Mentorship FAQ
How should I select my mentorship?
Will I receive a grade or credit for my mentorship?
Will attending Mentorship Immersion help my student get into Vanderbilt University?
What is the cancellation policy?
What does it mean to be placed on a waiting list?
Will I be able to select my own culminating project?
What if I do not have SAT, ACT, or PSAT scores because of delays in testing related to COVID?
What if my test scores are not in the 90th percentile?
Will my mentor guide me in my high school coursework projects, personal decisions, and career and college advice? What is the role of my mentor and peer guide?
Can I double up and use a high school course project as a project for this mentorship, too?
Am I required to attend office hours as well as the live course times each week?
How many hours a week am I expected to dedicate to this program?
How should I select my mentorship?
We recommend that you choose your mentorship based on what interests you. Remember, you will be studying the topic you select in-depth and completing an individual project. Select a mentorship that excites you! We encourage you to rank as many mentorships as you have interest but be sure that any mentorship that you rank on your application is something you would be willing to explore in-depth. Showing interest by ranking more than one mentorship opportunity will not decrease your chances of being placed in your top-ranked mentorship. However, ranking more than one mentorship experience may increase your overall chances for placement in the program after the review process.
Will I receive a grade or credit for my mentorship?
No. Programs for Talented Youth does not give grades or award credit for any of our programs, including Mentorship Immersion and Rising Experts. We want you to stretch your intellectual capacity without fear of failure. In Mentorship Immersion and Rising Experts your mentor will evaluate your progress and you will receive an evaluation report from your mentor after the program. Additionally, you will receive a lot of formative feedback from your mentor throughout the program. The end of the program evaluation will detail your progress on a variety of factors and aims to give you a broad picture of your academic growth throughout the experience as well as feedback on your final product/project.
Will attending Mentorship Immersion help my student get into Vanderbilt University?
No. Admission to PTY’s Mentorship Immersion or Rising Expert program is not an indicator of admission to Vanderbilt University. The goal of Mentorship Immersion and Rising Expert is to provide an opportunity to learn more about a particular field and complete independent research or a project with support from a content expert.
What is the cancellation policy?
Each mentorship program has a the program timeline, including tuition due dates, on the website. The tuition due date is also included in admissions notification email. After the tuition due date, no refunds will be provided if a student must cancel participation. The application fee is nonrefundable for all applicants regardless of admission or placement in a mentorship.
What does it mean to be placed on a waiting list?
Being placed on a waiting list means a student is eligible for the program, but there is not a space available in the particular mentorship experience the student is interested. A waiting list is retained for all full mentorship opportunities. Students who we are unable to offer a place in a particular mentorship due to space will be placed on a waiting list.
Those applying to mentorships before first round priority admissions deadline (see program timeline for this deadline for the session/experience you are applying) who are not offered a place in the mentorship through the competitive review process will be placed on a waiting list for the mentorship, if eligible. A student’s placement on a waiting list will be based on their application. Eligible students who apply after the first round priority admissions deadline will be placed on the waiting list based on the date/time of application receipt.
Programs for Talented Youth will contact you if a spot opens off the waiting list.
If you are placed in a lower ranked mentorship, you will remain on the waiting list for higher ranked mentorships. Your enrollment will be moved to a higher ranked mentorship if a spot becomes available. Be sure to rank only mentorships for which you are willing to take.
Will I be able to select my own culminating project?
The culminating project for each mentorship is determined after collaborating with your mentor. It may or may not include independent research that can be later submitted for publications, as publication is not the purpose of the mentorship experience. Once the mentorship begins, each mentor will define the parameters around the culminating experience. Mentors will be asking their mentees to participate in a culminating product that relates to the field of the mentorship focus. For example, a creative writing mentorship might include a final project of an anthology while a mentorship in nanoscience might include a paper or research related to the field. Therefore, after placement, it is up to the mentor and mentee to discuss a project that is appropriate for the experience, includes the mentor’s expertise that can be used to support the project, and is exciting to the mentee. The program is designed so that you are working together with your mentor to develop the project that you are excited about once the criteria have been shared by the mentor.
What if I do not have SAT, ACT, or PSAT scores because of delays in testing related to COVID?
