ABSTRACT
Certain general aspects of life in institutions of higher learning take on special prominence in graduate school. There are some ways in which men and women face different issues in graduate school. The woman is expected to arrange for child care and for job adaptations such as time off while her children are young. When a woman decides to postpone having a child until completing graduate study that takes her into her late thirties, fertility problems may arise. Many women in their twenties and thirties feel that they do not want children, but later change their minds. Women also frequently worry about the risks of childbearing at an advanced age and this concern influences how many children they want or will have. Inevitably, these issues interact with their career ambitions. Competition in graduate programs often forces students to confront the stereotypes of what is considered masculine and what is considered feminine in a given field of study.
