Search for a school advisor should start as early as the search for a suitable program, experts say. It can be made much easier if you contact alumni and school officials beforehand.
We don’t have to stress how difficult can it be to find yourself a mentor if you are enrolled in an online MBA program. Remote studies have the disadvantage of the lack of personal contact – you cannot talk to school faculty in person, or expand your network as fast as when a full-time student. Still, these problems can be fixed.
If you aren’t shy or afraid to put lots of effort into funding a mentor in advance, everything is possible. Without a person who can support you and help you cope with unknown problems during your studies, it would be extremely difficult to achieve success.
Here, we list some useful tips for finding a mentor if you are considering online programs.
1. First, you should begin with finding a suitable program and make sure you will be getting a degree in the field that fits you. To find a mentor working in the same sphere, you should choose your program carefully. That means you have to gather as much information about your future online program as you can, and for that you’ll need to talk to alumni.
Thus, it’s perfectly reasonable to check for how long the program has been around. You should look for programs with at least a 20-year experience of remote studies.
To talk to alumni and university faculty, you have to contact the admissions staff first. If you get introduced and make a contact with someone from you prospective school, it’s highly possible they can be your future mentor.
2. Second, you have to learn how to engage your mentor. Obviously, you can’t talk to a professor after their lecture, since you only get online lectures and Skype sessions. But it doesn’t mean you cannot start a mentoring relationship.
Even when studying online, you can contact your professors or other faculty members via email, social networks or a phone call. A good starting point would be to prepare some questions to ask about the future mentor’s field of research or to share their experience. Don’t be shy – the most horrible thing they can do to you is politely refuse.
Being shy or afraid of getting into awkward situations can only harm you. You shouldn’t feel inferior just because you are not a full-time student. Full-time, part-time or online program, you are nevertheless an MBA student, and that means faculty members will see talking to you and helping you as their duty.
3. A good way to reach out to your potential mentor would be to arrange a personal meeting. Of course, if such an opportunity doesn’t present itself, it’s absolutely fine to work with each other online, but if you have time and means to do it, it’s better to visit the campus or the university itself.
You can also benefit from university meeting sessions held in other cities – that will be a great opportunity to have a live chat with your mentor.
These sessions, called ‘meet-and-greets’, have helped lots of online students to spark mentoring relationships with faculty members. They are a chance for you to reach out even if it’s impossible to stay on campus for a while.
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