Doctoral Advisor-Advisee Pairing in STEM Fields: Selection Criteria and Impact of Faculty, Student and Departmental Factors

Abstract

Unlike the doctoral programs in places where students are paired with advisors at the time of admission itself, most US programs require the students to choose their advisors, and the advisors to formally accept the students as advisees. Little research has been done to understand how students and faculty approach this mutual selection and pairing process. This paper examines this process in STEM departments (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), with specific focus on factors influencing the decisions. Based on focus groups and interviews of doctoral students and faculty from STEM departments in an American university, we identify criteria applied by students and faculty in making their choices. Students were found to assess faculty on available funding, area of research, personality, ability to graduate students fast, and career prospects for students, and faculty to assess students on their qualifications/credentials and perceived ability to contribute to research. We also found that this mutual assessment was not objective, but influenced by perceptions associated with faculty gender and career stage, and student nationality. In the end, whether students and faculty were actually paired with persons of their choice depended on departmental factors including prevalent pairing practices, restrictions on student numbers per faculty, and reward structure. We discuss implications of the findings for research and practice.

The Role of Department Supports on Doctoral Completion and Time-to-Degree

“…A smaller department size was associated with shorter times-to-degree for doctoral students (Stricker, 1994), and likewise student–faculty ratios and percentage of full-time faculty were significant factors in explaining graduation rates (Goenner & Snaith, 2004). Faculty advisers were indeed influential to doctoral student experience (Zhao, Golde, & McCormick, 2007), in particular in the STEM fields (Joy, Liang, Bilimoria, & Perry, 2015). Doctoral experience and attrition (Gardner, 2009, 2010) as well as time-to-degree (Gillingham et al., 1991; Seagram et al., 1998) also differ by fields of study.…”

Advising Experiences of First Year International Doctoral Students

“…There are several factors that international graduate students consider when they select their advisor: advisor's reputation as a mentor and a researcher, their available funding, research area, personality, time-to-degree reputation, career prospects, career stage, and gender (Janer, 2017;Joy et al, 2015). Academic discipline also plays a role in how much weight is given to the characteristics mentioned above.…”

Inferring Advisor‐Student Relationships from Publication Networks Based on Approximate MaxConfidence Measure

“…Some related works about relationship analysis are also studied. Joy et al [26] examine how students and advisors approach the mutual selection and pairing process, with specific focus on factors influencing the decisions. Tuesta et al [27] conduct an exploratory study on the advisor-student relationship for the researchers who are involved in the area of Exact and Earth Sciences in Brazil.…”