The Mentorship Program

The incoming cohort of PTOH students were offered an opt-in mentorship program with a 2nd or 3rd year PTOH student.  First-years are first introduced to mentors during Basecamp Orientation and connect over Access Weekend activities.

Gathering inspiration from his own experience, 2018 PTOH Vice President and 2018 mentor, Tomasz Szostek said that when he started classes with 2nd and 3rd year students, he found it “helpful to…ask questions to those who had gone through the process” and championed a “great initiative” for upperclassmen to share their experience of how to balance careers, families, classes, and fun. After the mentorship program started, “people showed up to [Access Weekend] already talking and the feedback has been very positive since mentors were generally thrilled to [chat].”

The PTOH GBA facilitates the mentorship matching  with optimization techniques from the first-year core course of the same name.  “One of our main goals would be to help build closer relationships between cohorts—and [mentors and mentees] are both integral in making this vision a reality”, said Allison Braund-Harris, the 2018 PTOH GBA President and 2018 mentor. By their flights home, first years start the first mini with their mentorship match in hand, modeled by an algorithm to collectively match mentees with their preferred mentors.

Mentor & Mentee Testimonials

Wonderful- I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t do it.

Matt Moschel, Mentee

Being a mentor has been incredibly fulfilling. I was able to help my mentees through their first few semesters by answering their questions and giving them a go-to person for all their concerns and comments. Not only that, but I made two new friends and was able to better network with the class below me.

Roger Harris, Mentor

I strongly encourage all first-year students to join the mentorship program. Connecting with a second- or third-year student is a great way to learn about (and share) best practices regarding studying and work-life-school balance. The program is flexible and can be as formal or informal as you see fit.

Ben Handwerk, Mentee

The PTOH mentorship program provided me with a great opportunity … I was able not only to leverage her incredible wisdom with respect to school, life, and so many other things to help my experience go more smoothly, but also to share with my cohort as well.

Sarah Abernethy, Mentee

Joining the Mentorship program helped me to strengthen my bond with the other class years and I hope helped to share valuable knowledge and advice as another much-needed support system for students.

Taylor Wendaur, Mentor

Joining the mentor program was very helpful as an incoming student – it gave me someone to go to with questions and insight about the program, professors, and culture.

Stephen Arthur, Mentee

I’d say that engaging as mentee or mentor enables you to build connections outside of your cohort, and at the end of the day that’s what business school is about, connecting, networking, and learning different perspectives from your own!

Jackie Campis, Mentor

The picture speaks so many words on my relationship with my mentor. I have submitted the form to be a mentor next year.

Anuj Purohit, Mentee

The best thing that the mentorship program did for us to bring the cohorts closer together (specifically M20 and M21), and I know the comfort of having a mentor was big for a lot of M21s.

Tomasz Szostek, Mentor

Mentee Experience:

Very useful in the beginning, especially to get acclimated to the program

Nice to have a peer to communicate with while getting up to speed with the work load

It doesn’t require a significant time commitment and provides a safe environment to ask questions and find solutions

Mentors were all very willing to help

Mentor Experience

It was a nice gesture and provided a quick connection and a resource for students

The pairing was really easy and there weren’t many people at all who weren’t satisfied

I liked being chosen by the mentee. It made me feel like it was a good match and would be beneficial to them

I liked the flexible nature; not being so structured made it feel natural and not forced or that it was a chore

The 2018 Impact & Beyond

The PTOH Mentorship Program opens discussions for mentor-mentee pairs such as broadening their network, workload scheduling, class resources, curriculum, career advancement and pivoting, time management, switching industries, hobbies, and more.

Ultimately 75% of the cohort asked for mentors and a total of 36 matches were made.  Four minis later, mentees strongly recommend participating in the mentorship program and enjoyed the “flexibility of the program” that leave mentees “open to networking opportunities.”

The 2019 PTOH GBA will continue the PTOH Mentorship Program. Roger Harris, the PTOH Vice President of Connections and a 2018 mentor, oversees the PTOH Mentorship Program. He is working diligently to, “…make the Mentorship Program the best it can possibly be for both Mentors and Mentees.”

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