Investigating Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Graduate School Enrollment Rates among McNair Scholars

Abstract

The McNair Scholars Program aims to increase graduate school enrollment for low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students with the goal of Ph.D. attainment. This study explores graduate school enrollment rates among University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) McNair Scholars using Astin’s (1993) IEO Model. Utilizing UMBC McNair Program’s Annual Performance Reporting (APR) datasets from 2010-2020, we conduct crosstabulations and logistic regression to examine what input and environmental factors contribute to graduate school enrollment for 117 UMBC McNair Scholars. While findings reveal no statistical significance in input and environmental factors, we found differences in enrollment rates across some racial/ethnic and gender groups. Implications of this study suggest that provisions for data collection and self-reporting practices must become standardized to increase program and evaluation effectiveness.