GET A MENTOR
Your ZIP code shouldn't determine your academic destiny. Mentor Illinois mentors meet you where you are and stick with you as you grow. This isn’t just about applying to college—it’s about unlocking opportunity, together.
Who We Serve
Mentor Illinois offers one-on-one guidance about how to apply to college to every high school student in Illinois who wants to apply to college and who does not otherwise have access to such help.
As a first priority, we provide college application guidance to some of the neediest high school students in Illinois—those from non-college families and those from low-income backgrounds.
What We Provide
Mentor Illinois offers a full range of college application support services to help the diverse set of high school students whom we serve. For example, in the 2025-2026 academic year, our programs include:
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Pre-Application Guidance,
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Application Guidance,
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Standardized Test Coaching, and
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Essay Coaching.
Are you a junior in high school wondering whether and when to continue your studies after graduation? Our "Pre-Application Guide" mentors can help.
Are you a senior struggling to navigate the Common App application process (what's that?!?) even while finishing your last year of high school? Our "Application Guide" mentors are here.
Whether you wish to apply to your local community college and/or to take a shot at highly selective universities—and whether you need general guidance or specialized support, Mentor Illinois is here to help you.
Student Responsibilities
Applying to college with Mentor Illinois is a team process—and students who enroll with Mentor Illinois should expect to fulfill certain responsibilities in order to be part of the team.
Regardless of what program they are in, every high school student assigned a mentor by Mentor Illinois student must work collaboratively with that mentor to:
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Be available to meet online for a minimum of 1-2 hours per week, depending on what mentorship program the student is in;
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Be able to work independently on college applications a minimum of 1-3 additional hours per week, depending on what mentorship program the student is in;
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Keep all scheduled appointments;
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Maintain an up-to-date work plan;
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Complete all tasks in the work plan; and
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Proactively communicate with the mentor.
Students who fail to fulfill these responsibilities will be dropped from the program.
Cost (Free)
All Mentor Illinois mentorships and other services are FREE to all of the high school students that we serve.
Other fees that are sometimes charged to college applicants by other parties (such as application fees charged by colleges, and SAT fees charged by College Board) still apply, except for students who are able to obtain fee waivers from those parties.
However, there is no cost to any high school student, at any time or for any reason, for working with a mentor through Mentor Illinois.
Qualifications
In order to be assigned a Mentor Illinois mentor, you just need to meet the following qualifications:
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Be a high school junior or senior at an Illinois high school or Illinois home school;
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Be planning to apply to college;
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Be able to submit your application for mentorship using your official high school email address OR that of an administrator, counselor, or faculty or staff member at your high school;
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Be able to meet online with your mentor for a minimum of 1-2 hours per week, depending on the specific mentorship program that you are in; and
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Be able to work independently on college applications for a minimum of 1-3 additional hours per week—for some students in some situations, completing the application process can take far more even than these minimums.
Enrollment Process
Illinois high school students can be matched with Mentor Illinois mentors in two ways: (1) as a result of the students requesting mentors for themselves; and (2) as a result of personnel at the students' high schools or home schools requesting mentors for the students.
As soon as you are ready to request a Mentor Illinois mentor either for yourself or for a student at your school, please take the following steps:
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Verify that the student for whom you are requesting a mentor qualifies to be assigned a Mentor Illinois mentor (according to the Qualifications Section above);
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If you are not the student (but merely are requesting a mentor for a student), verify that you are an administrator, counselor, or faculty or staff member at the student's high school or home school organization;
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Submit a request for a mentor using either:
The student's official school email address, or
The official school email address of an administrator, counselor, or faculty or staff member at the student's high school or home school organization; and
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Promptly respond to the enrollment invitation which will be emailed to you.
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Mentor Illinois currently is seeking to obtain federal tax-exempt status through a fiscal sponsor. Our mission is to pay and empower students at great Illinois colleges to help talented Illinois high school students from non-college or low-income backgrounds apply to college. Read more about our tax-exempt status.
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