Fitting the Mold of Graduate School: A Qualitative Study of Socialization in Doctoral Education

Doctoral student attrition in the United States has reached alarming proportions, with reported rates of approximately 50% across disciplines (Nettles and Millett 2006). Attrition rates of underrepresented populations have been reported at higher rates across disciplines (Council of Graduate Schools 2004), pointing to a disparate experience for these students. Socialization has been shown to be a determining factor in doctoral student success and retention (Turner and Thompson 1993) while not necessarily reflecting how the socialization experience differs by disciplinary and institutional contexts. Through this qualitative study I sought to understand the effects of the socialization process upon doctoral student success and retention in the disciplines of chemistry and history at two institutions. Results highlighted a disparate experience for women, students of color, students with families, part-time students, and older students. Suggestions for policy, practice, and further research are included.

[1]  L. Baird.  Increasing graduate student retention and degree attainment , 1993 .

[2]  Vincent Tinto,et al.  Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. , 1988 .

[3]  C. Turner.  Diversifying the Faculty: A Guidebook for Search Committees , 2002 .

[4]  Shederick A. McClendon,et al.  Mentoring Graduate Students of Color: Myths, Models, and Modes , 1999 .

[5]  J. V. Maanen,et al.  Toward a theory of organizational socialization , 1977 .

[6]  E. Bensimon,et al.  Promotion and Tenure: Community and Socialization in Academe , 1996 .

[7]  Lisa Wolf-Wendel,et al.  Academic Motherhood: Managing Complex Roles in Research Universities , 2003 .

[8]  James L. Bess.  College and University Organization: Insights from the Behavioral Sciences. , 1986 .

[9]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School. , 1962 .

[10]  A Nancy,et al.  Council of Graduate Schools , 1993 .

[11]  Barbara E. Lovitts,et al.  Leaving the Ivory Tower: The Causes and Consequences of Departure from Doctoral Study , 2001 .

[12]  Evelynn M. Ellis.  The Impact of Race and Gender on Graduate School Socialization, Satisfaction with Doctoral Study, and Commitment to Degree Completion , 2001 .

[13]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition , 1987 .

[14]  Marian Williams,et al.  Graduate Education in the United States , 1961 .

[15]  Elizabeth J. Whitt,et al.  The Invisible Tapestry: Culture in American Colleges and Universities , 1988 .

[16]  John Van Maanen,et al.  Doing New Things in Old Ways , 1983 .

[17]  Using research and theoretical models of graduate student progress , 1993 .

[18]  David M. Wilkinson,et al.  At cross purposes , 2001, Nature.

[19]  Darla J. Twale,et al.  Socialization of Graduate and Professional Students in Higher Education, a Perilous Passage? , 2001 .

[20]  J. C. Smart,et al.  Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research , 2001, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research.

[21]  A. Biglan.  The characteristics of subject matter in different academic areas. , 1973 .

[22]  S. Clark,et al.  Perspectives on the Professional Socialization of Women Faculty: A Case of Accumulative Disadvantage?. , 1986 .

[23]  Catherine M. Millett,et al.  Three Magic Letters: Getting to Ph.D. , 2006 .

[24]  E. Margolis,et al.  The Department Is Very Male, Very White, Very Old, and Very Conservative: The Functioning of the Hidden Curriculum in Graduate Sociology Departments , 1998 .

[25]  Melissa S. Anderson.  The experience of being in Graduate School : an exploration , 1998 .

[26]  W. Tierney.  Organizational Socialization in Higher Education , 1997 .

[27]  R. Bogdan.  Qualitative research for education : an introduction to theory and methods / by Robert C. Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen , 1997 .

[28]  D. Caulley.  Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods , 2007 .

[29]  Bernard Berelson,et al.  From Graduate Education in the United States , 1961 .

[30]  Caroline Sotello Judith Rann Viernes Turner,et al.  Socializing Women Doctoral Students: Minority and Majority Experiences , 2017 .

[31]  Susan K. Gardner,et al.  Three Magic Letters: Getting to Ph.D. , 2008 .

[32]  Frederick T. L. Leong,et al.  International Graduate Students, Stress, and Social Support. , 1992 .

[33]  R. Merton.  Social Theory and Social Structure , 1958 .

[34]  Chris M. Golde,et al.  At Cross Purposes: What the Experiences of Today's Doctoral Students Reveal about Doctoral Education. , 2001 .

[35]  Joseph A. Maxwell,et al.  Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach , 1996 .

[36]  Chris M. Golde.  Beginning Graduate School: Explaining First‐Year Doctoral Attrition , 1998 .

[37]  유창조.  Naturalistic Inquiry , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[38]  M. Knowles,et al.  Achieving Diversity in the Professoriate: Challenges and Opportunities , 1997 .