It is common that while pursuing a degree, especially online, you will need to seek out information from your peers, professors or advisor. Finding a mentor that will help guide you through grad school will serve you well during your time pursuing your degree and beyond. A good mentor is able to provide guidance, support and serve as a role model. Much of that entails making sure that you, as a student, are able to work in an environment that is welcoming and positive.

To be a successful mentor, faculty members should look beyond an individual’s ability to complete assignments toward actually developing that person professionally and making their graduate experience enriching and worthwhile. Mentoring is not limited to advising or teaching; it requires truly investing in the development of another person. A mentor should be someone on a similar career path you wish to pursue or someone that you connect with on a more personal level. It is for that reason that we can find mentors in many places.

True mentors realize that often the pace of completing assignments may have to slow down temporarily if they are to effectively train their graduate students. Teaching a student to write a well thought out paper, for example, with good ideas, organization and character development takes more time and effort compared to just letting them loose and expecting improvement on a weekly basis. Training them may, in fact, lead to higher productivity in the future.

Really talking to someone as a mentor and them making an effort to understand where you are coming from can mean a lot to a struggling graduate student. Having someone that you can talk to about both personal and academic dilemmas is very helpful. So, don’t be afraid to reach out to your mentor when you need assistance or when you just need to talk. It is important that your mentor recognize you for your achievements and help you improve where need be.

Students should not be left to figure things out on their own. Mentors should clearly lay out expectations from the start in order to ensure that the student’s work is not a waste of time or a bad fit on both sides. If expectations and needs align around academic or nonacademic career interests, mentors should seek out and point their trainees to resources about particular careers or paths for success. There should be a mutual respect between a mentor and student; they should respect each other’s career choices and seek to support them as best they can.

In today’s world, we are always on the go, and we may sometimes forget why we do what we do. Why did you choose to pursue graduate school or decide your dream career path in the first place? Forgetting the answer can hurt not only your ability to work well and be happy but also your capacity to motivate yourself. You and your mentor should take time to discuss your goals for the future, as well as what you like about your work and are grateful for in your job. Doing so will put you back on the right track and drive you to be the best version of yourself.

Overall, mentoring comes down to building rich personal relationships and recognizing the value of every person that you have the pleasure of interacting with. As a student, you should remember that you are learning from your mentor just as much as they are from you. If we realize that we are all here to learn from each other, we’ll be able to start breaking down those barriers that are often so strong in academia. It is vital that we build and sustain our mentor relationships over time, so that we can all thrive as a community, both within academics and outside of it.