Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping

Advanced degrees are necessary for careers that once required only a college education. Yet little has been written about who gets into grad school and why. Julie Posselt pulls back the curtain on this secret process, revealing how faculty evaluate applicants in top-ranked doctoral programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Table of Contents:
Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction: Gatekeeping Reconsidered Doctoral Students and Their Professional Pathways Gatekeeping Reconsidered Defining Merit Untangling a Paradox of Admissions Notes on the Research Design Reading This Book Conclusion Chapter One. Decision Making as Deliberative Bureaucracy An Overview of Admissions Procedures Quantifying Judgment “We Definitely Try to Make People Happy” Compromise: When Collegiality Trumps Taste Costs of Deliberative Bureaucracy Friendly Debate and Drawing Group Boundaries Conclusion Chapter Two. Meanings of Merit and Diversity Theories of Organizational Excellence The First Cut: Merit as Conventional Achievement The Short List: Merit as the Future of the Discipline Disconfirming Evidence: Risk Aversion and Academic Preparation as Final Considerations Conclusion Chapter Three. Disciplinary Logics Economics Philosophy Comparing the Cases Struggling for Consensus Worldview Moments in Political Science Conclusion Chapter Four. Mirror, Mirror Awareness of Preferences for Self-Similarity Homophily of the Pedigreed Pedigree and Privilege in Classics Homophily of the Cool Social Mobility Homophily Counterscripts and Critical Mass Conclusion Chapter Five. The Search for Intelligent Life General Impressions of Intelligence Qualities of Thought and Mind Research Experience and Disciplinary Engagement Conclusion Chapter Six. International Students and Ambiguities of Holistic Review International Students and Organizational Interests Ambiguities of Reviewing International Student Applications Quantitative GRE Scores and Admissions Ethics The Search for Credible English Skills Portraits of Admissions Interviews Cultural Distinction Work Ambiguities Create Conditions in Which Stereotypes Thrive Conclusion Conclusion: Merit beyond the Mirror Summary Multiple Interests, Multiple Contexts Preferences Imply Aversions Resistance to Change, Ambivalence about Diversity Revisit Admissions Routines and Make Them Explicit Strengthen Recruitment and Align It with Admissions Examine Assumptions about Merit Stop Misusing Standardized Test Scores Seek Small Wins in Admissions as Part of a Multifaceted Change Process Conclusion Methodological Appendix Case Study as a Methodology Sampling Recruitment Data Collection Data Management Case Development and Cross-Case Analysis Trustworthiness and Reliability Researcher’s Role and Establishing Rapport Conclusion Notes References Acknowledgments Index

About the Author :
Posselt Julie R. : Julie R. Posselt is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Michigan.

Review :
A pleasure to read. Posselt offers a deep and compelling take on graduate admissions procedures and practices--a topic that has received little attention, despite a relatively large body of work on undergraduate admissions. This book will undoubtedly be of great interest to scholars from a broad array of disciplines, particularly when it comes to the practicalities of conducting admissions work. -- Laura T. Hamilton, co-author of Paying for the Party Inside Graduate Admissions is an important and exceedingly well-written book. Posselt enters a closely guarded corner of academic work, illuminating one of the most pressing policy questions of our time: how to diversify higher education student bodies, and through that, the intellectual, political, and professional leadership of our nation. -- Anna Neumann, author of Professing to Learn Politicians, judges, journalists, parents, and prospective students subject the admissions policies of undergraduate colleges and professional schools to considerable scrutiny, with much public debate over appropriate criteria. But the question of who gets into Ph.D. programs has by comparison escaped much discussion. That may change with the publication of Inside Graduate Admissions...While the departments reviewed in the book remain secret, the general process used by elite departments would now appear to be more open as a result of Posselt's book. -- Scott Jaschik Inside Higher Ed Revealing...Provide[s] clear, consistent insights into what admissions committees look for. -- Beryl Lieff Benderly Science