Mentoring Overview

Contents

General Guidelines

Meet with your mentee(s) at least once a week for 30-60 minutes
Try to meet in person if possible
- If you can’t meet in person, video chat is preferable to phone calls/texts
Stay organized! Use the College Tracker spreadsheet to guide your check-ins – this is the main spreadsheet that you should be using throughout the process
- Make a copy of the template and share it with us and your mentee
- If your mentee has a different tracker from their school/partner org, that is fine to use – just share it with us
Use the resources on the blog for help, and contact us if you have any questions/concerns

Make a Google Drive folder for each mentee. This is where you’ll put information related to their college applications.
- Share it with:
  - your mentee
  - lian[at]yleana.org
Make a copy of the College Tracker
- Put it in your mentee’s google drive folder

Get to know your mentee and tell them about yourself
Look over the College Tracker
- Show your mentee how to use it
- There is a lot of information and it is aspirational – we don’t expect you to fill all of it out. Input what you think is helpful
Questions to ask:
- Where are they on FAFSA?
  - It comes out on October 1; they should submit ASAP
- Where are they on their college list?
  - Do the schools they’re thinking about correspond with their scores/GPA?
  - Do they have a range of safeties, targets, and reaches?
- Have they started on Common App/other apps?
Have your mentee share access to any personal statement/essays they are already working on and put them in their folder
Make a plan for the next meeting:
- Every time you check in, fill out the Mentoring Check-ins tab of the College Tracker
- Check the spreadsheet before every check-in to see whether students are staying up to date with what’s expected of them

We have resources/information for most of these things; if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Are they planning to retake the SAT?
Are they planning to take the ACT?
Are they applying to any fly-in programs?
Check that they don’t undermatch OR apply only to reach schools
Look at test-optional schools if they feel that their scores don’t reflect their ability
Assess pros/cons of different schools
Help them think about schools they might not normally consider (women’s colleges, HBCUs, out of state schools)
Look at colleges with specialized college access programs (EOP/HEOP/AOP/TYP, Summer Bridge programs, etc)
Make sure they know deadlines for early action/early decision, if they are applying early
Think about honors programs
Think through what they want to major in
How to find their place on campus

FAFSA
- Should be completed ASAP after October 1
- LAST DATE to submit: June 30
- Deadlines may vary by state. Check out different deadlines here
College List
- Make sure they are applying to mostly target schools, with some safeties and reaches
- Check out some specific colleges/programs that might be good for your mentee here
Personal statement
Common App
- Review all the information they input for any obvious errors
- Make sure they fill out all the optional personal statement fields/questions
Letters of recommendation
- Get these as early as possible!
Other applications
- Make sure they are dividing the work for any other apps at the same rate as the Common App
Scholarships
- Look over the lists of scholarships according to what they are eligible for (location, ethnicity, special status (foster care, undocumented, etc))
- Add scholarship details to College Tracker
- Shoot to cover their EFC
Choosing a school
- Use the Comparing college options spreadsheet to help make a decision
- Compare financial aid packages/costs of schools they have been accepted to
- Talk about interpreting financial aid awards
- Help your mentee choose the right school – personally, academically, and financially
- Talk about preparing for college – what would you have liked to know before you went to college?