Manage Terms

Overview

The Terms Tab is a management interface for program administrators and owners to manage mentorship program terms. It provides a centralized dashboard to create, view, edit, and manage the lifecycle of program terms within a mentorship program.

Each term now carries two independent schedules:

• Term dates (Start / End Month & Year) — the calendar window the mentorship cohort itself runs.

• Application dates (Application Start / End Date) — the window during which new mentees can apply. Both dates are treated as whole calendar days in UTC: the window opens at 00:00:00 UTC on the Application Start Date and stays open through 23:59:59 UTC on the Application End Date, regardless of the viewer's local time zone. Applications open and close automatically based on these dates; there is no manual Open Applications / Close Applications button.

See also: Open & Close Mentorship Applications.

Accessing the Terms Tab

1. Log in to Mentorship and click the My Mentorships tab.

2. Select the program for which you are an administrator and click the program card.

3. On the program details page, click the Terms tab to view the list of all terms.

Note: You must be authenticated and have owner/administrator permissions to access this tab. Unauthorized users will be redirected to the program's public page.

Features

Terms Overview Table

The Terms Tab displays a comprehensive table with the following columns:

Column	Description
Term	The name of the mentorship term
Status	Current term lifecycle status: open or closed
Pending	Number of pending mentee applications
Declined	Number of declined applications
Accepted	Number of accepted mentees in the term
Graduated	Number of mentees who have graduated
Dates	Start and end dates of the term (displayed as Month Year)
Actions	Dropdown menu with available actions

Note: The Status column reflects the term's lifecycle (whether it has been formally closed by an administrator), not the current state of the application window. The Apply CTA visibility to mentees is driven separately by Application Start Date and Application End Date, which are visible in the Edit Term dialog and on the mentee-facing program card.

Creating a New Term

1. Click the + Create Term button at the top of the page

2. Fill in the required fields in the modal dialog:

   • Name: A descriptive name for the term (max 50 characters)

   • Start Month: Select the month the term begins

   • Start Year: Enter the year the term begins (must be current year or later)

   • End Month: Select the month the term ends

   • End Year: Enter the year the term ends (must be >= start year)

   • Application Start Date: The day new mentee applications open (format YYYY-MM-DD)

   • Application End Date: The day new mentee applications close (format YYYY-MM-DD)

3. Click Add Term to create the term

Important Constraints:

• You can have a maximum of 4 open terms per mentorship program at any time

• The Create Term button will be disabled if you already have 4 open terms

• Start and end dates must be in the future (current month or later)

• End date must be after the start date

• Application dates must satisfy the rules under Application Date Validation

Term Actions

Each term row has an actions menu (accessible via the ellipsis icon) with the following options:

Edit Term

• Modify the term name, term dates, and application dates

• Opens the same modal used for creating terms, pre-populated with current values

• When editing a term whose Application Start Date or Application End Date is already in the past, the pre-existing past value is preserved as valid. Any new date you enter must still satisfy the validation rules

Close Term

• Available only for terms with open status

• Formally closes the term's lifecycle and declines any remaining pending applications

• Warning: Closing a term will automatically decline all pending applications

• Error: If the term has accepted mentees, an error dialog will appear with the message: "This term cannot be closed until all accepted applicants are either graduated or declined. Please ensure there are zero accepted applicants before closing the term."

  
• A confirmation dialog will appear before the action is executed (if no accepted mentees exist)

• The process runs in the background; allow up to 5 minutes for updates to appear

  

Tip: If you simply want to stop accepting new applications without closing the whole term, edit the term and set the Application End Date to today's UTC calendar date. The Apply CTA will stay active through 23:59:59 UTC on that day and then disable automatically for mentees, while the term itself remains open for administrative work. If your local date differs from UTC, pick the UTC date you actually want the window to end on — the platform evaluates the window in UTC.

Re-Open Term

• Available only for closed terms whose end date has not yet passed

• Restores the term's lifecycle to open

• Disabled if you already have 4 open terms

• A confirmation dialog will appear before the action is executed

Note: Re-opening the term restores its lifecycle status but does not automatically reopen the application window. If Application End Date is in the past, no new applications will be accepted until you edit the term and extend that date.

