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Many undergraduate neuroscience trainees aspire to earn a PhD. In recent years the number, demographics, and previous experiences of PhD applicants in neuroscience has changed. This has necessitated both a reconsideration of admissions processes to ensure equity for an increasingly diverse applicant pool as well as renewed efforts to expand access to the training and research experiences required for admission to graduate programs. Here, we describe both facets of graduate school admissions by demystifying the process and providing faculty with tools and resources to help undergraduate students successfully navigate it. We discuss admissions requirements and processes at two graduate institutions, highlighting holistic approaches to evaluating students, the ever-increasing research experience expectations, and the decreasing reliance on the GRE. With a particular focus on improving equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, we discuss resources for applying to graduate school that are available for students from underrepresented populations, including summer institutes and fellowship programs and intentional relationships with minority serving institutions (MSIs) to foster bi-directional engagement between undergraduate programs at MSIs and graduate institutions. With diverse perspectives as faculty involved in undergraduate education, graduate programs, and post-baccalaureate training programs, we provide recommendations and resources for how to help all trainees — especially those from populations underrepresented in the STEM workforce — succeed in the current graduate education admissions landscape.
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The Price Does Not Appear the Same for Everyone: Racial Differences in Students' Perceptions of the Mathematics Graduate School Application Process
Lack of racial diversity has been an ongoing issue in higher education. Recently, the Theory of Racialized Organizations has been used to help explain why, despite many calls for diversity, the demographics of higher education have not changed. Considering this framework, we seek to understand what aspects of the graduate school application process are viewed as barriers by minoritized students for applying. As part of a larger study of undergraduate student knowledge of the graduate school application process, we analyze 515 responses from undergraduate math majors using Mann-Whitney U tests to identify differences in what participants view as a barrier to apply to graduate school by race/ethnicity. We discuss two main results and recommend changes to graduate programs wishing to recruit more minoritized students.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2126018
- PAR ID:
- 10494350
- Publisher / Repository:
- Special Interest Group of the Mathematics Association of America on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
- ISSN:
- 2474-9346
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- The DOI is not currently available.
