Differences in support within the social science graduate admissions pipeline
Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education
ISSN: 2398-4686
Article publication date: 20 September 2023
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand demographic group (race, first-generation college graduate, gender, age) differences among perceived family and faculty social and family financial support within the US graduate school admissions pipeline in the social sciences.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from a cross-sectional convenience sample survey (N = 99), this paper looks at ordinal social support variables (faculty member support, family social support and family financial support) by demographic groups. This paper uses a Mann–Whitney U test to compare first-generation status, race and gender and a Kruskal–Wallis H test to compare age groups.
Findings
This paper finds that applicants over 27 years old had significantly less faculty support in the graduate admissions pipeline compared to other age groups; differences in faculty support across race were marginally significant (p = 0.057). Regarding family social support, this paper finds first-generation applicants, male applicants and applicants over 27 years old report lower levels of support. Finally, this paper finds first-generation applicants and applicants over 27 years old report lower levels of familial financial support.
Originality/value
Previous literature on graduate admissions – published in this journal (Pieper and Krsmanovic, 2022) and others – does not consider experiences up to and before applicants hit the “submit” button on graduate applicants, which the authors term the graduate admissions pipeline. Instead, most previous literatures focus on faculty committees and validity of required application materials. Thus, this study begins to answer Posselt and Grodsky’s (2017) call to develop an understanding of applicant experiences and support within the graduate admissions pipeline.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Since acceptance of this article, the following author has updated their affiliation: Michael L. Tidwell is now at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
The authors are grateful to the anonymous peer reviewers for their insightful feedback. Additionally, The author would like to thank several of our colleagues for their insight and advice as we developed this project and manuscript, including: Dr. Anne M. Price (Valdosta State University), Dr. Heather Hensmen Kettrey (Clemson University), and Savannah Burke (Clemson University).
Citation
Tidwell, M.L. and Logan, E.S. (2024), "Differences in support within the social science graduate admissions pipeline", Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 65-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-01-2023-0010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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