This article proposes that a queer reading of failure might offer opportunities to re-think the affective-political practice of doctoral writing. It examines data from one case in Aotearoa New Zealand to illustrate how a doctoral student negotiates "failure" in relation to their writing practice and identity. While higher education…

Certain racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds remain underrepresented (UR) in the biomedical sciences. This underrepresentation becomes more extreme at each higher education stage. To support UR scholars during the critical transition from baccalaureate to PhD, we established an…

The use and validity of the Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE) to predict the success of graduate school applicants is heavily debated, especially for its possible impact on the selection of underrepresented minorities into science, technology, engineering, and math fields. To better identify candidates who would succeed in our program…

The focus of this research was to investigate the characteristics that led to persistence in a doctoral cohort program of study. The significance of this study is to provide insights into the specific aspects of the individuals that made them successful in an intensive program. A phenomenological case study approach, utilizing a comprehensive…

Interdisciplinarity has become a growing emphasis in the U.S. higher education and the prevalence of interdisciplinary doctoral programs is one indicator of such growth. Despite this growth, the experiences of individuals within interdisciplinary doctoral programs have been largely unexamined in the literature. This paper examines a self-designed…

Using a qualitative approach, this study investigated the perceptions of motivating factors for persistence and completion of the doctorate among low income, first generation and students of color that participated in the federally funded Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a pool of nine…

Twenty doctoral students in the disciplines of chemistry and history were interviewed to better understand the socialization processes that influence their success and how these processes differ by year in the degree program and disciplinary culture. Five major themes emerged describing these socialization processes and how they facilitate or…