The Atlantic: The Disciplines Where No Black People Earn Ph.D.s

The Atlantic published a piece about the obstacles in enrolling in doctoral programs in the U.S. The more prestigious Ph.D. programs have more funding, resources, and greater likelihood placing graduates into tenure-track faculty positions. But black doctoral students are few in number. The reason why students from underrepresented backgrounds--black applicants in particular--face obstacles in Ph.D. admission has to do with having the right research topic to having the right social connections.

Before experience becomes a material issue, though, a student must first get into a doctoral program, which can be a chore all its own. It is typically up to departmental faculty to decide who does and who does not get into a Ph.D. program, and “there can be a lot of politics in play that keep black students from being admitted,” Commodore told me. There could be a lack of enthusiasm about an applicant’s topic or research interest, or some students might not come with the same social capital—recommendations from noted or well-connected faculty in the field—that others might.

Once they are admitted into a Ph.D. program, black students are more likely to borrow to finance their graduate education:

Then, after they are admitted, there is the question of cost. Black college students borrow at higher rates than any other racial group, and they are more likely to default on those student loans. “Imagine coming out of school with a bachelor’s degree, with such a debt burden,” Lorelle Espinosa, vice president for research at the American Council on Education (ACE), told me. “Students are thinking, I don’t have a safety net for this debt. Am I really up for going for an advanced degree where I’ll find myself in even more debt?”

In 2017, there were more than a dozen fields in which not a single doctoral degree was awarded to a black person anywhere in the United States. If Ph.D. programs are not admitting black applicants and those who are lucky to attend must borrow to survive, this trend could have repercussions for the future of black faculty in higher education. When minority students are demanding higher education institutions to hire more faculty who share similar cultural experiences, Ph.D. programs are not admitting enough black applicants. This is a lost opportunity for research on issues that could inform and improve the well-being of black communities.