Set Clear Expectations

Starting your mentoring relationship with clear expectations and avoid potential future conflicts. Undergraduates do not know the professional etiquette, processes, or cultures that many researchers take for granted. Having an open conversation to flush out assumptions can establish a strong relationship and lasting relationship.

Consider working in a group with the undergraduate mentee, graduate student or postdoc mentor(s), and faculty mentor to co-create an expectations contact/compact/agreement. Pair this with a discussion of the mentee’s and the mentors’ goals. The Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) Entering Research has an example (registration required), which is also posted here.

Return to top of page