Mind to Mind is a pilot program proposed and established by ECT Alumni Ambassadors (ECTAA), an alumni-led group that organizes programming designed to connect students, alumni, and friends of the ECT community. Inspired by ADP List, ECTAA would like to provide ad hoc mentorship and support to current ECT students by connecting them with experienced ECT alumni who can offer professional and academic guidance, advice, and support via virtual meetings.

All alumni in M2M have graduated from an ECT program and are active professionals, representing a wide variety of expertise and industries.  

M2M is designed to  help students with: 

• Career coaching

• Portfolio review

• Resume review

• Cover letter review

• Mock interview

• Academic advisory

• Networking strategies

What is the process?

The general workflow is simple: 

1. Students who would like to request help will need to fill out a quick application form. Students can view the M2M alumni list here.

2. Upon reviewing the application form, the M2M coordinators will connect the student with an available alumnus or alumna via email.  

3. The student will be responsible for scheduling the meeting with the connected alumni on their end via email. 

4. After the meeting is completed, we will mark the request as “complete” 

5. The student and the mentor will finish a quick survey to provide feedback for us.

Launch date

We will soft launch M2M on May 8, 2023, and have it running as a pilot program for about 3-4 months to finalize the process to be more efficient and intuitive. 

M2M Alumni

You will be invited to join a Slack channel called #M2M-Alumni. All of the requests will be posted by M2M coordinators or a Slack Bot. If you see an interesting request that you would like to claim, please ping the coordinators to let them know in the Slack channel or start a thread under the request. 

We make your general information available for students to learn more about you in order to determine if they want to meet any alumni specifically. If you see your information incorrect, please let the M2M coordinators know. 

Your responsibilities are: 

• Be responsible. You are responsible for the following when accepting a request: 

  • Responsiveness when the student reaches out to schedule your meeting

  • Prioritizing a timely meeting based on your availability

  • Providing genuine and constructive feedback 

• Be transparent about your availability. Our goal is to, eventually, make the process as automated and intuitive as possible. However during this pilot phase of M2M, the scheduling process has to be manual via email. 

  • NOTE: We encourage you to try a scheduling tool (such as: Calendly, Good Time, or just share your Google/Outlook calendar) to provide your availability directly on the student to choose from. 

• Respect each other’s time. We will send you the request application the student submitted, including the requested meeting duration (15 mins/30 mins/45 mins/1 hr).  These are our standard expectations regarding time-commitment: 

  • Show up on time for the meeting

  • Meet within the allotted appointment time. If agenda items/topics are not fully discussed, the student is responsible to schedule another time with you to continue the conversation.  

  • If you need to reschedule, please let the student know at least 2 days before the meeting.

• If in any case, the student is not responding or did not show up for the meeting, please contact the M2M program coordinators immediately via email or Slack. We will assist!  

• Please complete the survey sent to you after the meeting. Your feedback is highly valued by the M2M coordinators! 

M2M Students

You will need to submit a quick application form to tell us about yourself and the support you need. Please feel free to be as specific as possible in your requests; eg. specific alumni you want to connect with, a specific job position you are applying for. You can also view the M2M alumni list here to learn more about them. The M2M coordinators will try their best to connect you with an alum that best meets your expectations and needs. 

NOTE: Please submit a single application per request. Ie: If you need your portfolio and resume reviewed, you would submit two applications so that both alumni and the students can use the time wisely. 

You are responsible for: 

• Scheduling the meeting with your assigned alumni. Our goal is to, eventually, make the process as automated and intuitive as possible. However during this pilot phase of M2M, the scheduling process has to be manual via email. Please provide a list of available time slots over the next two weeks for the alumni to choose from.

• Respecting others’ time. Everyone has busy schedule, you must be mindful of everyone’s time and availability. These are our standard expectations regarding time commitment: 

  • Prepare a clear list of goals and potential agenda items for your meeting 

  • Decide how much time you’ll need to cover all of the topics. It’s always better to have extra time and finish early, than not schedule enough time. You will have the option to select a meeting duration of 15 mins, 30 mins, 45 mins, or 1hr.  

  • Show up on time for the meeting

  • If you need to reschedule, please let the alumni know at least 2 days before the meeting

• Sending any necessary documents or materials before your meeting. This allows the alumni to prepare for the meeting and you can get the most out of it.

• Sending your gratitude and appreciation to the alumni who helped at the end of the meeting: all the alumni are industry professionals that they are offering help for free out of their work time. We would like to ask you to always thank them for their time and effort for spending time and effort to help you! 

• If in any case, the alumnus/alumna is not responding, please contact M2M program coordinators immediately via email or Slack. We are here to assist and can re-assign a different alumnus/alumna for you as soon as possible.

• Please complete the survey sent to you after the meeting. Your feedback is highly valued by the M2M coordinators! 

Contacts

ECT Alumni Ambassadors (ECTAA) is a new, alumni-led group that organizes programming designed to connect students, alumni, and friends of the ECT community. We know first hand how impactful our time in ECT was. From this cohort and beyond, ECTAA will be responsible for the recruitment and programming of ECTMP. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the program details, please reach out to Mind to Mind coordinators via Slack or email: 

• Ruobing Su (DMDL’22): rs7531@nyu.edu

• Viktoriia Zykina (DMDL’22): vz370@nyu.edu

• Yi Lu (DMDL’22): yl8033@nyu.edu