The cultural and gender factors affecting the experience of Latino/Latina graduate students in the United States are examined. An introductory section offers background information on Latino participation in higher education, drawing on some recent literature, and on the Council of Graduate Schools' Latino Project, a qualitative ethnographic study to explore the current status of Latinos in graduate study and their experiences as graduate students. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with Latino administrators (n=12), faculty (n=23), graduate students (n=31), and non-academics (n=11) representing a cross-section of ethnicity, national origin, gender, generation, region, and institution type. Results are summarized in terms of the personal backgrounds, ethnicity, family, and education of respondents. Also discussed are the nuances of ethnicity and national origin, impact of family on higher education, and preconditioning for graduate education. A subsequent section presents results concerning respondents' graduate student experience, including their motivation, the application process, the adjustment process, and student transitions and completion of graduate study. Advice and recommendations are then offered for enhancing the graduate experiences for Latino students, including students' advice to other students. A list of the institutions attended by the respondents is appended. (Contains 27 references.) (MSE)