II. Impact of the DMP -- The Participants' Perspectives.
In this section, we discuss the impact of the DMP on the participants. A primary focus of the post-program and "one-year-out" interviews was on the effect of the DMP on the participants, and how the program had influenced their decisions regarding future career and educational plans. In, "Section III. Essential Program Elements" we discuss the role of particular program features (the research project, the female faculty mentor and the university setting) in bringing about these outcomes.
A. Increased confidence in their ability in CS.
For many of the participants whom we interviewed, the most important and far-reaching impact of the DMP was its positive effect on their confidence in their abilities in CS. There were several different ways in which their confidence was increased. In this section we discuss these. (See "Section III. B. Essential element #2: Research Project" for a discussion of the important role of research project in fostering increased confidence.)
Increased confidence in their ability to "get the job done": ability to apply their knowledge from CS and work independently
Many participants discussed that prior to the DMP, although they had done well academically as undergraduates in CS, they had often questioned whether they would be able to perform well in a CS job. As we discussed in Section I, many of these women considered themselves to be grade-oriented, and more interested in doing well on their assignments than "hacking". Thus, they felt that they had less "hands-on" experience than the typical CS major, and worried that when it came time for them to test their skills on the job, they would not do well. As a result of having a successful research experience in the DMP, however, many had become more confident in their ability to apply their knowledge of CS
Although students tended to talk about their increased confidence in terms of knowing that they could "get the job done," their comments make it clear that what they meant by this was that they had come to realize that they could apply their knowledge to new problems and that they could be successful at completing an independent project on which they had little guidance. Their classroom settings had afforded them little or no opportunity to test these abilities, and through their success in the DMP, they became more confident in these abilities. The following student quotes illustrate this point.
I: Did you see the mentoring program as being helpful in getting your job or in your job right now?
R: Probably. You know, you put that on your resume, and that looks good, first of all. Second, as I said before, just getting the work, or to participate in the mentoring program, and actually doing something gives you a self-esteem boost and more confidence. Yeah, it's helped definitely.
I: More confidence, and you're saying that influences you how?
R: I was always very unsure. Even though I got good grades and everything was good in school, I was always unsure that I could perform a job for some reason, I don't know. But then getting this, you know, participating in the mentoring program and being able to finish the project I was told to research and stuff, that made me feel more confident, so now I go and I can apply to jobs knowing that I will be able to perform well. It helped me definitely, the mentoring program, it did, with jobs and things like that, because now I go with more confidence.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I [had] just finished with my sophomore year and I didn't have much experience and I was really, really nervous going to a university where I'm like, "Well everyone's gonna expect me to be able to do something." [Laughter] I mean I got into this program but all I did was -- well, someone had already started this program that translated one assembly language to another and basically there was maybe half the work left to do and I finished it and I had to test it and write documentation for it and stuff. But it I mean I accomplished it. I did what I was supposed to do and I think it gave me a lot more confidence in my ability to do something that wasn't an assignment in classes and it seemed like it was supposed to be harder and I did it. And I think it really boosted my confidence that summer.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
R: Maybe the [the mentoring program] makes me a little bit, either more confident, or it makes [me] want to do challenging, different kinds of work because I'd never done anything like this research grant thing, and it worked out well, and so, for example, during the month of January, I applied to all these economic-related jobs, yeah, and so, I actually do think that it, it did build some kind of confidence in me that I could, you know, accomplish something that I'd never done before. I've never been in any kind of situation where I've had to do research by myself, and I'd never been in any kind of situation where I've had to have a job. You know, it was never something to think, so I think in that it did help me.
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I: What stands out about your mentoring program experience?
R: What stands out about it? I think the confidence that it gave me in myself and my abilities.
I: How has that been recognized? Do you see it as influencing things you do now?
R: I think it makes me more confident in my job that I have now. I don't second guess myself like I may have a little more often before.
I: Ok, how did it do that?
R: How did it do that? Well, it gave me just a sense a confidence in myself and my judgment and my abilities...I went into [the DMP] not really being sure of myself and not really being sure I could do it, and I did it. So therefore, you know, it gave me that confidence in myself that I can do the job.
