Three years ago, Ali Navid packed up and made the days-long trip southeast from North Dakota to Bloomington. Working the graveyard shift in his father's Los Angeles video store and manning the cash register at gas stations led the University of Maryland graduate to think there had to be something better for him elsewhere.\nSo the former chemistry major turned down his acceptance to Maryland's graduate program in chemical engineering and headed to Bloomington, where he's currently preparing his dissertation defense for research into silico modeling of metabolic pathways in eukaryotic organisms -- in layman's terms, a multidisciplinary project culling work in physics, chemistry, biology and computer science. \nIt's a decision he says he doesn't regret. Taking time off before graduate study is increasingly encouraged by major programs of study at large research universities like IU, and Navid said the thought of four-plus more years of even more rigorous study made him flinch after 16 years of pulling all-nighters and heading to school in the first week of September.\n"The only reason I took two years off was that, after my undergraduate studies, I really felt burned out and decided that the time off would really help me -- and it did," Navid said. "When I came back to school, I was very enthused and looking forward to the challenge. I doubt my experience would have been as positive if I had come to grad school right after graduation."\nYet Navid's case doesn't translate well to emerging national trends. Ph.D. candidates are increasingly abandoning the definitive pursuit of intellectual achievement, leaving graduate programs and pushing nationwide attrition figures skyward. \nAnd it's a hot issue.\nAccording to a recent article in the Chronicle for Higher Education, that number is estimated at 40 to 50 percent of students in Ph.D. programs. The Council of Graduate Schools in San Francisco has recently garnered $2 million from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to track attrition rates and conceive ways to curtail dropout figures. The associate dean of Notre Dame's graduate programs has spent 10 years studying data collected from attrition reports and concludes that attrition ultimately amounts to "wasted time and talent," according to the Chronicle article. \nThe CGS New Deans Institute, which convened in June of last year, presented participants with a particularly haunting yet plausible scenario: If attrition truly stands at 50 percent, why couldn't Congress, in theory, cut graduate school funding by half? Still, the much-contested figure appears to be irrefutable in some circles. Whether due to the lack of or incomplete data or because of studies that fail to account for students who declare interest in Ph.D. candidacy and instead switch to professional-track master's programs, much of the research into Ph.D. attrition is "incomplete, inconsistent and inaccessible," according to Daniel Denecke and Debra Stewart, co-authors of an article in the CGS trade paper Communicator. \nIU Dean of Graduate Studies John Slattery believes Denecke and Stewart's assessment is right on target and claims "no information suggests" IU's attrition rates differ from the national norm. The authors have called for a "more concerted effort to harvest completion and attrition data," and Slattery feels a variety of factors work in concert to possibly alter attrition estimates.\n"The question is one of intent," Slattery said. "Students are more likely to get financial assistance if they declare Ph.D. candidacy. Five or six departments offer priority according to a student's terminal degree aspiration."\nThus, students declaring Ph.D. intent are sometimes -- but not always -- privileged over master's candidates. Furthermore, when students enroll or are accepted into IU programs, they're often questioned concerning what type of degree they truly intend to pursue. \n"The problem with interpretation of this data is the intent of students," Slattery said. Data pertaining to IU attrition is compiled by University Graduate School but is often flawed due to incomplete methods of tracking completion rates. It is also often tracked by individual schools and departments, as is the case with the Kelley School of Business. \n"We do compile figures, but they are hard to interpret," Slattery said. " We would need better information on true intended terminal degree upon entering or exit data to understand true initial interest and reason for stopping. It's true to say that I don't want to release them but because of data quality rather than any desire to maintain them secret. They just don't allow a definitive conclusion."\nSlattery acknowledged IU does need to generate more improved data to truly understand the problem of attrition in its graduate programs and said UGS will do that in the future. \nElizabeth Rytting, a graduate student in the Department of English and current chair of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization Campus Affairs committee, said she knows of students in her program five years ago who "were worried about the perceived high rate of attrition, but it hasn't seemed to be a big topic of concern since then."\nStill, that doesn't mean concern isn't prevalent, Rytting said. \n"After all, some graduate students might think attrition is a good thing, from a certain perspective, because the job market for tenure-track professorial positions ... is very tight," she said. "So attrition means less competition for those few jobs -- and the prospect of facing that competition may be one reason for the attrition."
