• Read the NCSSM Mentorship Program Details for Class of 2023 (includes program options and requirements)

• Watch the Recording of the Mentorship Interest meeting with Q&A session with students

• Contact Senior Mentorship student representatives (names and emails found in the Interest Meeting Slideshow)

• Visit the Mentorship Website Page

  • Explore pages for specific programs (M1, M2 & M3)

    • In Part 2 Application, Online students will choose the Mentorship 1 option since the other two choices are unavailable due to scheduling conflicts

• Optional Resume and Essay Workshops

  • (Optional) Resume Workshop: Showcase Your Skills (8:30-9:30PM on Mon. Oct. 25; Resume Workshop Recording is HERE). This workshop will be designed for students to ask specific questions for help/guidance and not to proofread entire drafts of resumes.

  • (Optional) To inform your essay writing, feel free to watch the Application Essay Writing Recording (delivered by past Mentorship Instructor, Dr. Olivia Whitt)

  • NOTE: The recording is from last year and includes reference to a few essay questions in the first few minutes of the recording are not included this year (i.e., no "common essays"). The 6 essay questions for the Class of 2023 Mentorship Application (Part 2) are listed below in Step 6.

  • This workshop outlines the requirements for the Mentorship application essays, describe what makes a good application essay in general, and provide an opportunity for students to ask questions about application essay writing at the end. While this workshop is geared towards the Research and Innovation application essays, it is open to anyone who wants to learn more about application writing in general. The tips you will learn can be applied to other applications (think college, jobs, or other research opportunities). If you have questions after watching the recording, please email Dr. Shoemaker (shoemaker@ncssm.edu)

Choose one NCSSM faculty recommender and one recommender from your homeschool that can best describe your interests and your personal/professional skills and attributes.

• Enter the recommenders’ names and CORRECT email address for two teacher recommenders (one NCSSM instructor, one homeschool teacher) that have agreed to respond to a simple form asking for a rating for you on several aspects of your personal/professional skills such as work ethic, independence, etc. and complete one open comment for their recommendation (no letter required). The recommendation form will be sent to your recommender directly from the Mentorship and Research office by Oct. 22 (due Nov. 2, 2021).

• If the recommender hasn't yet agreed, do not miss the application deadline. Submit the form and email Dr. Shoemaker for advice.

• Due to the pandemic conditions, the teacher recommendations will be weighed less heavily due to the potential of having less one-on-one direct interaction with your instructors especially throughout the last year.

• TO ACCESS Part 1 application, login to Blackbaud to access and fill out the Part 1 application as a form in your Blackbaud account. When all prompts for Part 1 are complete, be sure to submit the form by Oct. 18.

  • Students will see the form as a banner across the top of their screen. Students who don't wish to apply to Mentorship can ignore this form in Blackbaud.

• DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION is prefilled when you log in to Part 1 application in Blackbaud. This information is from the NCSSM student database. If there is an error in the information pre-filled, contact registrar@ncssm.edu because your school record contains the error.

• NON-NCSSM COURSES (Do not list NCSSM courses. These will automatically be pulled from Blackbaud.)

  • Please list graded courses you have taken junior year, or this past summer, that would not appear on your NCSSM transcript. If you don't have any additional graded courses, you don't need to complete this prompt.

    • Non-graded course/camps. Do not list camps, programs, that were not a course that was not graded or will not receive credit. These additional opportunities may instead be discussed in your essays if they are relevant and/or could be listed on the required resume for Application Part 2.

    • Online students, please list junior year courses you are taking at your local school

Access the NCSSM Mentorship Program Details for Class of 2023 to review program dates and expectations for each of the three Mentorship options

• Program Dates: Check your availability. Students must attend all program dates (in rare circumstances, a maximum absence of 1 day may be permitted by your NCSSM instructor)

• Program Expectations: Check Mentorship-specific requirements and assess your commitment to the Mentorship Program.

Program Options:

• Online students will choose the Mentorship 1 option since the other two choices are unavailable due to scheduling conflicts

• Residential students will be asked to choose and rank from Mentorship 1 (Summer); Mentorship 2 (Academic Year); Mentorship 3 (Extended Mentorship). Students should rank ALL OPTIONS that are of interest and student can commit to fully.

