Mentoring has long been recognized as an effective strategy for retaining and supporting doctoral students in their programs of study. In this qualitative investigation, we conducted three focus groups of proteges, peer mentors, and faculty mentors to explore definitions, experiences, and expectations of mentoring. Results indicated that the three groups had meaningful differences in all three areas of interest. These differences were consistent with emerging conceptual frameworks explaining adult learning processes and perceived needs. The frameworks involved "stages" of mentoring and classifying the student's preferred mentoring style along dimensions of pedagogy and andragogy. These frameworks suggest the need for clarifying protege and mentor roles/expectations early and throughout the doctoral program. (Contains 4 tables.)