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- Graduate students often need flexible, low-pressure ways to stay connected
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Graduate education is demanding and isolating, especially for adult learners balancing coursework, research, employment, and family responsibilities. National data show half of doctoral students leave their programs before earning their degree. While many factors influence persistence, one study points to peer relationships for reducing isolation, increasing motivation, strengthening confidence, and helping students complete their programs.
To examine this connection, a pilot study was conducted with doctoral students at Winona State University during an academic residency. The study explored how cohort connection, belonging, and peer interaction may support persistence and degree completion. This article summarizes the findings and offers practical strategies for strengthening cohort connections while respecting adult learners’ busy lives.
What the pilot study found
This pilot study surveyed two doctoral cohorts and gathered 20 responses about cohort connection, belonging, and interaction patterns. Students most often stayed connected through texting and group messaging, followed by email, suggesting a preference for informal, accessible communication while balancing doctoral work with professional and personal responsibilities.
Connection outside of residency sessions varied. Forty percent of respondents connected with cohort members six or more times during the week, while 35 percent connected only once or twice. Despite this variation, 90 percent agreed they received peer support when needed, and most reported that cohort interactions strengthened confidence and supported academic success.
Overall, the findings suggest that cohort connection may depend less on frequency and more on whether support feels meaningful, accessible, and available when needed. Because this was a small pilot study conducted in one doctoral program during an in-person residency, the findings are exploratory rather than generalizable. Still, they offer useful insights into how doctoral programs can support belonging, confidence, and persistence.
Strategies to strengthen cohort connection
For adult learners, effective cohort-building should be intentional, flexible, accessible, and low-pressure. Rather than adding more requirements to an already full schedule, cohort connection can be woven into the learning experience in ways that make peer support easier to access and sustain.
What educators can do:
- Strengthen peer relationships by making peer interaction a regular, purposeful part of the program’s norms rather than assuming relationships will develop on their own. This can help eradicate large variations of frequency of connection as noted in the study. Small, consistent practices can help students feel seen, supported, and connected without adding unnecessary requirements.
- Begin with brief peer check-ins. For example, instructors can invite students to respond to brief prompts such as, “What is one goal you have for residency this week?”. Students may share aloud, write a response on a sticky note, or post in a digital space, allowing connection without lengthy discussion.
- Create low-pressure accountability opportunities. Offer optional writing sessions, research or study groups, or goal-setting check-ins during demanding points in the program. For example, students might use the time to map out their most pressing educational goals. This supports student confidence, encouraging both new and returning students to participate.
- Normalize help-seeking and peer support. Faculty could invite students to bring “sticking points” to a small group discussion. For example, “sticking points” could be uncertainty about APA formatting, survey wording, or theoretical framework alignment. Peers can offer suggestions, examples, or encouragement.
- Establish optional communication spaces. Program directors can help each doctoral cohort create or encourage cohort-based channels such as Teams, GroupMe, or email groups where students can connect informally before residency begins. The space can be used for informal questions, reminders, resource sharing, dinner plans, or quick encouragement throughout the doctoral program.
- Support cross-cohort mentoring. For example, during residency, pair first-year doctoral students with more advanced students for an informal mentoring conversation. Discussion prompts might include, “What do you wish you had known during your first residency?” or “What helped you stay organized during dissertation work?” This allows new students to receive practical guidance from peers who have recently navigated similar milestones.
- Reduce logistical barriers. Offer asynchronous options, virtual discussion groups, regional meetups, and flexible participation opportunities for students with competing responsibilities.
- Create a culture of belonging. Ensure that the learning atmosphere is supportive and safe for students of all backgrounds, needs, and cultures. For example: Offering accommodations for students with specific accessibility needs, utilizing inclusive language, and formatting presentations and materials to be easily accessible to all students.
What students can do: Stay connected in small ways
Students also contribute to the strength of their learning community. Connection does not require frequent or time-intensive interaction; small, consistent gestures can help peers feel supported and reduce isolation throughout the program.
- Check in with classmates or study buddies. Use a cohort chat to ask questions, share reminders, post resources, or celebrate progress. For example: Students can send a brief message to a classmate such as “Thinking of you today. You’re ready for this,” or “Do you want to do a quick goal check before tomorrow’s writing block?”. These small gestures can help classmates feel seen and supported.
- Share useful resources. Post articles, templates, writing tools, or examples that may help others move forward. For example, students may share tools that helped them move forward in their doctoral work, such as an article on methodology or a dissertation organization template. During residency, these resources could be placed in a shared digital folder for the cohort.
- Form accountability partnerships. Pair with a peer or small group to discuss goals, deadlines, motivation, and progress. For example, two or three students can agree to check in during residency and continue after residency with brief weekly or monthly updates. Each person might share their current goals and barriers, keeping each other supported, accountable, and motivated.
- Engage in low-pressure ways. For example: reacting to a peer update, answering a question, or joining an optional virtual coffee chat when time allows. This reinforces the idea that meaningful cohort connection does not require constant participation.
- Celebrate one another’s wins. Recognize milestones and encourage classmates through the challenging parts of doctoral work. Students can celebrate wins in the cohort group chat or text message group. A short message such as “Congratulations on your topic approval” or “Great job presenting today” can help motivate and reinforce belonging during demanding stages of doctoral work.
The bottom line
Effective cohorts are built through intentional, flexible, and accessible opportunities for peer support. For educators and program leaders, the goal is not to add more required meetings or activities, but to create structures that make connections easier. For students, the goal is to engage in small but meaningful ways that help peers feel supported. When programs make connections visible, optional, and easy to access, cohorts can become an important source of motivation, encouragement, and persistence.
Kate Glogowski, Ed. D candidate, Speech-Language Pathologist, Workforce Simulation Director, and a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she supports workforce simulation-based education with clinical and community partners. She is a doctoral candidate at Winona State University, where her research focuses on simulation-based education and healthcare workforce development.
Tinotenda Mupambo, M.S. CCC-SLP, is a Clinical Instructor and Speech-Language Pathologist at Minnesota State University, Mankato in the Master’s of Speech-Language Pathology program where she supervises and teaches graduate students in the on-campus speech therapy clinic. She is also a doctoral student in the Doctor of Education program at Winona State University.
Stacy Schilling, M.S. Communication Studied & Journalism, is a Communication Studies Professor at Winona State University in Winona, MN, specializing in effective communication and public speaking. She is also a doctoral candidate at Winona State University, where her research focuses on relationship rich education and academic self-efficacy among first-generation college students.
Jody Shong, M.S. is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin, specializing in early childhood special education. She is also a doctoral candidate at Winona State University. Her research focuses on preparing the next generation of early childhood special education teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to build meaningful relationships with students and families and promote academic growth.
Kari Sween, M.S. Ed., SLPI: Superior Plus, is an American Sign Language Assistant Professor and Coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she leads the ASL certificate program, including ASL Levels 1–4, Conversational ASL, and Deaf Studies courses. She is a doctoral student in the Doctor of Education program at Winona State University, where her research explores communication access and barriers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients in healthcare settings
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