Graduate student dissonance: Graduate students of color in a U. S. research university.

Abstract

This qualitative investigation examined the experiences of a population of graduate students-graduate students of color-in a U. S. research university (a) to indicate reasons for their dilemmas, ambiguities, and decisions about choosing an academic career, and (b) to identify the practices of one research university's graduate programs that have considerable influence upon graduate students' decisions about pursuing an academic career. For graduate students of color, professional and social identity alignment is a significant condition for decisions about academic career choices, and the institution's norms and behavioral patterns have considerable influence on graduate students' experiences and career choices.

Advisory Relationship as a Moderator Between Research Self‐Efficacy, Motivation, and Productivity Among Counselor Education Doctoral Students

“…Second, the current sample was primarily White, making it difficult to fully represent the overall CE doctoral student population. Given that minority students face considerable challenges in their graduate programs (Chan, Yeh, & Krumboltz, ; Clark, Mercer, Zeiger‐Hill, & Dufrene, ; Levin, Jaeger, & Haley, ; Nelson & Jackson, ), our results may not be generalizable to minority CE doctoral students. Future studies should be more purposeful in obtaining diverse samples and could focus on comparing factors involved in researcher development between White and non‐White CE doctoral students.…”

Modeling American Graduate Students’ Perceptions Predicting Dropout Intentions

“…An important element of program value is socialization to professional identity and field-of-practice, supporting students' identity development, through out-of-class as well as in-class experiences (Liddell, Wilson, Pasquesi, Hirschy, & Boyle, 2014). Various subgroups, such as non-traditional students, who return for advanced degrees after years in professional practice, and students in racial and ethnic minority subgroups, have been identified as having particular challenges with dissonance and identity development in the graduate experience (e.g., Levin, Jaeger, & Haley, 2013;McCoy & Gardner, 2011;Peters & Daly, 2013;Rayner, Lord, Parr, & Sharkey, 2015).…”

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“…Maton et al (2011) reported that graduate students from underrepresented populations may also experience barriers finding a fit with graduate programs. To identify opportunities that may lead to success, Levin, Jaeger, and Haley (2013) found that minority students' sense of harmony with a particular graduate program impacted their selection of and satisfaction with the program. Costello (2005) defined these concepts as the degree to which a students' personal identity is congruent with the identity of a graduate program (i.e., students' perception of faculty attitudes toward minority students).…”

“…According to Costello (2005), the greater incongruence between personal identity and the values of faculty, the less successful the student may fit with the graduate program. Levin et al (2013) found that the concept of identity congruence also applies to the career choices and quality of experiences of minority students. If a minority student believes their career choice was not supported by the program faculty, then they may feel disconnected and less likely perceive they fit.…”