How to Find Mentees

Mentor and students look at the computer

Make the Opportunities Visible

Many undergraduates, especially those who are first generation college students or from underrepresented groups don’t know where to look for opportunities. You can simplify the process for undergraduates who are navigating this for the first time. Here are some places you might post:

Your Area RSOs: Registered Student Organizations are an excellent mechanism for reaching students.

Illinois Job Board: post opportunities for student positions

Your Research Group Website: many students will start searching for positions by first visiting faculty research group websites. However, most faculty pages don’t post opportunities for undergraduates — you can grab student attention if you do!

Your Department Website: some ACES departments have central listings for undergraduate research opportunities. Connect with an academic advisor or Director of Undergraduate Studies to find out more about processes in your department.

Office of Undergraduate Research: you can post opportunities through this centralized service.

Office of Undergraduate Research URAP: The Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program connects graduate student mentors with undergraduate researchers from across campus. Graduate students post opportunities, the Office of Undergraduate Research helps with advertising and student applications, and the mentors and students then receive supports in this wrap-around program.

Looking for engineering students? Post your opportunity through the Grainger College of Engineering.

Student and mentor work together in an exercise-setting

Respond to Student Inquiries

There are students who are aware of undergraduate research and will be actively reaching out to mentors directly. You may receive emails or students might approach you in a class or during office hours. Responding to students, even if you don’t currently have an opening, can encourage students to keep trying and might lead to informal mentoring relationships.

Direct students to resources: Help students out telling them about resources available on campus. There are several listed on this page: Resources for Undergraduates

Remember that undergrads are new to this: You might have expectations about how students should prepare before reaching out or how they should write professional emails. But this is the first time most undergrads are navigating this process. Be forgiving and frame this as a learning experience for them.

Be encouraging: Undergrads do not fully understand how research works — the ups and downs of funding, space, and researcher availability. So although it is common for research groups that don’t have capacity to disregard student inquiries, students can take this as a personal rejection. Taking the time to answer emails and explain the situation can encourage a student to keep trying. Plus, you might be able to forge an informal mentoring relationship that could lead to future partnerships.


Return to top of page