Some of the most formative and important learning experiences I had as a college student occurred outside of the classroom. Quick and casual conversations with professors in the hallways, library and dining halls; on Main Street; and during office hours guided my career planning, aspirations, goal setting, professional development, resume-building endeavors and eventual success.
These faculty served as mentors and added enormous value to my education, far beyond the curriculum. Some forward-thinking institutions have incorporated formal mentorship for online students. At Western Governors University, for example, every online student gets a mentor. They maintain contact every two weeks.
But without a formal mentoring protocol, many online bachelor’s students must intentionally seek out a faculty mentor because informal exchanges in the hallways simply can’t occur. Below are five suggestions for online students to establish and maintain meaningful student-mentor relationships.
1. Identify faculty mentors: Look for somebody in your discipline who has professional and research experience or abilities that you desire. Even if you are assigned a formal adviser to help you schedule courses, a mentor is an additional person in your corner.
For example, if you are a business major, and you aspire to work as a corporate analyst, you should seek out a faculty member who has a business analytics background in his or her faculty profile and ask if he or she would be willing to offer you occasional professional advice as you pursue a degree.
2. Take time to build relationships: Students should identify potential faculty mentors early in their studies and begin asking questions or bouncing ideas off them. For example, send a quick email that says, “I noticed your faculty profile says you worked in digital marketing strategy. I’m a first-year communications student, and my goal is to be a chief digital officer. What can I do now that will set me up for success? Would you mind being a sounding board for my career?”
3. Seek internships: Whether or not internships are required, they can be a great way to put academic skills to use and experience a profession firsthand. Ask a mentor when and what type of internship might best serve to further advance your professional goals.
4. Ask career services professionals for help: Practically every university has a career services office. Though not usually faculty, these professional staff are a wealth of knowledge about job placement, interviewing, crafting a resume, writing a cover letter and building a personal brand. Make special efforts to know them and share your professional goals with them.
5. Create connections: Networking, volunteering, joining affinity groups and remaining active in the community are essential co-curricular experiences that can enhance academic, intellectual, social and professional development. Knowing diverse groups of people increases the opportunity for mentorship, and can strengthen collegiality, depth of character and marketability.
The takeaway: Online students must work harder than on-ground students to establish and maintain relationships with faculty mentors and others who can add value to their collegiate experience and provide lifelong professional support.
