Advising, Mentoring, and the Residency Requirement

The Residency Requirement

Nearly all doctoral programs list residency requirements. This element is a critical remnant of the origins of graduate programs hundreds of years ago. The original graduate study required spending enormous amounts of time on campus working with a professor in an apprenticeship role. The professor was the mentor that guided the graduate student into the work of a teacher and scholar. This apprenticeship was not standardized in any way when it first developed. There was no common list of courses. In fact, there were no courses. There was only residency. The early masters and doctoral students lived on the campus because that was the only way to get enough time with their mentor. In some cases, they were earning their masters or doctoral degree as a way of qualifying for teaching at university. Accordingly, the early form of residency was sometimes referred to as habilitation. This comes from the Latin word habilitare, meaning “to make suitable, to fit.” The doctoral student was being prepared to be suitable for his intended career.