We Can’t Solve a Puzzle without Knowing the Picture: Characterizing Doctoral Engineering Attrition, Persistence, and Thriving to Reconceptualize Graduate Educational Systems

Abstract: Though graduate students in engineering are understudied compared with undergraduate education, the intersection of sociological and psychological factors predicting attrition (i.e., leaving a program of study) for graduate students is particularly unexplored. The Council of Graduate Schools report that in doctoral engineering programs, ten-year degree completion rates are only 56% and 65% for women and men, respectively. Persistence rates for students from historically marginalized racial groups are lower than 50%. The lack of “socialization” is generally noted as a main reason for doctoral attrition; however, few researchers seek to understand and characterize the socialization process in graduate engineering students and how the mechanisms of attrition or persistence work within a single disciplinary setting. Propagated by a lack of research, administrators, faculty, and graduate advisors often work to “solve” retention given their anecdotal experiences with graduate students, rather than understanding the entire picture surrounding graduate student attrition, persistence, and career trajectories. [Read Full Abstract]