In the following interview excerpt, a student discussed that prior to the DMP she lacked confidence in her ability to be "creative" and thus, she was unsure if she could do research. Through the DMP research experience she came to see that she could be creative by coming up with problems and solutions. It is important to note that unlike many of her cohorts, this student was given the opportunity to pick the research project which she worked on during the DMP. This unique aspect of her experience may be related to this particular type of impact.
I: So, what did it mean for you to have your own project?
R: Well it just, I mean I'm probably a control freak, which is probably why I'm most comfortable being given assignments because, you know I can get my head around it, you know, do a plan of attack and get it done. So, for one it gave me an idea that it's possible to come up with a project assignment. You know, my peers at [my school] had thought of projects that they were going to ask professors if they could do, and I never really cared about that. I was really, you know, a book worm, like into the academics and passing the tests and doing well academically. But all of these projects on the side didn't really interest me, basically because I don't feel very creative and I just never really thought that was something that I would be motivated to do. Because it really scared me. It was easier to do a good job at what I was told to do. So, I mean it just, it made me realize that, you know, you can come up with projects, and people were throwing them at me left and right. And I guess you become very good at thinking of, you know, looking at things in a certain light and figuring out how you can create a project from it, or what needs to be done and how it can be advanced. It also gave me a lot of respect for not having a nice little clean problem.
Increased confidence that they would be accepted to, and/or could succeed in, graduate school
Some DMP participants indicated that the DMP gave them the confidence that they could be accepted into and succeed in graduate school. In the following interview excerpt, a participant discussed that prior to the DMP she did not have confidence that she was a highly competitive candidate for graduate school admission. Through the DMP she changed her view of herself and raised her aspirations.
I: Did the mentoring program influence your perceptions of what you can accomplish, we'll say in your career or anything?
R: Oh, definitely. I never would have thought of myself as becoming a researcher at a top school, or even being able to apply to and then attend, or be accepted to such top schools as I was. I had always had this opinion, "Well, I came from this really small town." My parents always said to me, "Hey, you may be the best student here, but you have to realize the best students aren't here; they're other places. So, you have to understand that what you see of as the world here, isn't the whole world, and there are people who are better than you." And I still felt the same way at [my undergraduate institution], not quite as much, but, still, I'm like, "The best undergrads don't go to the [my undergraduate institution]." If there's really good people, maybe they're going to Stanford, or maybe they're going to MIT, and these are the people I have to compete with." But, by the end of my four years of undergrad, I thought that I had done as well as I could in the environment I was in, and that there were other factors in my education that still made me a better student and a better researcher than those people coming out of maybe more rigorous undergraduate degree programs.
Feeling less "intimidated" by the predominantly male environment of CS
A few women indicated that through their experience in the DMP, they had become less intimidated and therefore had begun to speak up more in class without fear that they would look "stupid." As students began to gain confidence in their abilities they began to feel less intimidated by others' abilities.
I: Do you see that as influencing how you approach things in terms of school or in terms of research or your career?
R: Yeah, I feel less intimidated. Before like, if I wasn't sure of something I'd kind of sit back, and a lot of the men in the classes took over discussion and things and asked more questions. I said, "Hey, this has to stop. I have to speak up." So it definitely helped me. . . . Because I was exposed to this mentoring program with [my mentor] I kind of learned how to probably be more outspoken and not be afraid of speaking more.
I: Do you attribute this to just interacting with [your mentor] or with doing research as well?
R: Probably both. Yeah, doing research, it kind of lifted my self esteem a little bit and my confidence.
Feeling less intimidated by faculty members: gaining comfort in interacting with them
A related program outcome of having increased confidence and feeling less intimidated was that some students became more comfortable interacting with faculty members at their home institutions. In the following quotes, the students discussed how prior to the program they viewed faculty members as inaccessible authority figures, and that they had come to see them as "real people" that they could approach.
I: Did the mentoring program influence how you interacted at all with other faculty?
