Boston Area Alumni are invited to volunteer as mentors to first year international graduate students. The International Graduate Student Mentorship Program (IGSMP) helps new incoming graduate students transition to graduate student life at MIT. In past years, only current graduate students were sought as mentors, this year, the committee would like to expand and ask local alumni to participate too.

Each incoming international graduate student will be paired with a current graduate student or alumnus according to MIT department, country of origin, interests, conversational topics, etc.

The incoming student will be in e-mail contact with his/her mentor in late August prior to arriving at MIT.

During the fall Orientation, we ask all mentee and mentors to plan to meet-up at the International Students Mentorship Reception on September 10 from 6-8 pm in Morss Hall (Walker Memorial). Please save this date on your calendar.

The goal is to provide first year international graduate students an opportunity for cultural exchange, to learn more about Cambridge and Boston, and the overall culture of MIT.  You do not need to have experience in the student’s academic field or department, just a desire to spend an hour or two a month, along with a few emails along the way, to welcome the student, answer questions, and introduce them to their new hometown.  Some students may want to use the time just to talk and improve their English skills. Each pair will determine the meeting schedule that works best for them. But we hope that each pair will meet once a month (especially in the first semester) including the September 10 Reception and exchange a couple email or phone calls each month.

The deadline to sign up as a volunteer is August 15. Please go to http://gsc.mit.edu/mentor, to sign up as a mentor. Contact Katie Maloney with questions, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 617-452-3372.

P.S. This is a DIFFERENT program from the International Students Office Host Program, which matches undergraduate students with local hosts, http://web.mit.edu/iso/resources/host_program.shtml.