NUSTIAN Coaching Policy and Guidelines

Mentee Guidelines and Code of Conduct

Drafted by Syed Muhammad Aqib

The purpose of this document is to provide mentees with guidelines on how to approach the mentors, ethical and professional obligations, and how the process of coaching will work.

All the mentors are working voluntarily. They do not get any financial and otherwise incentive from NUSTIAN USA to coach.

Working process

The following process should be followed by all mentees to smoothly initiate the process of one-to-one mentoring.

  1. Fill out the registration form

https://forms.gle/b5Nz95t1mgi1WLNF6

  1. Once you are added to the group, apply for 1-1 coaching program
  2. A mentor will be assigned to you for 1-1 mentoring
  3. Provide the feedback

Code of Conduct

  • Mentees cannot contact any mentor personally via WhatsApp, Email, Facebook, or any other medium except when they are assigned a mentor for one-to-one coaching and authorized to connect personally. All the discussion is to be held in the Coaches group. Mentees can ask however, in the WhatsApp group to contact a mentor personally and can contact after consent only.
  • Once a mentor has been assigned to a mentee for one-to-one mentoring, the mentor will provide a list of platforms through which the mentor wants to connect, and the mentee must select from only those. These platforms can include WhatsApp, Facebook, Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Email among others.
  • Mentees cannot ask mentors for any financial assistance or loan to pay for the fees of GRE, IELTS, TOEFL, admission application fees, and any other fees.
  • Mentees are free to reach out to any resources other than NUSTIAN USA for their admission application.
  • Mentees cannot ask the mentors to help them with anything that is not mentioned in the registration form. For example, if a mentee has not specified that he/she needs help with GRE, they cannot ask the mentor later to help them with GRE himself. If possible mentor will guide mentee towards someone else who can help.
  • Sharing the complete and accurate academic profile is the mentee’s responsibility.
  • If the desired goal (Admission, Fulbright, Scholarship) is not reached, the mentor will not be responsible under any circumstances.
  • If the mentor is not responding to messages or emails, the mentee must wait for a reasonable period (defined by the mentor) before sending a follow-up message. Trying to communicate persistently will be considered spamming.
  • Please speak to female mentors with due respect.
  • Mentees are prohibited to use email trackers.
  • Mentors can stop providing their services and cease correspondence at any point without any prior notice and a reason.
  • Mentees cannot ask questions of personal nature from the mentors. They are only allowed to speak about the stuff relevant to admission and application.
  • The mentee may be assigned a new mentor if due to any reason the previous mentor becomes unavailable.
  • All the information provided by mentee will be kept confidential and mentors are required to respect the privacy. 
  • For any correspondence, please contact: [email protected]

Mentee Expectations:

  • Gre Prep : 1-3 months
  • Toefl /IELTS prep:  1-2 months
  • Scholarship  prep complete : 3 or more months
  • MIT/Stanford admission: Top 1% of students + 1-2 year prep time
  • Ivy League admission: Top 5% of students + 6-12 month prep time

Nustian USA Coaches Guidelines

Drafted by Sara Sultan

This document is meant for coaches to streamline the mentoring process and introduce them to the group management. The important documents are listed with their links in a step by step process. The guidelines also include tips for the 1-1 coaching and smooth communication.

Step 1: Registration

Please register yourself on this sheet for the record.

bit.ly/nustiancoaches

Step 2: Nustian email account (US based alumni only)

US based alumni can get a nustian email account if they are volunteering for coaches group tasks.

Step 3: Google drive

Get access to the shared drive folder:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0AO_Wb7H_KbGZUk9PVA

Step 4: Assigning mentee

This sheet is being used for assignments where we assign mentors to a relevant mentee.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dLPejA1WV1AnVMxBWjV-5vgQ0W4Pv-eJt-WfUV1iZMY/edit?usp=sharing

(Optional) We have a response sheet from mentoring applications form and you can take a look to choose a mentee: 20-21 Mentee Responses

Step 5: Email (Optional since Maira took the responsibility)

Once you get a mentee assigned, send them an email. Here’s the email body:

Hello,

I have been assigned as your mentor for Nustian coaching 2021. We can work together to evaluate your profile, identify areas of improvement, review your essays and resume, and answer your general queries related to the application. 

Before we start working on that, however, let’s confirm the medium of communication and the schedule.

Communication: NUSTIAN recommends communicating via email/WhatsApp in general and via zoom for meetings.

Schedule: I think biweekly meetings/updates would be good to track the progress. Do suggest if it is doable for you or otherwise.

For now, please complete these two tasks so that we could help you with your application.

  1. Confirm the communication mode and schedule.
  2. Share your profile with me and tell me briefly about your plans and goals.

Thanks

If you are reluctant in sending an email yourself, please let us know in the group so that we may send it on your behalf at first.

Step 6: Coaching

  •       Communication: Start with the email first and then take the general communication further to any platform you like (e.g. Whatsapp). To make things easier for you, work with them on video conference by sharing screen and pointing out the errors (zoom/meet). Make your mentee work himself after taking guidance rather than solely depending on you for writing essays.
  •       Schedule: Make a schedule for weekly/biweekly meetings to track progress
  •       Excel sheet: Ask them to make an excel sheet to track the mentoring process

Step 7: Evaluation and Feedback

Provide your feedback on the process and also ask your mentee to fill out the feedback form.

Feedback form link coaches only: https://forms.gle/PhcXcGucxEisEc44A

Feedback form link for mentees: https://forms.gle/QJLD1goJk5XCzwUe6

Step 8: Update the status

Update the status of your mentee in tab 2 of records sheet and add your name against him/her.

bit.ly/nustiancoaches

Optional collaboration

  1. Sign up for webinars and deliver a talk on a topic of your choice

Sign up link:

20-21 Coaches Webinar Signup

  1. Update the FAQ and mentoring thread in the drive-by adding your comments or new questions to be answered (ADD YOUR NAME IF YOU NEED TO)
  2. Fill out this form to answer important questions: https://forms.gle/rZa7koj52VAoZigG9

 

Current volunteer tasks and leads:

  •   Group regulation – Sara Sultan, Usama Awais, Syed Muhammad Aqib

Making forms, adding registered mentees to the group and assigning mentors, social media.

  •   Marketing and media content – Arsalan Qadir, Usama Awais, Arsalan Azad

Contacting Nust UAO, making posters and writing content for marketing.

  •   Google Drive – Qasim Nazir

Collecting emails and managing google drive.

  •   FAQ management – 

US: Nouman Sial, Arsalan Akhter

Canada: Kiran Ali, Sara Farrukh, Arsalan Ahmed

Organizing the frequently asked questions in a document and updating regularly.

  •   Webinars management – Muzammil Bashir, Syed Muhammad Aqib

Arranging webinars for interested mentors based on their response on signup sheet.

  •   Writing and editing Blogs – Sara Sultan, Wajeeha Usman

Writing on general topics for blogs to share on medium (https://medium.com/@nustianusa)

  •   Website and database management – Ahsan Rehman, Faisal
  •   Assigning mentors – Maira Jalil, Arsalan Azad
  •   Policy and Guidelines – Sara Sultan, Syed Muhammad Aqib, Usama Awais

Contact:

[email protected]