Contact and Conversation Guide

This guide provides mentors and students a list of potential discussion points to help facilitate exchanges and to help build mentoring relationships.

Some will find these prompts helpful with communications or possibly to fill in occasional gaps - others may not need them at all. They are presented simply as a resource to facilitate mentor and student relationship building and interaction.

The prompts are divided into three components: Personal, Academic, and Career.

Personal

• Family background & dynamics
  • General description
  • Relationship with parents/grandparents
  • Relationship with siblings
  • Closest to
  • Most admired
  • Most influential
  • Most awkward
  • Most disappointing
  • Role models
  • Challenges
• Five statements about your life
  • Likes
  • Dislikes
  • Ambitions
  • Plans for the future
  • Influences
  • Friends
  • Charging the batteries
  • Values
  • Largest challenges
  • Frustrations
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Things I'm working hard on
• Five statements that best describe the core elements of your identity
  • Best conversation
  • Best conversation you've ever had
  • Person you'd most like to have a conversation with
  • Conversation topic
  • What you would hope to get out of the best conversation
• Favorite
  • Book
  • Movie
  • Place
  • Artist (performer, visual artist, writer, musician)
  • Trip
  • Experience
• Hero
  • Definition
  • Personal hero
  • Why chosen
• Leadership
  • Define
  • Importance
  • Your role models
• Favorite music and artist
  • What does music mean to you
  • What is your connection to your favorite song or musician
• Favorite food
  • Why
  • Do you like to cook
• Favorite holiday
  • Why
  • Where
  • Importance
• Politics
  • Overview
  • Major issues
  • Politicians
  • Voting
  • Presidential race
  • General thoughts
  • Candidates
  • Issues
  • Electoral process
  • Your "Dear Presidential Candidate" letter
• Social issues
  • Major social issues
  • Problems
  • Solutions
• Are rules meant to be broken
  • What rules do you follow without question
  • What rules do you challenge
• Moral dilemmas
  • Personal
  • Society
• Money
  • General thoughts
  • Importance in your life
  • Managing it
  • How much is enough
  • How would you spend a million dollars
• Most embarrassing moments or experiences
  • What did you learn
• Five things I must do in my lifetime
  • Why are the five important
• Five things I want to accomplish this year
  • Why are they important
• Helping others
  • Motivation
  • How much
  • Who
  • Type of help
• Cultural influences
  • Importance
  • Personal
  • Impact
• Judging others
  • How judgmental are you
  • How often are judgments wrong
  • Lessons learned
  • Advice to others
• Stress
  • How much do you feel
  • Sources
  • Impact on your life
  • How do you handle
• Five adjectives people would use to describe you
• Self-Esteem
  • Describe how you view yourself
  • How would friends describe you
  • How would acquaintances describe you
  • How do others' opinions impact your self-esteem
• Describe a healthy relationship
  • Friends and family
  • Professional
  • Romantic
• Volunteering
  • Amount of time/commitment
  • Focus and organizations
  • Why chosen
• Three things I'm most thankful for
• What I would have done differently

  Academic

• Reasons for choosing The University of Virginia
• College experience vs. expectations
  • How has experience differed from expectations
• What I want to get out of college
• What I want to accomplish in college
  • Personal goals
  • Academic goals
• Largest challenges in college
  • How dealing with them
• Academic strengths
• Academic weaknesses
• Personal growth and maturity while in college
• Greatest improvement(s) while in college
• Most important accomplishments while in college
• How to choose a major
• Relevance of major to career goals
• Organizations joined
  • Why chosen
• Social life
  • Focus
  • Quality
  • Importance
• The Greek system
  • Personal views
• Jobs in college
  • During school
  • Summers
• Most helpful resources while in college
• Favorite course
  • Why
• Favorite professor
  • Why
• Honor system
  • Your opinion
  • Importance/relevance to college years
  • Importance/relevance to life after college
• Opinion on role of college athletics
  • Importance
  • Benefits
• How hard did I push myself in college
• Things I enjoyed most about college
• Value of a liberal arts education
• What U.Va. could do better
• Graduate school
• As Commencement speaker
  • Five points you would make
• Universal service
  • Opinion on two years of required public service
• Post graduation plans for staying involved with U.Va.
• What I would have done differently

  Career

• Career focus
  • Why
  • What elements of career choice are most important
  • What parts of career decision are most challenging
• Career expectations
  • Personal
  • Financial
  • Other
• Long-term career plan
  • Details of your long-term plan
  • Keys to realization
  • Things that could go wrong
• Family Plans
• Balance between career, family & other interests
• Challenges women face
• Characteristics & qualities of company you would work for
• Career success
  • Most important personal components/measures of success
  • Critical personal characteristics important for success in chosen career
• Living/working overseas
• Most important things U.Va. contributed to my success