Delete Term

• Permanently removes the term from the program

• Only available if the term has no applications

• A confirmation dialog will appear before the action is executed

• Warning: This action cannot be undone

Status Indicators

Term Should Be Closed Warning

If a term's end date has passed but it is still marked as open, a warning icon will appear next to the term name. Hover over this icon to display a message:

"This term should be closed because it has ended. Please close it to prevent new applications."

Term Cannot Be Closed Error

If a term's end date has passed but it is still marked as open and still has accepted mentees, an error icon will appear next to the Accepted column. Hover over this icon to display a message:

"This term cannot be closed until all accepted applicants are either graduated or declined. Please ensure there are zero accepted applicants before closing the term."

Business Rules

Term Limits

• Maximum of 4 open terms per mentorship program

• No limit on total number of terms (including closed terms)

Date Validation

• Start year must be the current year or a future year

• End year must be the current year or a future year

• End year must be greater than or equal to start year

• If start year equals current year, start month must be current month or later

• If end year equals current year, end month must be current month or later

• If start year equals end year, end month must be after start month

Application Date Validation

The Add / Edit Term dialog blocks save until every rule below is met:

• Application Start Date and Application End Date are both required and must be valid YYYY-MM-DD values

• Application Start Date cannot be before today (except when editing a term whose original value is already in the past — that pre-existing value is preserved)

• Application End Date cannot be before today (same exception as above)

• Application End Date must be on or after Application Start Date

• Application Start Date must be strictly before the term's Start Month

• Application End Date must fall on or before the last day of the term's End Month

Note: Once saved, both dates are evaluated as whole UTC calendar days. A term whose Application Start Date is today's UTC date is open from 00:00:00 UTC on that day, and a term whose Application End Date is today's UTC date stays open through 23:59:59 UTC on that day. The time-of-day stored in each date is ignored — only the calendar day (in UTC) matters, so if your local calendar date differs from UTC, pick the UTC date you intend.

Edit/Delete Restrictions

Terms can only be edited or deleted if they have no associated applications. This protects mentee data and application history.

Best Practices

1. Plan term dates carefully: Once applications are received, you cannot modify the term dates

2. Give applicants a realistic window: Choose an Application Start Date far enough ahead of the term's Start Month to review submissions and accept mentees. A common pattern is opening applications 4–8 weeks before the term begins

3. Close applications before the term begins: For most programs, set Application End Date to a day before the term's Start Month so you have time to review submissions and finalize your cohort before onboarding mentees. The system permits an end date as late as the last day of the term's End Month, but that leaves little runway for selection.

4. Close terms promptly: When a term ends, close it to prevent new applications and provide clarity to mentees

5. Use descriptive names: Term names should clearly indicate the cohort or time period (e.g., "Summer 2026", "Q3 Cohort")

6. Monitor pending applications: Regularly check the pending count and process applications in a timely manner

7. Don't exceed 4 open terms: Plan your program timeline to avoid hitting the term limit

Troubleshooting

Create Term button is disabled

• Verify you have fewer than 4 open terms

• Check that you are properly authenticated

Cannot edit or delete a term

• The term has existing applications

• Consider closing the term instead of deleting it

Cannot save a term because of a date error

• Check that both application dates are set and use YYYY-MM-DD format

• Confirm neither application date is before today (unless preserving a pre-existing past date on an existing term)

• Confirm Application End Date is on or after Application Start Date

• Confirm Application Start Date is before the term's Start Month

• Confirm Application End Date is on or before the last day of the term's End Month

Apply button is not visible on the program card

• Check the term's Application Start Date — if it's in the future, the card will show Applications open MMM D, YYYY and the Apply CTA will be disabled until 00:00:00 UTC on that day

• Check the term's Application End Date — if it has passed, the card will show Applications closed MMM D, YYYY and the Apply CTA will remain disabled until you extend the date (the CTA stays active through 23:59:59 UTC on the end day)

• Confirm the term's lifecycle status is open; a term closed via the Close Term action will not show an Apply CTA regardless of the application dates

Term status not updating

• Status updates run in the background

• Wait up to 5 minutes for changes to appear

• Refresh the page if needed

Redirected to program public page

• Your session may have expired; log in again

• Verify you have owner/administrator permissions for this program