R: A little bit. When I first came as an undergraduate I didn't realize that you could be friends with a professor necessarily, that you could actually go into their office and get help. I always thought, "Oh, they're too good for that." They're these people on this pedestal. But it's ok to go in and ask them questions. I still, even after I figured this out, I ran into people who didn't understand that, that thought, "Well, they have too much to do, they don't want to hear my problems and such-and-such," but it's ok to do that. That was something I definitely figured out after a while.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I: Has the mentoring program been an influence on how you interact with faculty?
R: That's a tough one. I think maybe in that I had never really interacted that closely with somebody in, what do I want to say, academia -- a professor. I think it sort of put a human face on it, made me realize that, you know, they're people, too. Just the idea of working that closely with my mentor.
Evaluator's Viewpoint : Increased confidence in abilities may lead to greater commitment to the field
For some women this increased confidence that they could apply classroom knowledge and succeed in working on a research problem, made them feel more sure that CS was the right field for them to pursue. As discussed in the Section I, when some of the participants came into the DMP, they were unsure about whether or not CS was the right field for them. They stated that they had applied for the program in order to obtain more hands-on experience in the field, so that they could make more informed decisions. In part, they questioned whether or not the field was right for them, because they were not entirely confident of their hands-on abilities. During the DMP research experience, many students found that they were quite successful working independently on an applied, open-ended problem, and thus, their confidence in their abilities was increased. By addressing this concern and removing, to some degree, the fear of failure as a barrier to persisting in CS, the DMP made some women feel more committed to the field. In the following quote, a student explicitly discussed this dynamic.
I: Did the mentoring program influence your commitment to studying CS? I realize you had one year left.
R: Yeah, I guess. I enjoyed the program, so it kind of reinforced the idea that this was the right field for me, the right career for me.
I: Was that something you were unsure about before?
R: Not overly, but every positive experience still helps.
I: And how did it reinforce that?
R: I guess because I enjoyed my research, or whatever. I don't know, I felt like it was successful, so I guess it just gave me more confidence that I was going to be able to be successful.
See "Section III. B. Essential element #2: Research Project" for more on the relationship between the research project and increased confidence.
B. Enhanced their ability to go further in CS.
Students indicated that they had experienced a broad range of outcomes which were related to an improved ability to go further in the field of CS. These impacts are discussed below.
1. Gained valuable research skills.
Through their experience in the DMP, most students gained valuable research skills. Upon entering the DMP, many students had little experience with research and most indicated that one of the primary reasons they had applied to the DMP was to gain research skills.
By being part of the research process, they came to understand a great deal about how problems were designed and solved. For example, some students indicated that through the DMP they became aware of the importance of reading the existing literature on the research area of interest in order to define a research question which would contribute to current academic discussions. Many students discussed that through the DMP they had come to understand that research involved trial and error and often took surprising twists and turns.
In addition to more general research skills, some students discussed that through the program they had strengthened their oral presentation skills and/or their writing skills. Others learned new programming languages, and for some, these new programming skills helped in subsequent undergraduate courses or in their post-graduation jobs.
During the program, a few students learned about the process of publishing research papers. In the following quote, a students discussed what she learned about this process.
R: ...[My mentor is] going to continue to help me, and she's going to teach me how to submit for publication, in terms of how to write for submission, and also how to choose who you submit it to.
I: She's going to do that just in general for you?
R: Yeah, because she said that submitting it to the right source is critical in getting published. And one of the things that she did tell me -- this is some of the stuff that we got into at the end, that was really helpful to me. She said that the people that you had cited in your own research, what you do is you look and see if they tend to all be published in the same journal. Because they will tend -- you know, if they have published the material you have cited, then they will tend to look at your submission a little bit more.
I: Right, because it becomes part of their dialogue in their journal.
R: Yeah, 'cause it's like an ongoing development of the technology that they're putting forth. So I mean that was really interesting, 'cause I wouldn't know. I wouldn't have any idea how to do that stuff. So I mean, I think she's willing to stay involved in my doing research, and helping me in the future.
See Section III.B for a full discussion of the way in which the research experience fostered the participants' development.
