What Capital Matters? How First-Generation, Latinx Students At Hispanic-Serving Institutions Apply And Transition Into Graduate School

Despite representing the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, Latinx scholars remain underrepresented in the professoriate. Although Latinx students are increasingly attending college, fewer graduate and even less continue on to pursue graduate school. Prior research has explained the challenges that first-generation college students encounter in post-secondary contexts, however this discourse is overwhelmingly focused on failure, and the research around first-generation students particularly is confusing given the various ways researchers have defined the population. Given that Latinx college students are likely to be first-generation, and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) educate 65% of all Latinx students in the nation, understanding the experiences of first-generation Latinx undergraduate students at HSIs who aspire to be professors and are applying to graduate school can help illuminate what factors help support this underrepresented group in pursuing a career in the academy. Using qualitative approaches, this study describes the experiences of first-generation undergraduate Latinx students in a grant funded academic program that provides them with a plethora of resources to help prepare them for graduate school.