Curious Cardinals matches teens with inspiring university mentors from top schools for:
We offer two distinct mentorship tracks to ensure your child excels in school and creates award-winning projects:
All engagements come with a comprehensive student profile, personalized learning plans, and clear progress tracking with session notes and reports.
Our mentorship approach is built on four key pillars:
With 650+ mentors from the world’s top schools on our roster, your child will be guided by and develop a personal connection with award winners, team captains, class presidents, Rhodes scholars, and fellowship recipients. Our mentors are not just academically accomplished; they are leaders and role models, dedicated to inspiring and guiding your child towards success.
Our mentor matches are personal, fostering an older-sibling type of connection that’s engaging, relevant, and fun. Your child's passion for learning will be fueled by the relationship they build with their mentor.
We believe this because we've seen kids look forward to their sessions, and we've seen results.
Create impressive projects and demonstrate remarkable impact, distinguishing yourself and opening the door for future opportunities.
Better than your tutor. Our unique approach leads to transformative results: improved grades, study skills, and all around academic confidence.
Develop crucial skills like organization, time management, and effective study habits to excel in school and beyond. Best of all? No more nagging your student!
Uncover their true passions and dive deep into areas they love, guided by mentors who are leaders in their fields through project deliverables.
Hear it from parents and students who have experienced the Curious Cardinals magic
So my son Daniel is meeting with [his Curious Cardinals mentor] Matt and building his cryptocurrency expertise. There was one day, I was in my office meeting with a woman, and she says she does a podcast. One of [the episodes] was about NFTs. And I was like, ‘Oh, Daniel, my son, is learning about NFTs,’ so I called Daniel, and they basically interviewed him to see if he actually knew anything. He was great, and he was on the podcast. Without Curious Cardinals and without the mentor…that all led to this moment. It just shows that by connecting [kids] with a mentor – somebody that they can really connect with on a particular topic – they can find great opportunities.”
Take the first step today and unlock your child’s potential and set them on a path to success. Try Curious Cardinals today and see lasting benefits.
Get matched
Our community of over 600 mentors hail from the top universities in the nation and are the best-of-the-best – think class presidents, Rhodes Scholars, Fulbright Scholars, and more! We have a rigorous vetting, recruiting, and interviewing process whereby we evaluate mentors' passion, depth of expertise, professionalism, ability to make concepts intelligible, as well as their emotional intelligence. Throughout the process, we ensure mentors are not only top-tier teachers who can meet students where they're at, but also relatable and empathetic individuals who can identify with students' struggles and provide the necessary support and encouragement to be there for them.
Beyond this, our onboarding process trains mentors to lead and drive sessions, our Education team equips mentors with resources and curricula to lead engagements successfully, and our Student and Mentor Success teams check in to ensure sessions are meaningful and meet expectations. We’re confident that our mentors are not only people your student will enjoy learning from, but are also positive role models they’ll want to emulate.
We pride ourselves on finding the “magic match” for your student. We aim to find a mentor that aligns with your student’s personality, interests, and mentor preferences. If it doesn’t feel like a great match, please share your feedback so we can understand what went wrong. From there, we’ll thoughtfully source a new mentor and make a rematch.
Note: If you are a Curious Cardinals subscriber, we will refund that first session as it is during the trial/evaluation period.
You can schedule time directly on your mentor’s calendar using our Easy Scheduling feature! We recommend you work with your student’s mentor to identify the best recurring weekly time. Your student’s mentor can also schedule, cancel, and reschedule sessions easily on the CC platform.
Our usual offering is primarily virtual, which allows us to find the best person in the world for your student with no geographical constraints. Students and parents also appreciate the convenience and comfort of digital learning, especially for neurodivergent students who prefer to learn in their own space. Our education team equips mentors with tools and resources to make lessons interactive and engaging, so your student will be excited to join their sessions.
Note: Students who live near our major university hubs (such as the Bay Area, NYC, etc.) may meet in-person with their mentors. Please speak with our team to discuss what’s possible for your student.
We offer two clear tracks your student can pursue: academic mentorship or passion project mentorship.
Academic Mentorship: Whether it’s making a subject finally make sense, or getting ahead in an area your student is already competent in, our mentors can infuse new purpose and joy into reaching your student’s academic goals. Mentors can also work with students on soft skills like executive function, interviewing, college essay prep, and more.
Passion Project Mentorship: Not sure what your student is passionate about? We believe the best way to learn is by doing! A mentor can help your student explore areas of interest with meaningful deliverables and goals along the way to finding their ‘thing’. Similarly, if your student has a wide variety of interests that are seemingly disconnected, a mentor can help them bring those passions together in a cohesive, meaningful project.
You can speak with our team to receive personalized recommendations for your student.
After the first session, we check in with our parents, students, and mentors to ensure a great fit. If the first session doesn’t go well, we ask for your feedback to assess, rematch, and re-engage – we can’t fix what we’re not aware of!
Note: Under our subscription model, you will have a 2-week evaluation period to ensure your student and their mentor “click” before transitioning into your subscription. Learn more about our subscription model here.
At Curious Cardinals, we prioritize building strong, lasting relationships between students and mentors. This holistic approach is crucial for outstanding results, but even more than that, allows for deep transformation in the way students approach learning and personal growth. With that in mind, engagements are usually 6+ months and are not dependent upon a traditional school calendar.
Students can work with mentors throughout the school year and the summer, pivoting as needed to keep them most engaged and productive. Mentees may always work with multiple mentors or transition to new mentors as their needs and goals change. Many of our mentees have stayed with us through middle school to college acceptance!
We are not here to just help your student pass Friday’s test – we’re here to guide your student in becoming their best, most confident self.
We’ve learned that the most impactful and transformative mentorships happen when pairs meet at a consistent weekly cadence, at least 1-2 hours per week. You can add additional sessions as needed and easily reschedule sessions using our Easy Scheduling feature, or by communicating with your student’s mentor.
The amount of time a student spends working outside of sessions may vary depending on the type of mentorship. For example, students on a passion project track may work on writing a blog outside of sessions, which they later review and edit with their mentor.
Students meet weekly with their mentors one-on-one for typically an hour. For students in 4th grade or under, and those with learning differences, we may suggest starting off with 30-minute sessions and working up to an hour.
While consistency is key, you can schedule longer or shorter sessions to meet your child’s needs; for example, a longer session for extra help preparing for a test, or a shorter session to quickly review a concept or brainstorm.
We're proud to support students in grades K-12! Our education model, delivered through 1:1 virtual mentorship, is especially impactful for ages 10+.
“Curious Cardinals not only helped spark Bethany's passion for writing, but connected her to a college mentor who she could see herself in and look up to for inspiration.
Every parent hopes that their kids can find role models who are not only highly ambitious and highly accomplished, but also have integrity and compassion too - and that's what Curious Cardinals has facilitated for my daughter. Her mentor helped her find her author's voice and put together a viable plan to launch her blog, all empowering her with more confidence in herself as an individual. She loved it so much that I signed my son up too!”