2. Provided preparation for graduate school: Knowledge and necessary skills .
In their interviews, participants discussed multiple ways in which the DMP provided them with preparation for graduate school in terms of both knowledge about "what to expect" and the necessary skills to succeed in graduate school. Most participants indicated that prior to the DMP they had little conception of what graduate school entailed. As the following quote demonstrates, most participants came away from the program with a greater understanding of graduate school life.
R. I learned a lot, getting to work with a lot of the different students, and just learning about the atmosphere about different graduate programs, 'cause I didn't understand exactly even what a graduate program was. It was just like extra education. I didn't know how it worked. I didn't understand the masters was two years and the classes and the Ph.D. was the research and the studying kind of aspect and the different things to look for when I do look for a graduate school when I did look for graduate school and how they influence my decision. Basically, it's all really -- everything I learned from it is what helped me find a graduate school now basically. . . . I keep comparing the graduate schools that I looked at for next year to the one that I went to.
In this section we present the different types of knowledge and experience related to graduate school preparation that the participants gained.
a. Gaining knowledge about what to expect.
Virtually all of the participants who had worked with graduate students in the DMP indicated that after the DMP, they felt better prepared for graduate school because they knew what to expect. Not only had they participated in research which was similar to graduate research, but they had interacted with, and observed graduate students; through this they gained valuable knowledge about what graduate school entailed. For many this made them more comfortable and confident about going to graduate school.
In the following interview excerpt, a student listed many of the things she learned about graduate school during the DMP.
I: So did you talk with the graduate students at all about their experiences in graduate school?
R: Sometimes I did. Like after the graduate seminars, they would have pizza. So we would usually talk to them then...I learned a little bit about grad school...I learned that you don't really have to pick a topic for, like, your first year, maybe two. Which is kind of cool. You can pick an area but you don't necessarily have to pick a topic! And for the first two years you mainly take classes. You don't really start your research until the third one...And your dissertation isn't as important as everyone claims it is. And, I learned a lot about, actually, the final exam. The final, oral, the oral defense. I learned a lot about that. Because there was a couple of grad students doing that, they were doing the oral defense, and if you're going to get your Ph.D. and you've done all the work -- you've done the work for your thesis and you did all the research and you take the classes and you pass them or whatever, then unless your thesis makes absolutely no sense, you're probably going to pass your defense. Probably, you know? There's a slim chance that you're not. But if you've done good work, you're probably going to pass your defense. So I've learned that. All these little hints!
I: So all of this that you learned, how different was that from your impressions of graduate school?
R: I didn't realize that . . . -- I didn't know how long you had to take classes for. Like I guess a few of the grad students I had met before were on different tracks, and they would take maybe a class a term, and then they'd be working on their research, all the other time. Like the rest of the time. So, I didn't realize [these things]. It's good...It made me feel better about it.
Another student made similar comments.
It helps that I've got a better ideas of what grad school is about from last summer, 'cause before it was just sort of, "Well, you know, where do you go after undergrad school?" And now I've got an idea of how people spend their time and what they're doing there, and that's really helpful. It also gave me an idea what academia is like.
Below we provide examples from interviews with students who had already been accepted into graduate school at the time of their last interview. These students discussed that their experience in the mentoring program provided them with a head start on graduate school.
We were essentially graduate students for a summer and being put in that environment so I knew what I was getting into. So now, since I am going on to graduate school, I know what to expect. I'm not like a scared little freshman as I was when I went into undergrad, I know what to expect. And making the contacts was also very helpful, getting other opinions on what graduate schools are good to go to, getting extra recommendations from other people that are in another school I'm sure really helped me a lot.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I: How do you feel about making the shift [from undergrad to grad school]?
R: Oh, I feel a lot more comfortable with it now, because I kind of feel like I know what's expected and if it's not the way that [my mentor's institution was] then great, but if it is it won't be a big shock to me or anything, I'll kind of understand it and even expect it to be that way. so,
I: Ok, good. So this might have provided you a transition.
R: Yeah, yeah, it's definitely prepared me for it, that's great.
b. Gaining necessary skills.
As reported above, most participants gained research skills through the DMP. Many of them felt that these skills would assist them in graduate school. The following student quote illustrates this point.
