Advising & Mentoring

Advising at Yale

Graduate advising guides students through academic requirements, degree milestones, producing a thesis or dissertation, and preparation for the major components of an academic career (teaching, research, and publication). During your degree program, you will find both formal and informal academic advisers in your department or program who will work with you as you plan to meet your degree milestones and, ultimately, to prepare for your career after graduate school. 

The Graduate School's Guide to Advising Processes for Faculty and Students is a resource to help you think about your goals in relation to advising. You should use it to discuss expectations with faculty members prior to choosing a principal faculty adviser, and subsequently, as needed, throughout your time in graduate school. 

In addition, departments and programs maintain their own advising guidelines for their students and faculty. These are available on the individual program pages for the Graduate School's Programs of Study.

Mentoring at Yale

During your time at Yale you will also be encouraged to create a network of mentors who will support you broadly in your professional development and help you to balance your personal and professional lives.

Mentorship is a professional relationship in which more experienced colleague(s) offer(s) holistic feedback and guidance, both professional and personal, to a mentee. Because no single mentor can provide advice in all areas of personal and professional development, you should cultivate a network of mentors from amongst faculty, staff, peers, and alumni. Mentoring may include academic advising but transcends guidance on coursework and academic milestones to address a student’s professional development in the broadest sense. Regular and clear communication, as well as an understanding of expectations, are shared responsibilities of both parties and are critical to an effective mentoring relationship. Mentors support their mentees as they learn to balance their personal and professional lives and identify long-term career goals. In the process, mentees learn how to create and maintain a mutually supportive professional network and even to become mentors themselves.

The Graduate School is committed to fostering and sustaining mentoring networks for graduate students in all programs and departments. See below for resources that will help you create a mentoring network that supports your professional and personal goals.