The Graduate School Experience: Influential Factors for Success

Dear Colleagues,

Graduate education has the potential to provide many advantages, including career advancement, job security, and personal growth. However, attrition rates are documented to be as high as 50% for some PhD programs. Furthermore, these statistical trends are difficult to isolate due to the large variance of complex patterns seen among PhD students. There are gaps in the current literature on the reasons students leave their programs, especially for underserved groups (e.g., those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, first-generation students, and part-time students). Students encounter a variety of circumstances outside of academics that affect their graduate school experience, including mentor/peer support, imposter phenomenon, microaggressions, and financial stress. Gaining insight for the support needed can be beneficial for universities, facilitating educational opportunities for those students often underrepresented in graduate education.

The aim of this Special Issue is to explore the experiences graduate students encounter. It seeks to identify challenges students navigate while also highlighting supports that scaffold their experience. As universities gain insight into the lives of their students, they will have a better understanding of how to best support their academic success.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Mentor support during graduate school;
• Part-time graduate student with a full-time career;
• Attending graduate school as a single parent;
• Graduate school through the lens of an international student;
• Impact of peer support and cohort models during graduate school;
• Psychological barriers faced by graduate students (e.g., microaggressions, imposter phenomenon, or sense of belonging);
• Graduate school as a first-generation college student;
• Role of family support during graduate school;
• Existing on the perimeter of campus: life as an underrepresented student (e.g., lower SES background, female in STEM, underserved racial group at PWI, etc.);
• Graduate school as an online, asynchronous experience.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Karen M. Collier
Dr. Wayne A. Hickman
Dr. Ana-Maria Topliceanu
Guest Editors

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• graduate education
• sense of belonging
• imposter phenomenon
• microaggressions
• first-generation college student
• mentor support
• peer support
• cohort-style graduate programs
• research-based graduate programs