I: So do you feel you can succeed in graduate school?
R: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think this program is really beneficial, because I think learning what I learned this summer will save me time to learn it in grad school. When I go in to do research, I can spend the first amount of time doing everything that I learned this summer, the same way, and now I already know how to start.
I: Ok, so you just sort of have a jump start.
R: Yeah.
c. Gaining "insider knowledge" about selecting, applying, and succeeding in graduate school.
By playing the role of "honorary graduate students" during the DMP, most participants gained knowledge about selecting, applying and succeeding in graduate school. They were able to access information which can be considered "insider-information," as it came from being inside some of the top ranked CS departments in the country.
Learning about the application and selection process for grad school
Many students discussed that prior to the program they had had little or no knowledge about how to sort through the maze of picking graduate schools and applying. Through the DMP they became more sophisticated in their approach to selecting and applying to graduate schools. Some students discussed that they had come to realize more about "what really matters" in selecting a graduate school. They indicated that they had realized the importance of selecting a graduate school on the basis of a comfortable environment. These students described that they wanted an environment that was friendly or "warm" and where they would "fit in".
Learning about importance of good advisor
A few students discussed that the program had helped them realize the importance of having a good advisor in graduate school. They had learned this either through their interactions with their mentor or through observing graduate students who were engaged in both positive and negative experiences with their advisors.
Learning about how to deal with departmental politics
Through discussions with their mentors or with graduate students, a few students had learned the importance of paying attention to departmental politics and the "rules of the game." They felt this awareness would positively affect their chances for success in graduate school.
R: I'm glad I went...more because of what I learned. As far as the world goes. Not really for that [research] project.
I: Ok. So what did you learn?
R: Well, I learned that there's a lot of weird stuff that goes on, and feet not to step on, and just like, everybody's just trying to get away with everything and trying to come out smelling like roses. And just like, how the politics of academia is. And like, whoever has the power is the person you've got to tiptoe around. And it really seems like that's stuff that nobody tells you.
Evaluator's Conclusion: Broader impact of greater likelihood of success for DMP participants in graduate school
Although the stated goal of the DMP is to increase the number of women who attend graduate school in CS, the program may have the broader impact of increasing the likelihood that those participants who choose to attend graduate school will be more successful. Through preparing students for graduate school in multiple ways, the program will ease the transition to graduate school and provide women with a foundation in the necessary skills for success in graduate school.
3. Participation in the DMP provided greater access to opportunities: letters of recommendation.
A few of the students who had participated in the program in 1994 or 1995 indicated that as a result of their participation in the DMP and receiving a strong letter or recommendation from their mentor, they had been assisted in getting into graduate school or getting a job in CS.
Getting good jobs in CS
As illustrated in the quotes below, some students felt that the DMP provided them with a "leg up" in their job searches.
I: Do you see the mentoring program as being influential in getting a job? Where you've applied?
R: {pause} I think, hmm, I'm not really sure, how, where, the particular place where I work now I'm not doing anything dealing directly with simulation, which is what I did at my mentoring project, that's it. Now, it did help me as far as building my resume, because I was able to put that on there and it showed that I had, you know, a broad range of experience, and they were interested in it too. You know, it was an interesting project, and it gave me something, it gave me a good story to tell in the interview. So, in that way I think it helped me.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
R: Well, it was just something that everyone that I interviewed with asked me about and seemed very interested in and seemed impressed, I would say.
I: Did you put it on your resume, or how did they know?
R: Yeah, I had it on my resume, so I feel like it was something that my experience helped me get the job.
Getting into graduate school
Many students commented that their experience in the DMP coupled with a letter of recommendation by their mentor was extremely useful in getting them recognized by other departments and in getting into graduate schools.
Yes, [my mentor] did [write a recommendation for me]. In fact, [one graduate school] was really impressed -- when I went in to talk with them, the one professor I met with, he couldn't remember my file, so he was just kind of pulling stuff up, and we were just talking. And I told him that I had been at [my mentor's institution] and worked with [my mentor] and oooh, all of a sudden he remembered. "Yes, you had a wonderful recommendation. We were very impressed with your file, and we want to offer you some sort or scholarship, but you weren't going for the Ph.D. program, so we couldn't." I was really flattered.
