How to Prepare for a Potential Mentor Meeting

Last week was a much needed break from the constant schoolwork and assignments. Thanksgiving break gave me an opportunity to catch up in and get ahead in my other classes so I can devote more of my time to ISM and my mentor selection process this week and the next few. I also spent some time planning for my second meeting with a potential mentor. I looked over the notes from some of my past interviews and decided on a few deeper thinking questions to ask. I compiled a few questions on the design process and design software used in the field of civil engineering, and I’m hoping that asking questions like this will show my serious dedication to gaining knowledge in the field and completing a project.

In addition to doing research through interviews and reading articles for ISM, I’ve found that I’ve been learning a lot about engineering, and the field of civil engineering specifically, through my Principles of Engineering class. Although this is still basic, surface level knowledge, I am still excited to be learning something new about my topic of interest. Not only does it help me learn more about what I am interested in, but it also helps me be more successful in my interviews with professional engineers and research.

In this coming week, my goals are to work hard on my research presentation and hopefully schedule and conduct my second meeting with my potential mentor. I hope to be able to talk about what this mentorship will mean, and ask whether or not they will be available to mentor me. I’m optimistic about this meeting, and I hope that my work in the past couple months will help me get where I need to go.