Some doctoral students say their programs aren’t preparing them for a Ph.D, according to a national survey released earlier this month.

More than 4,000 doctoral students from 27 universities nationwide who responded to the survey said the training graduate students receive may not be what they want or need.

The study was conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by The Pew Charitable Grants, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization.

The report, “At Cross Purposes: What Experiences of Today’s Doctoral Students Reveal about Doctoral Education,” found that one to two-thirds of doctoral students are unclear about core processes of their programs.

Sam Howerton, president of the Council of Graduate Students at MSU, said the survey encompasses a broad spectrum of doctoral students, but concerns typically vary by discipline.

“I have found, by talking to people in different departments, that the variance is great,” said Howerton, a chemistry graduate student. “If you talk to someone in the discipline you are going into, you are going to get a more realistic view.”

Survey respondents said they are uncertain about how their course work will be applied to their career, how their program will be funded and what criteria determines their graduation date.

These three concerns all center on the faculty-doctoral student mentoring relationship and how both students and faculty set expectations, Karen Klomparens, dean of MSU’s Graduate School, said.

“Faculty provide this guidance, so students should work at being very engaged in the process,” she said.

Klomparens suggested participating in department seminars, completing yearly progress reports and referring to a Graduate Handbook are other ways for graduate students to chart their progress.

Howerton agrees, saying students need to take an active role in their graduate studies to have a productive experience.

“That process begins more as you take a step back and learn what it is your discipline does,” he said.

Similarly, Howerton said graduate students need to evaluate their experiences early on, making sure its the direction they wish to head.

“It’s very easy in grad school to become so focused on the short term that you kind of forget that you will leave this place,” he said.

The survey also revealed that respondents feel their training prepares them for careers in academia, without enough emphasis on non-academic fields.

In fact, no more than half of graduate students who plan on becoming full-time tenured faculty ever fulfill that goal, according to the survey.

Klomparens said similar evidence has been found at MSU, but the Graduate School offers programs to introduce other career options including inviting alumni who work in industry, business and at small four-year colleges to present workshops.

Bob Huggett, vice president for research and graduate studies, said some MSU graduate students are more worried about too much emphasis on training to become faculty.

“In some disciplines, it’s more likely that a grad would end up in non-academia than in others, such as engineering,” he said. “On the other hand, I would think that someone majoring in one of the liberal arts might have a higher potential of going into academia, but that’s not the only place to go.”

But not all survey responses were complaints.

The survey showed that more than 90 percent of doctoral students said they are satisfied with their decision to attend graduate school, have an adviser they like and are interested in their dissertation topic.

The survey is a great thing for students to look at, said Huggett, who added, “All the information that’s available to you in your career, you should try to take advantage of it.”

For more information, the survey results are available at www.phd-survey.org.

Nicole Jacques can be reached at jacques9@msu.edu.