Advising Experiences of First Year International Doctoral Students

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how international doctoral students matched with their faculty advisors, what types of advising experiences they had, and how these interactions influenced their first-year success in their doctoral programs. We applied the lens of developmental advising to situate the advising experiences of our sample due to the framework’s emphasis on holistic student support. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 21 international doctoral students attending a large research-intensive university in a Southeastern state. Our findings revealed that students were often matched with an interim advisor. While most reported a positive advising experience, the data revealed concerning differences in the type of advising experiences and support reported based on academic discipline. This study contributes to the body of literature by studying advisor-advisee matching among international doctoral students, who are less frequently studied, and by further analyzing how advising experiences shape international students’ academic transitions.