The Biology Undergraduate Peer Mentorship Program is a new initiative by the Biology Department and was created by Biology UDR, Dipal Savla. In the program, junior and senior Biology mentors will provide guidance to freshmen and sophomores mentees who are considering majoring in Biology. Oftentimes, new biology majors have a broad range of concerns such as what courses to take, when to take them, how to get involved in research, selecting and applying to internships and other experiential opportunities, and balancing the biology major with other academic and extracurricular interests. Through the program, mentors will be able to use their experience as Biology majors to help mentees work towards their goals as early as the first day of their freshman year. The specifics of the mentor-mentee relationship are flexible — Mentors and mentees can communicate over email or meet in person depending on what they decide.

The program was created in response to the diverse range of interests students have within the biology major. For example, students who are double majoring in Biology and Neuroscience have very different goals for their biology major than students double majoring in Biology and Environmental Studies. Thus, they would have differing choices for courses and internships. The students best able to advise these students would be those who have worked through similar issues.

If you are a rising freshman or sophomore considering a major in biology, and would like to join this program as a mentee, please email Dipal Savla (dsavla@brandeis.edu) for more information and an application.