Getting a leg up\nAttrition can also be attributed to problems students don't anticipate when entering graduate programs. It's a far cry from the stereotypical undergraduate composite of frat parties, beer pong and sleeping through general education requirements, to be sure. \n"The social and educational bumps grad students encounter are very much similar to the transition from high school to undergraduate study," Slattery said. "The exception is that undergrads have orientation programs for entering freshmen. It's just not at all the experience grad students have. During the first year, they often find themselves at sea, and if they don't hook in well at the outset to the way of life as a Ph.D. student, it's often difficult to regain that."\nIU School of Journalism Dean of Graduate Studies Dan Drew said students who complete a master's thesis before heading into Ph.D. programs usually have a leg up on their peers who haven't completed such in-depth research. The School of Journalism offers two graduate degree tracks, one of which concentrates on professional practice. The other program is geared toward teaching and research. \n"If you come from a master's program, a Ph.D. program isn't too much of a jump," Drew said. "It is much more demanding than an undergrad program, however."\nFormer Graduate and Professional Student Organization moderator Rachel Anderson said Counseling and Psychological Services offers dissertation support groups at the IU Health Center that can prove invaluable to students. \n"The program is open to all grads working on dissertations at any stage and is a moderated group that focuses on sharing strategy, frustration and successes," Anderson said.
Advisers help lighten the load\nThe completion rate varies according to genre studied as well, according to national studies. In particular, attrition peaks in disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. In "Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Policy, Numbers, Leadership, and Next Steps," also a CGS publication, completion rates are cited as being higher for students in the physical and life sciences, as well as for men over women and majority over minority students. \nA major source of that discrepancy is the hands-on, personal attention science students receive in a laboratory setting, Slattery said, and Navid's case is a prime example. He spends 40 to 50 hours a week in the lab, facing a workload he claims isn't "unbearable," but also enjoys a close relationship with his adviser. Furthermore, the lab atmosphere fosters social relationships as well.\n"Generally graduate students in a lab, and to some extent in a department, bond and form a group which usually tends to become the core of your social circle," Navid said. \nRelationships with advisers can be particularly important in maintaining a student's happiness within a given program. Navid said he enjoys a "great relationship" with Peter Ortoleva, his dissertation adviser. Ortoleva has been instrumental in assisting Navid with planning both the format and content of his dissertation. \n"I wouldn't say we never disagree, but I think that is healthy," Navid said. "He is very supportive of my choices and respects my opinions. Advisers could be very demanding, though. I kind of see them as army drill sergeants -- they are there to make sure you give all you can give and if possible, more."\nTheoretical preparation for the defense process and "exit seminars" Ph.D. candidates are required to give are of equal importance. Navid has called the defense process coupled with the seminars and final defense a "Herculean effort," and it's a sentiment widely shared in grad student circles. \nHe said the Chemistry department, however, has prepared him well for the rigorous process. Preparation of seminars are mandatory in the third and fifth semesters of study, thus preparing students for technical and scientific public speaking. Navid also attends numerous conferences and workshops focused on his area of study and is required to publish articles in scientific journals to better equip him for his dissertation defense. \nDrew said programs like that of the School of Journalism are generally small, allowing faculty and advisers to take on a much more proactive role in fostering relationships with graduate students. The journalism Ph.D. program usually accepts three to four students per year, while the master's professional-track program allows approximately 25 students. \n"Our students work very closely with their faculty advisers, and most of them have been in the professional world or have media experience," Drew said. "They have a clear idea of what they want to do and are highly motivated." \nAdvisers work closely with journalism Ph.D. candidates throughout the revision and writing process as well, Drew said.\n"Almost everyone has to do some revision," Drew said. "The advisers also work with students concerning planning of the dissertation to make sure everything's on track."\nAttrition remains a major concern for graduate school deans and faculty nationwide. The question remaining is what individual institutions can do to foster higher completion rates. \nAlthough Slattery has only been on the job for a few months, he said he'd like to increase community building in the Graduate School to facilitate what he terms a "climate for professionalization."\n"The Ph.D. is a very independent enterprise, and creativity is the ultimate test," Slattery said. "It's common for students to feel adrift."\n-- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
