Sibling rivalry? Not in Arts & Science

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/artscibannerdn1.gif” caption=”The Arts & Science banner at Welcome Week. “]Most students would give anything for a sibling who edits their papers, takes them out to dinner or gives them their old text books. Cary Ferguson was assigned one.

A recent graduate, he, like everyone enrolled in the Arts & Science Program at McMaster University, was a part of the Big Sib peer mentoring program, designed to help incoming students integrate into university life. The program matches first year students with a “big sib” in an upper year based on interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, ensuring incoming students have someone to give them advice and guidance as they begin their time at McMaster.

“It's a much more intimate relationship than what you'd have with a professor or a guidance counselor, for instance,” said Ferguson, whose own big sib once stayed up all night waiting for him to finish a paper in order to edit it. “I think almost everyone finds it a helpful program.”

For many, big sibs are much more than peer mentors. Many sibs become quite close and bond through mutually enjoyed activities, meeting for monthly dinners or attending events like the annual Sibling BBQ potluck put on by the Society of Arts & Science Students. Since the Big Sib program runs every year and those who were once “little” eventually become “big”, sibling lines can become quite large, encompassing grand and great-grand siblings. Ferguson's line of siblings even includes his actual younger brother.

“It's actually quite common for real siblings to be in the same sib line,” he said.

Whether or not Ferguson plans to lose any sleep editing his brother's papers is uncertain, but the benefits of the Big Sib program to incoming students are perfectly clear: homework help, academic and student life advice and an instant friend the moment they set foot on campus.

If only actual siblings were so helpful.