Abstract
Professional healthcare programs in occupational therapy, pharmacy, and physicaltherapy face workforce shortages alongside declining or stagnant application trends to
their clinical doctoral programs. Early-entry (accelerated) pathways offer potential
advantages by reducing time and cost to degree completion; however, less is known
about how these pathways influence first-generation college students, who may have
limited access to the cultural and social capital needed to navigate such opportunities.
This Dissertation in Practice examines the role of early-entry pathways in shaping access
to and progression through graduate healthcare education for first-generation students.
The purpose of this study is to explore how these pathways influence student awareness,
application behaviors, and persistence in clinical doctoral programs in occupational
therapy, pharmacy, and physical therapy. The project is informed by literature on
educational attainment, generational status, and barriers to higher education, with
particular attention to disparities in representation within healthcare professions. A
quantitative research design is used to examine relationships between generational status
and student progression while accounting for academic, demographic, and socioeconomic
variables. The DIP has three components: a proposal grounded in relevant literature, a
quantitative analysis of student progression within early-entry and traditional pathways,
and a practitioner-focused plan informed by the study design. The document concludes
with a reflection and the development of a leadership philosophy.