Understanding the investment of underrepresented minorities in doctoral engineering programs

Abstract

Underrepresented minorities (URM) tend to have lower completion rates than their majority colleagues in the pursuit of the Ph.D. in engineering. This phenomenon of doctoral attrition has been related to a poor socialization process into becoming an independent scholar. Using the Graduate Student Socialization Framework, this qualitative study aims to describe the types of investments URM students in engineering experience in the pursuit of the doctoral degree. Through a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, we found four types of investment in the doctoral pursuit: effort investment, time investment, financial investment, and mental investment. We conclude that while most of the types of investments found could be applicable to all doctoral students, the differing investments may present harmful implications for URM students' degree progress.