I: And do you think the mentoring program influenced the kinds of schools you could get into?
R: Oh, I know it did. I really know it did. Because I was, one of my best friends and I made, last summer, a graduate student, she was pretty cautious with me of saying, "Listen. You're coming from a real no name place here, and you're not going to have, recommendations from researchers like people coming from big name schools are going to have 'cause no one at your school does research. And so you really need to, you never know what's going to happen, and you need to go to the best school you can get into, but you need to apply to a big range of schools, just in case." You know, she said, "You may not even get in here. You know, it all depends." And she said recently, she was like, "I did not realize how much that program and that experience was going to affect your application." And all I can say is that [my mentor] must have written me this letter that was like, woah, incredible, said incredible stuff, because otherwise I don't know how it happened. It must have, it must have made a huge impact because really that was the only real strength on my application.
4. Provided access to an expanded network of academic computer scientists .
Through the DMP, many participants gained contacts that they felt would assist them in their decisions about career avenues and would give them greater access to opportunities in the field.
DMP Mentors as post-program resources
Most students who were interviewed indicated that they felt they could rely on their mentors for advice and for some help in obtaining new opportunities, such as getting into graduate school, finding new research projects, and getting CS jobs. Many students had contacted their mentor since their participation in the mentoring program. In the following quote, a student discussed the way in which her mentor would continue to be a resource even after the program.
So I mean, I think [my mentor is] willing to stay involved in my doing research, and helping me in the future. ...I feel like I could contact her at any time. I feel like I know that she's willing to write letters of recommendation for me. And stuff like that. And I think as I get more advanced in what I'm doing and can understand what she does better, then that will give us an opportunity to get a little bit more in depth.
A few mentors and students kept in contact to organize for a presentation of a paper at a conference and/or to continue work on a research project.
Students who had been in contact with their mentors after the program indicated that their communications were not just focused on professional concerns, but that they had a social dimension of just "keeping up" with each others' lives.
Graduate students as post-program resources
Through the DMP, some students developed collegial relationships with graduate students that continued after the program. In essence, the graduate students became part of a network of resources upon which these women could draw in making decisions and attempting to go further in CS. For example, some students contacted these graduate students to discuss various issues regarding applying to graduate school or to request guidance on an industry job search:
Yeah, [my interaction with this graduate student is] both. It's mostly social, just as a friend, but I can say, "Ok, what do you think? Where should I be going?" I look to him just to give me ideas of what's out there. I think one of my biggest frustrations to an extent is that I don't know what's open or what's out there for me to do because I know there's so much, and that's why I keep hoping, to some extent, there's going to be a way to mix my various interests. And I know there will be, but I don't know it yet, so I just look to all the people that I met that summer, especially that I worked with a lot, to sort of question -- "Ok, where I'm at, what do you think I should do?" And just look for ideas.
Finding female peers in CS?
A few students indicated that through the DMP they had linked up with a female peer in CS. This was very valuable to these women, because there were so few women in the undergraduate departments. In some cases participants found their first female peer in CS.
R: I had a lot of fun with the girl who was working with me [who was also in the DMP], because there aren't a lot of girls around, in my department. So it was nice to have somebody else around to talk to ... We had our own projects. They were separate...[And] we had a lot in common.
I: Ok. So was that your first friendship with a woman in computer science?
R: Ah, yeah, really.
I: So what was that like for you?
R: We were talking about it towards the end of the semester -- or, not semester, summer. But it was just, it was really nice to be able to talk about the stuff you can't talk about to the guys, you know. Just, when you're upset about something, or having a mood swing {laugh} and I don't know. We went to lunch together all the time, and complained to each other. So, yeah, it was nice.
I: Ok. So how do you feel around the men in your department in terms of those things?
R: In terms of those things? {pause} Well, they don't understand, of course. And you know, not that I blame them for that. But -- and I get along with them fine, and I have a lot of good friends there, but, um, I don't know, it's just nice. The only really close female friends I have is my Mom, and my best friend, but she lives 70 miles away. So it was just nice to have another woman to talk to.
