Doctoral student experiences in gender-balanced and male-dominated graduate programs.

Similarities and differences were examined in graduate school experiences of male and female doctoral students in programs containing predominantly male or gender-balanced faculty. Participating students reported their perceptions of mentor support, partner support, peer support, academic self-concept, sensitivity to family issues, stress, and career commitment. In studies, women in male-dominated programs expressed lower academic self-concept, less sensitivity in their departments to family issues, and lower career commitment compared with all other students. Mentor support and academic selfconcept predicted the career commitment of all students. Student reports were unrelated to the gender of their mentors. A subset of the students participated at both time points; these students showed significant drops in self-concept and career commitment across the 2 years. Since 1960, the number of women earning advanced degrees in the United States has increased dramatically, more than 2,000% in some fields (National Center for Education Statistics, 1995). Nevertheless, gender equity has not yet become a reality. Compared with men, women earn advanced degrees in lower status fields (e.g., social work and education vs. business and economics), are less likely to pursue the most advanced levels of education, are more likely to exit their programs before degree completion, and receive 80% of what their male counterparts earn given equal training and experience (Digest of Educational Statistics, 1995;