Vanderbilt Mentorship Immersion is a rigorous program that requires a substantial and sustained time commitment of several months with an independent project component. Because of this, admission to the program is selective based on eligibility, with PTY’s most popular mentorships involving a competitive selection process. In order to determine if the Vanderbilt Mentor Immersion program is a good fit, all students are required to submit an application to the specific mentorship experience(s) they are interested in applying. The review process for selecting students for the program involves a thorough review of a student’s qualifying test scores OR educator recommendations, transcript, resume, and thoughtful essay response.
The components of the application listed below are reviewed together to determine fit and placement. PTY will consider all components of the application when making a determination about admission into the program.
Please note, students are asked to apply for specific mentorship experience(s) rather than the mentorship program overall. Students may rank order the mentorship experiences of most interest when applying. Students do not have to rank all experiences, only those of interest. If PTY receives more applications from eligible students than we have spaces available in a particular mentorship, placement will become a competitive selection process for that mentorship. In this instance, PTY will employ a holistic, context-aware review process to determine which students will be placed in the experience. Therefore, PTY recommends that students are thoughtful with their resume and essay submission regardless of the mentorship for which they are applying.
Here is a description of the four application components:
1. Test Scores or Educator Recommendations
PTY allows for students who do not have test scores available to submit two educator recommendations in lieu of test scores. Selecting one option over the other will not help or hurt a student’s chances of placement.
Test Scores Option:
Please note that test scores in the 90th percentile and above for age group in one or more sections on an advanced achievement assessment (ACT, SAT, PSAT) OR any other nationally normed standardized assessment (such as state testing, MAP/NWEA testing, ITBS, or ERB) if advanced achievement assessment scores are not available suggests that Mentor Immersion would be a good fit academically for a student. We also accept cognitive measures (i.e., WISC-V, CogAT, Otis Lennon, Stanford-Binet) and out-of-level test scores (i.e., ACT in 7th grade). Individual ability and/or achievement assessments from psychologists are also accepted. All pages of the individual evaluation and assessment need to be included. Test scores should be less than three years old.
When reviewing scores, we look specifically at strengths and accelerated achievement in the content area(s) for selected mentorship(s) of interest. For example, if a student is applying to a humanities mentorship, the PTY team is looking at reading/writing/ELA test scores.
Students may submit a screenshot or picture of an assessment as long as the student’s name is visible on the test results.
Educator Recommendations Option:
Please note, while submitting educator recommendations instead of test scores does not hurt a student’s chances of admission, PTY strongly encourages students to submit test scores if available.
Students who do not submit test scores should request recommendations from two educators (teachers, administrators, or counselors) by sharing the link below. When recommenders complete the form, the completed form will be emailed to PTY. Students should not request that recommenders write a letter or submit a recommendation in any method other than the following form. The form takes 10-15 minutes to complete.
https://pty.vanderbilt.edu/PTY_educator_recommendation/
A student’s application will not be complete, even though it may be marked as 100% in our application portal, until PTY receives two educator recommendations.
Can I request educators submit recommendations before a program application opens?
Educator recommendations can be submitted at any time. Before requesting educators complete the recommendation form, please create a SchoolDoc account (free) by visiting https://app.schooldoc.com/register/vanderbiltpty. As your educators submit recommendation forms, they will be internally associated with your account.
If I submitted educator recommendations for a previous PTY program application, do I need submit new recommendations for future PTY program applications?
You are not required to submit new recommendations if PTY has recommendations on file from the previous school year. We ask that you submit new recommendations if your previous submission is older than the previous school year. If we have current recommendations on file, you are welcome to request additional recommendations from educators who may be able to provide more recent assessments of your academic performance. Our admissions team may reach out to request additional recommendations depending on the content area of your top-ranked course or the date of your previous recommendations.
2. Transcript:
All students are required to submit a current transcript. Grades of mostly As and Bs suggest that the mentorship program would be a good academic fit. Also, please make sure your transcript reflects particular required prerequisites for certain mentorships. Through the transcript review process, we are looking for students who are highly motivated since the mentorship program is rigorous and requires independent work outside of the weekly meetings. PTY also understands that extenuating circumstances might impact a student’s grades. Please make sure you provide additional information if you believe your grades do not accurately demonstrate your ability or commitment to academics.
Transcripts can be submitted as a picture or screenshot of a student’s unofficial record but must include the student’s name and show grades for the 2024-2025 school year.
3. Resume:
We want to know more about you! Submit a one-page resume as part of your application, so we have a better understanding of your interests and extracurricular activities. Knowing more about you helps PTY determine if this program is a good fit. The resume should include extracurricular activities, work/volunteer experience, awards, and honors, etc.
4. Essay:
Since PTY’s mentorship program is an intensive academic experience, please answer the following in less than 600 words: “Why you would like to make this commitment? Why you are interested in the particular mentorship that you have selected as your first choice?”