Comparing rotations and direct admissions pathways to graduate education in the sciences: an assessment of policy and practice

By A. Kelly Lane, PI

Admissions, Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Recruitment

This project plans to assess the different ways science graduate students are matched with a faculty advisor. Recent reports suggest that graduate students increasingly struggle with their mental health, work-life balance and sense of belonging.

The researchers will investigate the experiences of three stakeholder groups (graduate students, faculty advisors, and graduate program coordinators) with different graduate student recruitment methods (e.g., rotations and direct admission) into life sciences, chemistry, and physics. To achieve this goal, the researchers will carry out four interconnected aims.

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They will use a national survey of graduate students to test the hypothesis that the method of recruitment impacts students’ experiences with their advisors, interest in completing their graduate training and their sense of belonging to their research group and their program.

Interviews with three stakeholder groups will be used to fulfill the three remaining aims. Interviews with faculty advisors will provide insights into how different recruitment methods impact their decisions on which students to accept. Graduate program coordinator interviews will provide information about how recruitment methods are implemented in their programs, the challenges with these approaches, and the reasons why a program uses a particular recruitment method or methods.

Finally, interviews with graduate students who switched labs will reveal how students navigate program policies about changing advisors and the effect of recruitment methods on this process.