Become a Mentor

All of our mentors are Oxford or Cambridge educated, and so are perfectly equipped to prepare our mentees with their applications to Oxford and Cambridge.

Follow this link to sign-up as a mentor on our Oxbridge Mentoring Scheme.

Benefits of being a mentor:

  • Make a real difference by inspiring and raising aspirations of students from non-fee-paying schools, who may not otherwise have the confidence to apply to Oxbridge
  • Develop excellent leadership skills, furthering your personal and professional development and enhancing your CV
  • Learn our mentoring methods, which you can apply outside of our programme in your own tutoring or volunteering commitments. (Our mission is to expand provision of academic mentoring and its power to transform educational attainment)
  • Personal satisfaction in aiding an area of students that are underrepresented at top universities and could fulfil the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) quota for your company or organisation

Requirements and expectations

To be eligible as an OMS mentor, you must be an Oxford or Cambridge student or graduate. This is so our mentors can provide personalised advice and share insight, experiences and challenges they faced with our students. 

The responsibilities of the OMS mentor are to:

  • Mentor a small group of up to 4 students who are hoping to study the same or similar subject to you at university
  • Provide monthly one-hour group mentoring sessions to your class of students via our online platform
  • Review the first and final UCAS personal statement drafts of your students
  • Provide mock interviews to those of your students who are invited to interview
The OMS will run from March to December, and the following time commitment can be expected:
  • 10 hours mentoring sessions (10 x 1 hour sessions)
  • Max. 5 hours preparation (10 x 30 mins per session)
  • Max. 1 hour per student reviewing their personal statement
  • Max 2 hours mock interviews (with a group of up to 4 students)
Participation on the Oxbridge Mentoring Scheme as a mentor will therefore involve approximately 20 hours of volunteering from March to December, enabling a good portion of time to improve the knowledge, skills and attainment of OMS students.
 
Note that in order to commence mentoring, mentors are required to undertake mandatory online training on (i) our frameworks and mentoring approaches (February) and (ii) UCAS brainstorming and review methods (June). Training certificates will be issued upon successful completion.

Qualities we desire in mentors:

  • Enthusiasm for discussing their Oxbridge subject to inspire achievement in their mentees
  • Good interpersonal skills, enabling their mentees to articulate their thoughts and feelings
  • Good planning and organisation to timetable and plan content for mentoring sessions
  • Good listening ability in order to get to know their mentees, what motivates them and understand any learning challenges
  • Creative ideas for activities to consolidate learning & enable mentees to witness/experience real-world application of topics/concepts covered in mentoring

Gotoco'ers and members of Edu-venture:

Insight Outreach is pleased to partner with Gotoco to welcome Gotoco’ers and members of Eduventure societies as IO mentors and provide them with professional training and an opportunity to join our social mission. If you are a Gotoco’er or member of Eduventure, then please note this on your application and you will be fast-tracked to the final review stage.

Interested? Apply now!

All of our mentors are Oxford or Cambridge educated, and so are perfectly equipped to prepare our students with their applications to Oxford and Cambridge on our Oxbridge Mentoring Scheme.