| The low rate of Latino graduate and professional degree attainment is a problem for the Latinos who are not attaining high levels of education, for their families, for the institutions of higher education that suffer from a lack of diversity, and for the local, state, and federal governments that lose tax revenue from the potentially higher income levels earned by advanced degree graduates. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the professional school aspirations of Latino community college transfer students at the University of California, Irvine who are first generation college students. This study investigated the influence of both community college and university experiences on the participants' advanced study goals and explored the interconnections between the participants' advanced study aspirations and their career development. To empower students of color and acknowledge their sources of cultural wealth, this study gave Latino community college transfer students who are first in their families to attend college an opportunity to tell their counterstories about their aspirations to pursue advanced study. Through semistructured, individual interviews with a sample of six Latina students, the following five theme emerged: (a) the importance of family, (b) required success: responsibility, pressure, and burden, (c) turning adversity into strength, (d) the role of mentors and peers, (e) career choice and advanced study decisions. The dissertation includes recommendations for policy, practice, and future research related to the findings. |
