Graduate Study and Its Relation to Careers: The Experience of a Recent Cohort of College Graduates

The present "explosion" in graduate education has been difficult to assess meaningfully because available data refers only to numbers of degrees granted and to total enrollments, and because there has been a lack of relevant cohort data. Graduate study has not been treated to date as the "life-cycle phenomenon which it actually is." Drawing on important cohort information recently gathered through a nationwide follow-up survey of 1958 college graduates, this paper attempts to analyze the precise nature and process of graduate education in relation to the plans and goals of the students themselves. Such factors as financial support, family responsibilities, part-time study, postponed enrollment, and non-degree enrollment are treated in considerable detail, concentrating on the "erratic" study patterns of most students, as opposed to the traditional concept of straightforward full-time study towards a specific degree. Several possible predictors of graduate degree enrollment and completion are also discussed. The paper arrives at the interesting conclusion that the "deviant" graduate student may actually represent a majority, and that much apparent "waste" motion in the graduate study process may in fact be a necessary and beneficial aspect of the American university system.