RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
An Exploration of Differences Between Undergraduate Mathematics Students’ Knowledge About Graduate School at R1 Versus Liberal Arts Institutions
Page: 396
The Carnegie Classification sorts institutions by their different styles of education. Two prominent types of institutions are high research activity universities (R1) and liberal arts focused colleges (LA). Institutional characteristics may positively (e.g. Eide et al., 1998) or negatively (e.g. Astin, 1997) affect graduate school aspirations. We analyzed responses from a national undergraduate mathematics major sample using chi-squared and Mann-Whitney U tests to identify differences between students’ knowledge about graduate school and its application process by these two types of institutions. Using this same sample, we used chi-squared tests to explore the differences between departmental (professors, advisors, and mentors) support by institution type. We interpret these results with the theories of social and cultural capital and offer suggestions for future research investigations.