Graduate School Choice: An Examination of Individual and Institutional Effects

Using the 2000/01 Baccalaureate & Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:00/01), this paper employs multilevel modeling to test a conceptual model of graduate school choice that draws significantly from human capital theory while incorporating the salient concepts of cultural and social capital. The model posits that the graduate school choice process is comprised of three nested phases. First, an individual develops an aspiration for graduate-level education; next, the student submits applications to graduate schools, and thirdly, the student enrolls in a graduate program. Dependent students who obtained high undergraduate grade point averages majored in the humanities, social or behavioral sciences, mathematics, or life and physical sciences, and attended a master’s or doctoral institution were most likely to aspire to, apply for, and enroll in graduate school. This study also found that, when controlling for all other variables in the models, Hispanic students are more likely to aspire to and apply for graduate school, and African-American students are more likely to aspire to, apply for, and enroll in graduate school than white students. A key variable of interest, undergraduate indebtedness, does not affect graduate school choice when accounting for all other variables in the model.