Notes

After overcoming multiple barriers to meet and exceed college entrance requirements, Chicana/o students often find that their college classmates and professors believe they do not really “deserve” to attend a four year university. As they learn to negotiate an often-hostile campus racial climate, Chicana/os tend to experience higher levels of stress than White undergraduate students. Balancing school work with offcampus employment limits the students’ time to speak with professors during office hours, ask an academic counselor for guidance, or participate in academic enrichment, tutoring, or research programs. Those students who still seek out mentors or role models to help guide their college journey rarely have opportunities to interact with Faculty of Color generally and Chicana/o faculty in particular (see Delgado Bernal, 2002; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005). Educat ion al Isolation and Alienation in Graduate School Chicana/o students often describe graduate school as a place where they feel invisible—like outsiders or imposters. Most graduate programs tend to be racially exclusive, featuring predominately White students, faculty, and curricula that omit Chicana/o histories and perspectives. Within this isolating context, Chicana/os regularly experience racial and gender microaggressions, lowered academic expectations from faculty, and pressure to be the spokesperson for all Chicana/os or all People of Color. Such experiences cause many Chicana/os to doubt their academic abilities, question the value of their scholarly contributions, and reconsider their decision to pursue a graduate degree (see Cuádraz, 1997; Gándara, 1995; Solórzano, 1998).