The USM Peer Mentorship Program is designed to match new or prospective graduate students with more experienced students in the same degree path.

We are seeking new students to be mentees

  • Gain valuable insight and guidance from someone further along in your program
  • Learn ins and outs of your degree path
  • Make connections within the USM community and your field!

We are also seeking students with 12 credits or more to be mentors

  • Be a knowledgable point of contact for incoming students
  • Share your experience and insight with new members of your program
  • Help our graduate community grow and make new connections

If you are interested in applying to the program, please do so by completing the application when we post it to this page.

Program Overview

The following is a brief introduction to the program and how it operates.

The USM Mentorship Program aims to foster a sense of connection and community within the graduate student population.


By pairing incoming graduate students with their peers who are farther along in their chosen path, the program seeks to demystify the degree-seeking process and to provide a personal outlet for questions, concerns, and guidance. Those who participate as a mentee will gain valuable insight into program trajectory, and their mentors will be able to share their knowledge and expertise.

Mentors and mentees are asked to connect for an initial meeting during the first semester they are paired, and are then expected to meet twice per semester. If the pair would like to meet more than twice per semester, or maintain a more regular communication, they can choose to do so at their discretion.


Mentors will provide their University email address to their mentees, and can use their discretion in deciding to share their phone number or any other contact information. In any case, boundaries for communication should be set in the first meeting.

While the mentor/mentee relationship is not bound by any legal confidentiality agreement, discussions should be kept private and confidential unless otherwise discussed. When in doubt, keep it to yourself!

Graduate students with 12 credits or more in their degree path are eligible to mentor incoming graduate students.


Mentees can be non-matriculated students, or have fewer than 15 credits. Typically, the mentee will be pursuing the same degree as the mentor, but that does not always have to be the case.

  • Program expectations and trajectory
  • Career development
  • USM community and activities
  • Work-life balance

Please note that mentors should NOT tutor their mentees or assist them in applying for or searching for jobs.

If either party would like to end the partnership for any reason, they can do so by contacting usmgradstudies@maine.edu. If the mentorship is ending amicably, we encourage the terminating party to reach out to their mentor/mentee and explain the situation.