Preparation for the scholar’s role: first-year doctoral students in Tsinghua University

Doctoral education programs, being the cradle of the next-generation scientists and scholars, undertake the mission of transforming a talented student into a promising scholar. This transformation is featured by two simultaneous processes: academic professionalization and scholarly socialization. Institutional environment, academic advisors, and more importantly the interaction between these factors and individual students play the key roles in the transformation. Using data from a longitudinal survey of Cohort 2014 doctoral students in Tsinghua University, this study explores students’ experience during the first year in a doctoral program—a crucial stage of the transformation, with a focus on their preparation for and initial adaption to the role of a scholar. Implications for doctoral students, academic advisors, and institutions are discussed based on the findings.