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Programs of Study
Programs of Study

Graduate education at the University of Michigan is a shared enterprise. Rackham Graduate School works together with faculty in the schools and colleges of the university to provide more than 180 graduate degree programs and to sustain a dynamic intellectual climate within which graduate students thrive.
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Admissions

Rackham Graduate School and individual graduate programs work as a team to manage the application review process. As an applicant, you will be interacting with both Rackham and your program office.
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Funding

The University of Michigan provides many sources of financial assistance to help students meet educational and living expenses. Whether you are a prospective student, a current student, a master’s or doctoral student, we want to make sure you know about the funding available for your graduate education.
Navigating Your Degree
Navigating Your Degree

From your first registration through the final stages of the degree process, we’re here to help every step of the way.
Professional Development
Professional Development

Rackham offers opportunities, funding, and resources that prepare graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to access the wide range of careers available to them, and to pursue interdisciplinary learning and community building related to professional interests.
Student Experience
Student Experience

Resources to support the diverse backgrounds and experiences that compose our Rackham community.
About
About

Students are enrolled in Rackham degree programs (doctoral, master’s, dual degree, and certificate) taught and advised by faculty in graduate programs in nearly every school and college across the Ann Arbor campus. Rackham graduate programs are also located on the Dearborn and Flint campuses, where they are administered separately.

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Michigan Doctoral Experience Study (MDES)
Findings and Insights
Hostile Advisors: Prevalence, Forms, and Consequences of Abusive Supervision in Doctoral Education

Hostile Advisors: Prevalence, Forms, and Consequences of Abusive Supervision in Doctoral Education

April 2025 | American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
Yiran Chen, Yiping Bai, Heeyun Kim, John Gonzalez

This study investigates the prevalence, forms, and consequences of abusive supervision in doctoral education. We conceptualize abusive supervision as doctoral students’ perceptions of sustained hostile behaviors from advisors. We analyzed survey data from 2,101 doctoral students at a major research university, finding that 5.8 to 12.4 percent of them experienced abusive supervision, depending on classification criteria. Among demographic factors, gender emerged as the sole significant predictor, with women more likely to be classified in this category. While abusive supervision is initially associated with adverse student outcomes, these relationships dissipated after controlling for mentoring support, suggesting that insufficient mentoring—rather than overt hostility—drives detrimental student outcomes. However, caution is warranted as sample limitations like survivorship bias and selective participation may lead to underestimation of abusive supervision’s prevalence and impact.