"I just have to do this.": Native American student perceptions of the US college application process

Thesis

The project presented here explores how Native American students perceive the process of applying to college in the United States in the twenty-first century. Little research has been done on student perceptions of the application process in general, and even less scholarship has been dedicated to the Native American experience of applying to college. Without research in this area, universities, governments, and outside organizations remain unable to provide targeted support to ease the challenges Native American college applicants face.

The dissertation combines two theories—Markus and Nurius’ (1986) possible selves lens and Cotton et al.’s (2017) resilience framework—to create a more complex analytical theory, which allows for the findings to be analyzed in chronological cross-sections, revealing the changes and continuities of participants’ experiences and perceptions over time. Informed by the theoretical framework, the data consists of ten semi-structured interviews which asked participants to recall their memories, experiences, feelings, and stories from their college application process in three stages: before applying, while applying, and after applying.

The findings reflect the participants’ overwhelmingly challenging and isolating application experiences; nine out of ten characterized their experience as wholly negative. The most striking message in the findings was that participants viewed attending college as a necessary life step; no matter how frustrating or even impossible the application seemed, the participants persevered. As one participant put it, speaking as her high school self, “I just have to do this.”

Authors: Downing, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-g2bk8kvgm
• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Native American; college application; higher education; United States
• Subjects: Education