Before turning to the lessons learned, a brief overview of the major arguments and central theory undergirding the study is in order. Major Arguments Attrition is less a function of what students bring with them to graduate school than of what happens to them after they enroll. Attrition is a function of the differential distribution of resources for integration and cognitive map development. Theoretical Framework Integration is a theory of community membership. Students who are integrated into the academic and social systems of their departments develop bonds with the departmental community which both support them and prevent them from leaving.
Cognitive maps are mental representations.
Graduate students need two kinds of cognitive maps. They need a global cognitive map of their program s formal requirements, and they need local maps of their program s informal, unwritten expectations, as well as local maps of academic tasks and social and political relationships. The better students cognitive maps of the academic and social systems of their graduate program, the more likely they are to become integrated and persist, because they have an implicit understanding of how to move through the system. Conversely, the better integrated students are, the better their cognitive maps will be, because they are in closer and more frequent contact with people who can help them develop the understandings necessary for degree completion. When the 9 items were collapsed into an index and t-tested, the result was significant favoring the noncompleters.