• Your resume must fit the guidelines listed in the "Resume Instructions" document and should be composed of select information that you would like to emphasize about yourself.

• SUBMISSION: Your resume document should be submitted in Part 2 application in Blackbaud by copying the link to the resume document in the response (be sure the document is shared with "anyone with the link"). Do not copy and paste the resume content into the response box or you will lose all formatting and structure of your resume.

• (Optional) Resume Workshop: Showcase Your Skills (8:30-9:30PM on Mon. Oct. 25; Resume Workshop Recording is HERE). This workshop will be designed for students to ask specific questions for help/guidance and not to proofread entire drafts of resumes.

*It is very strongly recommended that you work on your essays on a separate word processor, like Microsoft Word or Google Documents, so that you can copy and paste your essay response into the application when you have finalized.

• Word limits for essays:

  • The maximum word count for all essays is 500 words. For opportunity specific essays listed below each opportunity description, it is 500 words maximum for each question provided.

  • Not all essays will need the maximum 500 words. For some you may find you can fully answer the question with less than 500 words. The most effective essays clearly convey your honest response and are well written yet succinct and focused on the answer to question.

• (Optional) To inform your essay writing, feel free to watch the Application Essay Writing Recording (delivered by past Mentorship Instructor, Dr. Olivia Whitt)

  • NOTE: The recording is from last year and includes reference to a few essay questions in the first few minutes of the recording are not included this year (i.e., no "common essays"). The 6 essay questions for the Class of 2023 Mentorship Application (Part 2) are listed below.

  • This workshop outlines the requirements for the Mentorship application essays, describe what makes a good application essay in general, and provide an opportunity for students to ask questions about application essay writing at the end. While this workshop is geared towards the Research and Innovation application essays, it is open to anyone who wants to learn more about application writing in general. The tips you will learn can be applied to other applications (think college, jobs, or other research opportunities). If you have questions after watching the recording, please email Dr. Shoemaker (shoemaker@ncssm.edu)

ESSAY PROMPTS ARE BELOW:

1. Explain your reasons (the primary reason) for wanting to participate in the Mentorship Program. What are your expectations for the program and why is the program a good fit for you?

2. Research is often different from an internship in that you are becoming an expert in a specific topic. Please list below the field(s) of research that you would like to develop your expertise in Mentorship. The list can include no more than 4 areas of interest and can be as specific or as general as you would like.

3. As a Mentorship student, you will be an ambassador for the NCSSM Mentorship Program not only in your mentor’s research environment and as a passenger on the contracted bus service, but also as a teammate with your peers and the many members of the Mentorship team including instructors, coaches, assistants, and coordinators. Why do you desire to be an ambassador of the NCSSM Mentorship Program? What can we expect from you as an ambassador?

4. What would your faculty recommenders you chose say about you and what evidence could they provide to support their statements?

5. Mentorship is more about the journey than the outcome. You are not in control of this experience entirely, sometimes for reasons out of your control your Mentorship experience may not lead to your expected outcome or may result in no findings or a lack of direction. If the outcome is not as you expected, describe the value, if any, that remains for you in the Mentorship experience?

6. The Mentorship team wants to ensure that complete information about each applicant is available for review. If there are any challenges, grades, or attendance issues you have faced that would be helpful for the Mentorship team to know more about, or any additional information you would like to share regarding your application, please give some details below (not a required essay; list None if you do not have additional information to share).

• Part 2 application form will open in Blackbaud by Oct. 22 (only available to students who submitted Part 1).

• TO ACCESS Part 2 application, login to Blackbaud to access and fill out the Part 2 application as a form in your Blackbaud account. When all prompts for Part 2 are complete, be sure to submit the form (by Nov. 2)

  • Students will see the form as a form across the top of their screen. Students who don't wish to complete the Mentorship application can ignore this form in Blackbaud. Incomplete Part 2 applications will not be considered for the program and students will be ineligible for the Mentorship Program.

• BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE USED THE RESOURCES ABOVE TO INFORM YOUR APPLICATION.