“A Whole Cycle All Over Again”: The Graduate School Considerations and Plans of First-Generation Bachelor’s Students

ABSTRACT

Drawing from the Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories, this qualitative study explores how time, opportunity, and information shaped 17 first-generation college students’ (FGCSs) prospective plans for participating graduate school. Findings illustrate the bidirectional relationship of career aspirations and graduate school plans, with lengthy graduate requirements deterring career interest. In planning for graduate school, FGCS participants enacted multiple strategies to reduce overall postsecondary costs and maintain academic eligibility, despite structural barriers. Finally, participants experienced delays — both anticipated and unanticipated — in their prospective timelines for attending graduate school. Findings reveal systems that may disproportionately inhibit FGCSs’ graduate school interest and eligibility, with implications for career opportunity.

KEYWORDS:

• First-generation student
• graduate school
• qualitative
• immigrant

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In Summer 2019, the Editorial Board of the Harvard Educational Review (2019) issued an errata statement associated with the Iloh (2018) article featuring the theoretical model employed in this manuscript. The statement outlines “multiple instances in which the author incompletely attributed previously published material in the introduction and literature review” (p. 335). The errata statement may be found at https://doi.org/10.17763/1943–5045–88.2.227.