The effect of mentoring in undergraduate STEM courses on mentors : a convergent mixed methods study.

Paradoxically, the highest number of undergraduate degrees conferred yearly comes from the disciplines with some of the lowest retention rates –science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This problem is exacerbated for underrepresented (UR) students, as well as for students of lower socioeconomic status (SES). While colleges and universities have implemented many strategies to increase retention in STEM, the problem still exists.

Through the lens of Coleman’s (1988) social capital framework, the current study utilized a convergent mixed methods design to investigate if mentoring leads undergraduate STEM mentors to accrue social capital that positively affects their academic and social outcomes. I collected demographic data and the GPAs of 116 former STEM mentors who participated in the HSI-STEM mentoring program at Queens College, City University of New York. Additionally, I collected the demographic data and GPAs of 100 STEM undergraduates who never served as mentors to use as the comparison group. I also used semi-structured interviews to evaluate the mentoring experience of six former mentors. Multiple linear regression showed that mentors had significantly higher GPAs than non-mentors, even when controlling for Pell status, transfer status, gender, and ethnicity. These results also showed mentoring had the biggest impact on the change seen in GPA. The interview responses supported the positive academic findings and provided more context around why the outcomes are so positive. Qualitative data suggested that mentoring helps mentors build social capital, a vital and integral part of a successful academic career. Mentoring allows the mentors to establish a community with various stakeholders in the school, acquire soft skills, be more intentional about academics, solidify career choices, and acquire knowledge about various types of diversity. These five experiences offer a unique social capital acquisition.

The quantitative and qualitative findings infer that mentoring is an effective success strategy that provides mentors with numerous social and academic benefits. Higher education administrators should consider creating, or restructuring existing, undergraduate STEM mentor programs that maximize the experience for the mentors. Government agencies should provide more federal funding to schools that plan to start new mentor programs that target building the social capital for undergraduate STEM mentors.