Meet an Olin alum. Find an awesome mentor. Discuss life at Olin, how to adult, what you did last week, and everything in between. Hindsight is 20/20! Borrow some perspective from someone who's been there. We match you with a mentor that you meet each month on video for the academic year.
Banter is a mentoring program that connects Oliners—who better to help out than someone who's been there?
The program provides professional and personal support to students and alumni. We encourage meetings to happen on a regular cadence and suggest once a month (video chat, phone call, in person meeting, or email conversation) though it’s up to each match to determine what works best for them.
Alumni: You have the opportunity to reconnect inside the Olin bubble and share your professional and personal experiences with students and fellow alumni.
Students: You have exclusive access to a network of Olin alumni ready to share their experiences from life on campus and beyond. Get advice on which courses are most helpful when you have no idea what field to go into, how to deal with that difficult teammate, the politics of an internship or how to cope with the challenges of learning today.
| Date (2024) | Mentee (Current Students) Deadlines | Mentee (Alumni 2021-2024) Deadlines | Mentor (Alumni 2006-2020) Deadlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 11th | Current student survey | Alumni 2021-2024 survey | Mentor survey |
| September 14th | Mentor profiles public | ||
| September 21st | Mentor selection deadline | Mentor selection deadline | |
| September 22nd | Match results emailed | Match results emailed | Match results emailed |
| October 1st | Deadline to schedule first meeting | Deadline to schedule first meeting | |
| ~Monthly through May 2025 | 30 minute video chat | 30 minute video chat | 30 minute video chat |
Current students as well as Alumni from 2021-2024 can be mentees. Alumni from years 2006-2020 can be mentors.
Nope, but you should indicate on your slide that you don’t know your post-grad plans. How many people even know what they want to do next week? We don’t require you to know the future, but any questions you may have regarding life after Olin will certainly serve to enrich the conversation!
Most pairs video chat, but it will be up to each match to establish a monthly time and communication format that will work for them. We will provide encouragement and monthly topics that can be used as conversation starters. Each pair will set the tone for their meetings, but you should be thinking "coffee with a friend" rather than "business interview."
You’ll be getting your match in October and we’ll be checking in with you until May 2025, but we hope you’ll keep in touch after Banter officially ends for the year. Expect to set aside a half hour per month to meet or communicate with your match.
Step 1: fill out the survey
Step 2: we send out slides highlighting each mentor, generated from the survey
Step 3: mentees read through profiles and excellence vote on who they would like to be paired with
Step 4: we optimize the pairings
Step 5: we send out introductory slides and emails to the matches
Step 6: Banter! We send out monthly topics for conversation inspiration
Each match persists for one year and will be the primary person you’re talking with.
If you haven't heard from your match by the deadline to set up your first call, reach out ASAP to banter@olin.edu and they'll either try to reach out to that person for you, or set you up with a new match.
This program is brought to you by: Lillian Tseng (‘13) and Sara Wheeland (‘07)
Have additional questions for us? Feel free to contact us!