Open & Close Mentorship Applications

Mentorship applications are now controlled automatically by the term's Application Start Date and Application End Date. When today's date falls within that window, the Apply CTA on the program card is active. Outside of it, applications are closed.

There is no longer a manual Open Applications / Close Applications button on the program card — the schedule you set on each term is the single source of truth.

Application dates are whole calendar days in UTC. The Apply CTA activates at 00:00:00 UTC on the Application Start Date and stays active through 23:59:59 UTC on the Application End Date, regardless of the viewer's local time zone. The exact time-of-day stored in each date is ignored — only the calendar day (in UTC) matters, so if your local date differs from UTC, pick the UTC date you actually want.

Set application dates when creating a new term

1. Sign in to the Mentorship portal

2. Select the My Mentorships tab

3. In the section Programs for which I am an Administrator, open the program card and go to the Terms tab

4. Click Add Term

5. Fill in Name, Start Month/Year, and End Month/Year

6. Pick an Application Start Date and Application End Date using the calendar pickers (format YYYY-MM-DD)

7. Click Add Term to save

Update application dates on an existing term

1. Sign in to the Mentorship portal

2. Select the My Mentorships tab

3. In the section Programs for which I am an Administrator, open the program card and go to the Terms tab

4. Click the edit icon on the term you want to update

5. Adjust the Application Start Date and/or Application End Date

6. Click Save Changes

To open applications early, set the Application Start Date to today's UTC calendar date — the Apply CTA then activates from 00:00:00 UTC on that day. To close applications as soon as possible, set the Application End Date to today's UTC calendar date — the Apply CTA stays active through 23:59:59 UTC on that day and then disables.

Tip: If your local calendar date differs from UTC (for example, late evening in the Americas or early morning in Asia), pick the UTC date you actually want the window to open or close on — the platform always evaluates the window in UTC, not in your local time zone.

Validation rules the form enforces

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

• Both dates are required and must be valid YYYY-MM-DD values

• Application Start Date cannot be before today

• Application End Date cannot be before today

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

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

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

NOTE: When editing an existing term whose application window has already opened in the past, the pre-existing past date is preserved as valid so you can update other fields without being forced to change the schedule. Any new date you type in must still satisfy the rules above.

What mentees see on the program card

The card label and Apply CTA update automatically based on the current date. Because application dates cover the whole calendar day in UTC, the transitions below happen at 00:00:00 UTC on the start day and 00:00:00 UTC on the day after the end day.

Current time (UTC) vs. window	Card label	Apply CTA
Before 00:00:00 UTC on Application Start Date	Applications open MMM D, YYYY	Disabled
Between the start and end dates — inclusive of the whole start day (from 00:00:00 UTC) and the whole end day (through 23:59:59 UTC)	Applications close MMM D, YYYY	Active
After 23:59:59 UTC on Application End Date	Applications closed MMM D, YYYY	Disabled

Once the window closes, existing applications keep their current status (Pending, Accepted, Declined, Withdrawn, Graduated) and continue to appear in the applicant's dashboard. Only new applications are blocked.

NOTE: Closing the applications doesn't prevent mentees who started the application process from completing their prerequisite tasks.