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Thursday, February 27, 1997

MENTORS:

Service gives students counsel about post-graduation optionsBy J. Sharon Yee

Daily Bruin Contributor

With GPAs to maintain, classes to attend, papers to write and finals to worry about, sometimes the last thing undergraduates want to think about is graduate school.

However, the Graduate Mentor Program (GMP) seeks to let students know that it is never too early to consider the real possibility of attending a graduate or professional school after receiving their bachelor's degree.

As a part of the Academic Advancement Program (AAP), the program primarily serves students from ethnically underrepresented and financially disadvantaged students, but is open to all students interested in attending graduate school.

"Our main goal is to offer students access to a sense of mentorship that's useful to them, and help them to be successful applicants and winning candidates," said Kevin Frank, a doctorate student in English who has worked for two years as the humanities mentor.

Started in 1990 by a group of UCLA graduate students who were concerned that university faculty typically included very few minority group members, the GMP's primary goal is to increase traditionally underrepresented students of color in academia and graduate schools.

"The one thing UCLA has, because of its location, is a population rich in diversity. ... If that's the case, then why aren't more UCLA students of color moving to levels of higher education?" said Joel Abueg, a programmer analyst for College Information Services who worked as both a mentor and coordinator for three years.

"If an ethnic group represents 20 percent of the population, then why doesn't it represent 20 percent of the faculty? Certainly there should be some equity," he added.

Some mentors said they agree that "in higher education, there is a sense of cultural war, where (academic) rationale runs the risk of being dominated by one perspective ... we want to be a role in helping to change that."

The statistics reflect these attitudes. In 1994-1995, UCLA filled 29 out of 55 tenured faculty spots with white males, 11 with Asian American males and the remaining 15 with females, excluding African Americans and Latin Americans completely. Nationwide, African Americans make up only 2.7 percent of all full professors at the university level and 2 percent of U.S. medical school faculty.

Barbara Wallace, currently a doctorate student in history and the history mentor, remembers there being only four black professors at UC Riverside while she was a graduate student there.

"The numbers just stun you because they're so low," she said.

In trying to help students be the best possible graduate school candidates that they can be, GMP offers a wide array of services, including one-on-one counseling where students have their questions answered and anxieties eased, workshops that help prepare students for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), and faculty roundtable discussions that allow students to speak with faculty in an informal setting.

The GMP also works with other groups on campus, such as the Expo Center and the Center for Academic and Research Excellence (CARE), to better provide their students with other helpful resources.

According to Abueg, in addition to providing tangible services, the GMP serves to be a "people resource." He also said that mentors frequently tell their students about research opportunities with professors and help them develop connections with other graduate students.

"Often, it's the case that people are not able to express what they know or their skills because they don't know the people. ... Education and departments are made of people, but students do not always realize this," he said.

Though administered by AAP, the program is completely run by graduate students, many of whom come from backgrounds similar to their students'. This year, the program boasts nine mentors and approximately 1,300 students.

Many of the mentors attribute their desire to help other students succeed in applying to graduate schools to their own personal experience with the process.

"I wanted to teach at the university level and I didn't have a role model, so it was very difficult. ... What we do is bring in our own experiences to give them the confidence to go forward," said Rachel Chapman, an anthropology doctorate student who is working as a mentor for the first time this year.

"I had a history professor that really encouraged me to go to graduate school and for me, it made all the difference in the world ... I thought I'd like to play that role too," added Wallace.

Explaining the importance of mentors, Abueg said they "are unlike other counselors in that they have a real personal relationship with their students. ... they serve to inspire and have a personal commitment to their students," often working overtime and spending money out of their own pockets, all in the interests of the students.

Students in the program expressed similar sentiments.

"When you decide to go to graduate school, a lot of people tell you a lot of things, but the mentors sit with you and first ask, 'Why do you want to go to graduate school?' They help you focus and organize your ideas," said Damion Thomas, a first-year graduate student in history who first came to GMP his junior year.

"People have a lot of misconceptions about graduate schools ... they think grades are everything, but if the statement of purpose and letters of importance aren't excellent, the grades aren't going to look as good," he said.

"Applying (to grad schools) can be a lonely and demoralizing process, but having someone to talk to and give you personal attention helps," added Dawn Mabalon, a second-year masters student in Asian American studies and counseling assistant for the College of Letters and Sciences.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about grad schools," Thomas said. "People think grades are everything, but while they're important, if your statement of purpose and letters of recommendation aren't excellent, your grades aren't going to matter as much."

One popular service that the mentors provide is a thorough reading and critiquing of students' drafts of their statements of purpose. Quite often, students end up writing 20 to 30 drafts before writing the final one and can spend an equal amount of time working on other parts of the application.

As getting into grad school becomes increasingly competitive, the GMP tries to individually counsel students to be the best possible candidates rather than to simply promote traditionally underrepresented minorities in academia.

Abueg explained that ultimately, GMP participants hope to "see diversity of thought instead of (only) diversity of race in higher education."

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Barbara Wallace (right), a graduate mentor, advises graduate student Dawn Mabalon. The mentor program is a service provided by AAP for undergraduates interested in pursuing graduate study.