This book is a little unusual in that it is directed at
advisors of grad students and giving them advice on how to best help their
students, rather than giving students advice on how to pick mentors. However,
it is still a useful read because it tells you what to look for and expect in
an advisor, and how to act once you eventually are an advisor yourself.
Shore does a good job of making his advice applicable to
people in any field, although it does seem clear that his expertise is in the
humanities rather than the sciences. But advising on its most basic level isn’t
that different across various subjects, so even that isn’t a setback really.
He also lives up to the tagline of a “student-centered
approach;” a recurring theme in his advice is to put the student and their
studies first. Make the choices that will benefit the student and send them on
the path that they want. He does also emphasize that advising is a two-way
street, and that the advisor should also be benefitting, but at the end of the
day it is ultimately the students that you are there to help and guide.
As someone who wants to be a mentor in various ways to
people, I found this really useful. I’ve mentored other students in college,
but have not had much experience outside of that. Seeing it from a more formal,
university, perspective was invaluable, and helped clarify what to expect later
from my own mentor and from myself.
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