Participants became more committed to expanding the number of women in CS
After the DMP, some students became more involved in trying to expand the number of women in computer science. Some discussed that they had tried to encourage other women to apply for the DMP. The comments on this issue suggested that these women were interested in increasing the number of women in CS, because they wanted a more supportive network of peers.
C. Increased participants' understanding of CS careers and what was right for them.
Because the DMP was an immersive experience which allowed students to see the world of academic CS from the inside and to experience, at least for a short time, what it might be like to be a part of it, most students felt that they came away with more of a sense of what direction they might want to take after graduation. They felt that they were better able to make informed decisions about the best career choices for them. In this section we will discuss their perspectives on how the program has or may influence their career decisions.
Most of the women we interviewed indicated that the program had provided them with more information about possible career options and how to go about pursuing these options. As indicated in the Section I, many participants were unsure about what direction to take. They entered the DMP with the expectation that it would provide them with information on career options. Most felt that the program did provide useful information on this issue. The following quote is representative of what most participants felt about the DMP experience.
I: And do you think this program had affected your future career plans?
R: Yeah. Yeah, I think it has. Partly in just the experience it's given me, I think it's been really valuable, and partly in making some decisions. And having the knowledge to be able to make the decisions.
I: Ok, what sort of decisions are you making. Something beyond graduate school, or?
R: Yeah, whether to go to graduate school, career wise -- not that I've made career decisions by any means, but I think I've got a lot more under my belt now. Down the road as I need to make decisions, I think it's been valuable.
One student used her experience in the mentoring program to come to an understanding of an academic research career and took a summer job in industry to learn about industry careers.
R: I took a job like this summer because last summer I did research, so this summer I wanted to do something out in the industry, and see what the differences were.
I: Oh, that's very interesting. Ok, so you're kind of comparing for yourself. And is that, I take it that's with regard to career interests, so you're kind of seeing what, how you feel, or what
R: Yeah, I'm trying to make up my mind on what I'm doing with myself...
I: Are you using that experience -- you said you're trying to make a decision about research versus industry -- as the representation of research?
R: No, I don't think so. I'm using that as part of the representation. I mean, that's just part of it, but I know that I'm going to try to do an honors project next year.
As this is only the second year of the evaluation, and the comparison group has yet to be fully tracked in terms of rates of graduate school attendance, it is difficult to determine how much of an effect the program has had on rates of attendance to graduate school and persistence in the field of CS&CE. During the third year of the evaluation we will explore this issue more fully. See Appendix A, p. 6 for a table tracking data of DMP participants from all three program years.
1. Making informed decisions about grad school.
Most of the students indicated that the program enabled them to make decisions about whether or not to attend graduate school in CS&E. As discussed above, many of the students had little conception of what graduate school entailed before entering the program. Thus, they were hesitant to commit to attending graduate school. The DMP allowed them to have an immersion experience in graduate school and helped them to "try it on for size." For many students this resulted in making them feel more or less committed to attending graduate school. Student survey data confirms this finding.
a. Finding grad school was right for me.
According to survey data and interview responses, many participants came to feel more committed to attending graduate school through the DMP. As in the following quotes, some students indicated that through the DMP they came to feel that graduate school was "right for them."
R: [This program] greatly helped me decide what I was going to do with my life...
I: Were you considering graduate school before you started the program?
R: Yeah, I was considering it but I wasn't sure if it was for me or not. And then after I finished I decided that I definitely wanted to go...
I: Right, what made you change your mind?
R: Well it wasn't really that I changed my mind I just, I wasn't really sure what graduate school was all about or what it involved and this showed me what it was about and it showed me that it was something for me.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I: How has participating in the program changed your view of grad school?
R: I guess it's really made me sure that I want to get my master's because I was still kind of unsure.
I: How did it affect that?
R: I guess I was just kind of scared, like I didn't know what to expect. But just meeting some of the master students, that they seemed like people I could see myself being in a couple of years or next year.
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