Dentistry Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program
The Dentistry student experience is more than just the courses you complete. It’s also about the people you meet and the connections you make!
Those first few months of being a UQ dentistry student can be an overwhelming experience. You will receive a lot of information on a range of new things and, for many of you, be trying to learn your way around a new city and make new friends and support networks.
The Dentistry Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program was created as a student-staff partnership project, to provide a connection and support tool to help new Dentistry students navigate through their first few weeks in the dentistry program.
Dentistry Peer Mentors are volunteer senior students who, like you, were new Dentistry students once, but have now successfully settled into life in Brisbane and progressed to the later years of the degree program.
Using the online platform, you can choose to connect to a peer mentor who: is your age, shares your gender identity, is a Brisbane local, moved to Brisbane for study, gives great advice, or has similar hobbies.
If you’re a new student and want to get connected to the UQ Dentistry community, join today!
The program
The Dentistry Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program is a semester long program that ensures your transition into UQ Dentistry is fun and enjoyable.
Prior to Orientation Week, you will need to create a profile and tell us a bit about yourself, so that we can match you to an appropriate mentor. You can also browse other students’ profile to find people you might have most in common with.
In Orientation Week, our mentors will join the program and introduce themselves to you and your peer group. Together, you will participate in Orientation Week activities, they will show you around the UQ St Lucia and Herston campuses, and ensure that you get to the end of Orientation Week feeling comfortable and prepared to start semester.
During semester one, they will organise at least six catch-ups with your peer group on or off campus, and share their own tips and university experiences, from how to best prepare for your first assessment to where to find the best coffee in Brisbane.
Why should I get a Peer Mentor?
For first-year students, a peer mentor is a friendly face that you can approach, particularly in your first weeks of university when everything can seem quite daunting. Your mentor is likely to have the answer to that question you’ve been afraid to ask (or even that question you didn’t know you had).
Transitioning to university is different for everyone, but every student shares the common experience of having been new.