We understand that COVID might have impacted certain students’ ability to take the SAT, ACT, PSAT, or other end of year tests. If you do not have scores available for one of these tests, you can submit end of the year state tests from earlier years or a cognitive measure. We also accept AP exams if they are related to the mentorship field in which you are applying. Additionally, we accept a variety of tests that have national percentiles and we accept scores that are up to three years old. If you have questions concerning the test scores that you have available and/or what types of test scores PTY accepts, please contact pty.peabody@vanderbilt.edu.
What if my test scores are not in the 90th percentile?
PTY does not have cutoffs for standardized test scores in order to apply to the mentorship program. When reviewing mentorship applications, we evaluate students’ test scores as one component of the application in addition to a student’s transcript, resume, and essay.
Will my mentor guide me in my high school coursework projects, personal decisions, and career and college advice? What is the role of my mentor and peer guide?
Our mentorship programs provide academic mentorship. Your mentor is a content expert in a specific discipline. As such, this mentorship is designed to provide you with an experience in a field of potential interest for you. Your mentors and peer guides have been asked to provide content area instruction, share with you what it takes to be successful in their particular field, pathways for engaging in the field, and help you design a quality product or project of interest in a way a professional or college student may approach the topic. In most instances your peer guide is a college student who is currently moving toward becoming an expert in the field and was likely in your situation just a few years prior. Your mentor and peer guide may talk about their personal career path and career journey or discuss the level of academic preparation required in their field. Mentors and peer guides are not equipped to offer college or career counseling, college application essay advice, high school tutoring, life coaching, or personal counseling. They are more than willing to help you with your final product, discuss the content delivered in the course, or answer any questions you might have about how they personally have engaged in the field, the current status of their field, or what they perceive as the necessary components to be successful in their given area.
Can I double up and use a high school course project as a project for this mentorship, too?
In most instances, this is not acceptable. Generally speaking, using the same project for two different courses is a violation of an academic honor code. Original work is expected. Additionally, the criteria for your high school course and the mentorship are likely to be different in scope and on different timelines. There are times when expanding upon a topic of interest previously started is appropriate. We suggest that you are up front with your mentor and high school instructor should you want to continue to add to a project or topic that you have been researching in one course and use it in another. This will be decided on a case by case basis.
Am I required to attend office hours as well as the live course times each week?
If accepted and enrolled, you are expected to attend the live weekly meetings as indicated in the mentorship descriptions. You are not always required to attend the additional study hall/office hour(s) each week. The office hour/study hall time allotted each week is designed so that you have more time with your academic mentor and peer guide/teaching assistant if you need it. At this time they may answer any questions you have about the material. As you continue to work on your project, your mentor may require that you meet individually or in small groups outside of the allotted and regularly scheduled class time to discuss your progress. This will likely occur in the later weeks of the program when you have a better idea of your project direction. The time and day of the weekly office hour/study hall will be determined during the first course meeting and will be based on cohort availability. The mentor will survey the cohort and identify a time potentially everyone is available. The time could change based on unanimous vote.
How many hours a week should I expect to dedicate for work for this program?
Students will see their mentor and mentee groups when they meet live each week. The length of these meeting times vary based on which program you are enrolled. Visit the specific program page for the live session commitment each week. An additional office hour(s)/study hall may also be required during certain weeks. In addition to the live session each week, students should be prepared asynchronous work work outside of the classroom to prepare for class, work with other mentees, attend additional mini sessions, or to work independently on their project. Visit the program page for more information about how much time outside of the live sessions can be expected. It is important to note that every student is different and depending on their project and course content, more or less work may be required during certain weeks or times throughout the session. We also fully expect that there will be less out-of-class work early in the program (likely an hour or two per class meeting) before independent project work begins and perhaps a little more as the project is in full force. Again, this work will vary by class and content domain. Although this program will require a significant time commitment, we are also aware that many of the students participating are also taking advanced courses within their traditional high school curriculum as well as participating in other extracurricular experiences. The program is designed to immersive, but we do not intend for it to be overwhelming. There are no grades in the program. Your final project will vary based on the mentorship you sign up for, but all projects will mimic the work done in the field. Plan ahead and communicate with your mentor about key times (like AP exam week if the program meets during the school year), when you might be extra busy so that you can develop a plan ahead of time to make sure you are keeping up with all of your important commitments.