The Strength of the Currents: The Experiences, Expectations, and Socialization of Prospective Graduate Students in the Life Sciences

This dissertation uses a case study design to explore the experiences of prospective graduate students in the life sciences from two universities as they navigated the graduate school application process. The study was guided by a socialization framework (Lovitts, 2001) to better understand when (and if) the participants experienced anticipatory socialization events prior to matriculating into graduate school. Interview data were collected at three stages of the application process (n=11, 33 interviews total) to understand and describe the participants’ motivation for applying to graduate school, their expectations of graduate school, and their decision-making process of selecting where to apply and where to enroll. The findings described how participants struggled to navigate the application process due to a lack of information and inability to access the program’s fit and culture prior to applying. In addition, the findings described how prospective graduate students’ exposure to anticipatory socialization was not homogenous, causing some to receive more support than others. Participants relied primarily on interactions with current graduate students as anticipatory socialization events. Those lacking anticipatory socialization struggled to take agentic actions and disengaged with the application process. This could be observed based on participants’ motivations to attend graduate school, as some had distinct career goals motivating them, while others were using graduate school to delay career decisions. These findings can be utilized to revise policies and practices surrounding mentoring undergraduate students, the details of the graduate school application process, and the role departments play in fostering career exploration. To this, I discuss avenues for future research directions and suggest reevaluating practices and policies surrounding the preparation of future graduate students and the graduate school application process.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate College

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Arizona.

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Kaczowka, Angela

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mars, Matthew

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Deil-Amen, Regina
• Salazar, Karina
• Galyen, Erin

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/680897

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/680897