Mentoring, educational preferences, and career choice: Evidence from two field experiments in Bhutan

We evaluate two randomized controlled trials in Bhutan testing whether near-peer mentoring can shift students’ educational preferences toward STEM and TVET pathways. Mentors provided personalized guidance, shared their own experiences, and offered information on admissions and labor market outcomes. The interventions significantly increased students’ interest and perceived knowledge, but had limited effects on actual applications or enrollment. In the STEM stream, limited follow-through appears linked to structural constraints such as academic selectivity and limited program capacity; for TVET, social stigma and parental skepticism likely played a constraining role. These findings highlight the potential of light-touch, scalable mentoring to shape aspirations, while underscoring the need for complementary strategies to support behavior change and enable follow-through.