Requirements

  • Elibibility: students must have completed at least one semester at UC Berkeley and must submit the Mentor Application.
  • This mentorship opportunity is only a semester long commitment. You are required to meet with your mentee(s) 2 times during the semester via Zoom and/or Google Hangouts. If you and your mentee wish to continue on after the first semester, we encourage you to do so, but it is not a requirement. 
  •  This program will pair you with a first semester transfer with whom you will give advice/your experience to a first semester transfer student. We are hoping you can share your experience as a Cal transfer which may include the “hidden curriculum” of the major: What professors you enjoyed, what to expect from lecture and discussion, what office hours are like, what classes you enjoyed and which ones you didn’t and why. - You are NOT advisors and we do not expect you to be. 
  •  A major piece of your mentorship will be answering mentees questions about your major and/or transfer experience. In the case, where you don't have an answer to a question, we encourage you to search for the answer with your mentee, as opposed to just redirecting them to someone/somewhere else. This strategy will grow your knowledge as well.  
  • Attend a minimum of 2 traning seminars, workshops, events throughout the semester
  • Complete 2 evaluation surveys 

TESTIMONIALS

One of my mentees was so amazing to work with! She really helped me to start understanding what resources/information might not be immediately apparent to new transfers, and so being able to help her with things from knowing about certain departments/resources to how to interact with professors was really rewarding
Fall 2020 Mentor
Being able to connect with another Transfer student and help connect them to resources they needed. I also enjoyed being able to just be a friend during a time when meeting other students has been difficult for everyone
Spring 2021 Mentor
I enjoyed sharing resources with my mentee. I also enjoyed talking about both of our experiences transferring to Cal and hearing about their aspirations and goals
Spring 2021 Mentor