FAQs

If you would like to delete your account permanently, please email hillary.corwin@mountsinai.org for assistance.

If you experience any issues with your advisor/advisee or have questions, please reach out to the program manager at hillary.corwin@mountsinai.org. The program manager can offer solutions to improve the relationship or, if necessary, formally terminate the relationship.

If you forgot your username, email hillary.corwin@mountsinai.org and we will send you your username (i.e. the email you used when creating your account).

If you forgot your password, clink the link that says "forgot your password?" on the login page and type in your email address. You will receive an email allowing you to reset your password.

This program is an advisee-driven program, meaning advisees can search for and request the advisor they'd like to work with. After the advisee enters their advisor preferences into the platform (industry, career interests, location, etc.), the software generates a list of alumni sorted by how closely the advisor matches the advisee’s criteria. Students can then request a potential advisor from this list. The requested advisor has the opportunity to either accept or decline the request from the advisee.

Degree seeking ISMSS students and alumni with degrees from all programs, classes, and schools are eligible to participate. Faculty, staff, parents, certificate students, and friends of the institution are not currently eligible to participate.

We purposefully have designed this program to be flexible for advisors and advisees. You and your advisor/advisee have complete control over your relationship and can decide how often you want to meet. Once matched, we ask the advisor and advisee to discuss how much time they can commit to the relationship and the duration of their relationship. Our suggestion is one to two hours a month for a minimum of three months or one quarter. The most important objective is to achieve the goals set for the advisee; for some matches this will not take several months, for others it will. Ultimately it is up to the advisor and advisee to decide together what works best for them.

Yes. If you find that it is an especially busy time for you or you just need a break, you can suspend your account indefinitely or for a set amount of time by visiting the “My Account” section when you are logged into the platform. Click on the tab that says “Participation”. Uncheck the box that says “I want to be searchable in ISMMS Network Advisorship Program”. Below that, list the start date in which you want to become invisible and the date in which you want to become visible again. If you need to suspend your account indefinitely, just uncheck the box and you will no longer be searchable in the database. When you’re ready to be searchable again, log back in and check the box to be opted back into the program.

If you learn that a student is in danger or if you have serious concerns about your student advisee, please immediately inform the program administrator by calling (646)-605-8831 or emailing hillary.corwin@mountsinai.org . Any information given to us about a student will remain confidential and the University administration will step in if the situation warrants attention. Our priority is always our students’ well-being, so when in doubt, air on the side of caution and reach out to us.

Advisors can select up to three advisees at one time. This is only encouraged if you truly have the time to commit to three advisorship relationships.

No, the platform has parameters set up to limit the number of people who can request you as an advisor. Once you have accepted a relationship with a advisee through the platform (i.e. “matched”), you will no longer be available to other advisees in the database. You do have the ability to have more than one advisee at a time, if you wish to; you are allowed to have up to three advisees at a time. To adjust the number of advisees you can take on at one time, log in and click on the “My Account” tab either at the top right- hand side of your screen or in the ribbon on the left-hand side of the screen, click on the “Participation” tab, and use the drop down to set the max number of advisees you’d like to work with at one time (1, 2 or 3).

Advisees can select up to two advisors at one time. This is only encouraged only if you truly have the time to commit to two advisorship relationships.

The advisorship platform only allows advisors to work with up to three advisees at one time. Advisors can select in their account settings how many advisees they're willing to work with at one time -- one, two, or three advisees. If you see that the button for "Request Advisor" has been replaced with note that says "Request Unavailable", this means that this advisor has been maxed out with the number of advisees they're willing to work with at this time. Once they close out one of the partnerships, they will become available again and you can request them. In the meantime, we suggest you bookmark their profile by clicking the button for "Add Bookmark". This will add a quick-access link to their profile in your Bookmarks tab, meaning you can easily get to their profile and check to see their availability anytime you log into the platform.

One of the most common mistakes an advisee can make is thinking that they do not have anything to offer their advisor. You can make the relationship valuable for your advisor too! You can offer a different perspective on your industry, share information about the latest technology or applications, or fill your advisor in on the goings-on of people at your level in your industry. You can also share interesting articles, podcasts or books that you think your advisor would enjoy. Do not forget that you have your own powerful network -- when you find someone in your network with whom you think your advisor may want to be connected, offer to make the connection for your advisor.

There may be a variety of reasons why your requested alumnus might have declined you, most of which likely have nothing to do with you personally. It may be an especially busy time for them or they simply do not think it would be a good fit. Do not get discouraged. Log back into the platform and search for and request another advisor. The ISMMS Network is vast – you will find the right fit for you!

We understand other interviews may arise, and/or you may decide to cancel an interview or a host visit. Please be respectful of the host’s time and schedule and let them know immediately if your plans have changed.

We hope to match all of our volunteers with traveling students, but we do not know students’ travel needs. We will make placements to prioritize proximity to interview sites as well as to match similarities in specialty.

Contact your host as soon as we give you their contact information. If you are matched early, contact your host right away and once again when it gets closer to the date of your travel.

Be sure to send your host a thank you note or email. The program also requests that you take a photo of yourself with the host family to submit to the MAA. Students and hosts will also be asked to complete an online evaluation of their HOST program experience.

Many hosts welcome spouses. Please note on your registration form that you will be traveling with your spouse.

You may request a host as often as needed. The alumni office will make as many host connections as possible. We ask that you limit the use of the program to five requests so that we are able to accommodate as many students as possible. If you have more than five requests, please submit them all and we will work with you to try to accommodate but will do so with other students in mind.

Absolutely. Some of our hosts are willing to have students arrive early/stay an extra day in order to take advantage of better travel rates.

Most residency interviews occur during the months of October through January, but if you are an alumni of the graduate school, interviews may occur throughout the year

Students are asked to contact their host as soon as they receive the contact information. Be sure to exchange cell phone/e-mail contact information. It is also a good idea to re-contact your student prior to your visit if you haven’t already heard from them.