Orientation Programs for Older and Delayed-Entry Graduate Students

Abstract

The authors explore the usefulness of orientation programs for students aged 27 and older who delayed entry to graduate school and whether differences in personal importance of orientation programs, willingness to participate in them, and preferences in matters of scheduling and topics. The results indicated that several demographic variables affected the interest level in some topics, suggesting that a cafeteria-workshop style format, which would allow students to select just those sessions that were of interest to them, may be the best for this group.