Doctoral Learners Achieve Their Identity

Bake and Pifer (2011) examines the relationship in transition from dependent to independent. Doctoral learners achieve their identity by following the three stages mentioned by Baker and Pifer. Stage 1 is considered the stage where learners are testing and doing classwork in a classroom arena. Stage 2 is where the doctoral student is transitioning from the classroom to becoming independent. Stage 3 is where the doctoral learning is becoming emirgent into the complete transformation of being an independent learner. As the stages are being worked through students gain insightful relationships with faculty advisers.

Gardener (2009) conceptualizes success as enlisted help from a faculty adviser within a specific discipline. Faculty and adviser play a key role in the success and the outcomes for doctoral students in the way they encourage. Gardner explains the term success in higher education as being used to describe the outcomes and better understand how students succeed (Gardner, 2009). Having a relationship with faculty adviser and peers play an enormous part in the doctoral education. students who were without advisers felt a little lost as to what was truly expected.

Students were observed on socialization as they pursued their professional identity process. Smith & Hatmaker (2009) define professional identity as having the stability and eduring constellation of attributes, beliefs, values, experiences, in terms of which peopole identify themselves as in the professoion.

These three articles express the achievement in the identity process. It is expressed by the individuals own life experiences. Building a rapport during the doctoral education affects the academic success and the transitions to be an independent