Graduate Students' Perceptions of Outstanding Graduate Advisor Characteristics

The advising literature confirms the graduate student–graduate advisor relationship as the most important factor in graduate student success. To better understand the characteristics of graduate advisors that students find most helpful, we conducted a grounded theory study with a constructivist design that involved a qualitative textual analysis of Outstanding Graduate Advisor of the Year Award nominations from MD-PhD students enrolled in the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Five major themes emerged from this analysis, and the results indicate that students perceive the following graduate-advisor characteristics to be most helpful: demonstrated care for students, accessibility, role models in professional and personal matters, individually tailored guidance, and proactive integration of students into the profession. Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory