The importance of early mentorship and profile building

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Since 2020, learning has transitioned to an online environment, leaving many young students with a host of new challenges. With social media distractions, mounting homework, plenty of online courses and limited extracurricular activities, students need effective guidance to manage their time productively. Along with this, students are now faced with fierce competition as application numbers have hit a record high.

The Common Application platform saw a 10 per cent increase in applications to undergraduate programmes, while the UCAS saw the highest number of applications since 2012. All this leads to a more competitive undergraduate admissions landscape, leading to a decrease in college admissions rates. Yale University's admission rate was at a mere 4.62 per cent, while Harvard University's 3.4 percent was the lowest in its history. This is why in addition to maintaining a strong academic profile, students must also focus on building a unique extracurricular profile to stand out in the admissions pool.

It is important to note that no activity is "better" than another and ticking all the boxes is not recommended. By the time students are in high school, they should engage in two or three activities that truly interest them, rather than indulge in a large breadth. Without guidance and supervised support, this can be challenging. This is the goal of a mentorship programme - to provide guidance to students and families to discuss effective profile building, academic growth and career exploration, without overburdening the student. Not only this, a mentor serves as a role model for the student and can aid in improving their interpersonal and leadership skills, academic motivation and self-esteem in addition to building a holistic and robust profile; key elements which will help them in the future.

An effective mentorship programme can comprise:

Academic Counselling:
A mentor can provide personalised insights and clarity in critical academic decision-making such as board and subject selection based on a student's learning style and future educational goals. Based on the student's timetable, a mentor can help devise a timeline for standardised tests to ensure that they don't clash with schoolwork and internal exams.

Psychometric Evaluation & Career Exploration:
Based on a student's psychometric evaluation, qualified mentors can suggest different educational and career pathways that are the right fit for the student based on their skills, interests and aptitude. Additionally, taking a psychometric test can help students make informed career and educational choices, whilst keeping as many doors open as possible.

Extracurricular Activities Direction:
A great way to develop your child's leadership abilities is to engage in extracurricular activities. A mentor can identify extracurricular activities for students outside of school and encourage them to explore a variety of interests. These can include music, coding and community service among many others before they find a connection to one or two.

Once the mentor identifies the student's interests, they can brainstorm ideas using certain frameworks. After identifying 2-3 activities, the student can create S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, time-related) goals and create an action plan allowing them to develop tangible interests. A mentor can also identify workshops and summer programmes that will supplement the student's knowledge. In addition, it is crucial to document all the activities in which a student has been involved. The mentor can work with the student to create a comprehensive resume that can be used for summer school applications, as a reference for teachers who are writing the student's letter of recommendation and also eventually for the college application, in some cases such as Brown University that gives students an option to upload a resume.

A robust mentorship programme, such as the one offered by The Red Pen, can provide students with all of the above and more. With the correct guidance, a mentor can help your child discover their true potential and help them make the most of their time in high school.

Author bio:

Written by Namita Mehta, who has been in the college counselling space for more than eleven years. She established the University Guidance Counselling Department at B.D.Somani International School in Mumbai before joining The Red Pen where she currently serves as President.