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Previous research suggests that it is the department, not the graduate school that bears the greatest responsibility for doctoral students' progress and success (Ehrenberg et al., Doctoral education and the faculty of the future (pp. 15-34). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009) dictating the need to examine and understand how doctoral students experience their education at the department level. In the present study, we analyzed the NAGPS' 2000 National Doctoral Program Survey (NDPS) data in an effort to understand the differences in the satisfaction levels of doctoral students (current, recent graduates, and former) across various academic disciplines (e.g. social sciences, humanities, engineering) and different institutional types (e.g. research extensive and research intensive). Employing both traditional (ANOVA) and item-level (Rasch Rating Scale Model) analyses we found that although overall satisfaction with doctoral experiences appears to be equivalent/similar across multiple disciplines, student satisfaction within disciplines varied significantly and consistently with respect to specific academic experiences.Keywords Doctoral students satisfaction Á 2000 National Doctoral Program Survey Á Rasch Rating Scale Model Á ANOVA Assessing the status and quality of graduate education in the United States has become a central concern for many entities-foundations, government agencies, businesses and industry, universities, accrediting agencies, and educational associations-over the last two decades. Nowhere is this concern more evident than in the increasing number of reports and national studies (Golde and Dore 2001; Lovitts 2001; National Association of Graduate-Professional Students 2001;Nettles and Millett 2006;Nyquist and Woodford 2000) designed both to (a) understand the various student experiences and outcomes of doctoral education and/or (b) suggest best practices to improve these experiences and outcomes.

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