Often, I hear mentoring offered as a panacea to cure problems in academe.
Sometimes, I hear about student organizations establishing peer mentoring in PhD programs.
Never, in my country, have I heard about faculty connecting senior students to new students as mentors.
I find this omission interesting- bc I am sure that some schools in the States use mentoring to on-board new students & all schools connect senior & new students on projects.
My view, based on experiences visiting German teams where senior students actively mentor early career students on projects, is that student mentoring programs create win-win opportunities for Pareto efficient outcomes for PhD programs.
Why?
The first year and last years are the most difficult times as students.
In the first year, a student can get lost in the shuffle and fail to acquire knowledge & skills needed in the following semesters.
In the final year, a student may fail to understand how much they have grown as they progressed in the program. Or worse, they may have forgotten how lost they were when the program started, making them less apt mentors at their first jobs.
By pairing students, you can ensure essential social information is transmitted, solidify lessons learned in the program, and prepare students for their next stop.
So what did I do?
Last year, I worked with a third year and first year PhD student on a project.
The first year student demonstrated more confidence as the year progressed.
The third year student took ownership of mentoring their earlier stage peer.
The joint project is promising!
I could not be more pleased with both students.
So what is next?
This year, I will formally pair a set of students on a project.
We will work on a project of interest to the senior student - bc it requires fewer learning costs & the first year student isn’t yet ready to lead (an important lesson from the first effort).
I am looking forward to seeing the growth in my students!
So takeaways?
First, peer mentoring works if you pair PhD students with shared interests. The shared interest can be made in terms of topic or method.
Second, a shared project offers a means to structure interaction.
Senior students should have had plenty of experience working with faculty, who they can role model on (& learn from missteps they’ve witnessed).
Third, topics for a mentoring project are likely more effective if aligned with the senior student’s interests.
It’s not reasonable to ask a senior student, who is focused, to pick up a novel topic for the mentoring project - they need to graduate - right?
Fourth, peer mentoring does not mean hands-free faculty.
I met with my team on a regular basis - we established a structure - which became our wireframe for collaboration.
I found that I felt more connected with both students at the end of the year.
Peer mentoring by PhD students works with a little structure & student-faculty engagement.
Best of luck!
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