Understanding Admitted Doctoral Students’ Institutional Choices: Student Experiences versus Faculty and Staff Perceptions

In the absence of extensive data on doctoral institution choice, assumptions by faculty and administrators flourish. Due to increasing calls for diversity, continuing economic hardship, and decreasing yield rates, especially for underrepresented minorities, a highly selective research university (very high research activity) administered two sets of surveys regarding the admissions cycle and institution choice process: one to admitted doctoral students and the other to departmental admissions leaders. Findings include comparison of underrepresented minority to majority student views and comparison of student and administrator/faculty views of the role of financial support, relative importance of nonfinancial factors, importance of contact with faculty, and understanding of competing institutions in the decision process of doctoral applicants. Implications and practical interventions are discussed.