The Career Development Quarterly June 2006 • Volume 54 361 © 2006 by the National Career Development Association. All rights reserved. Effective Techniques Strategies for Multicultural Student Success: What About Grad School? Emilio C. Ulloa Marisel Herrera A workshop was presented to undergraduates as a collection of ethnic minority voices, which provided students an opportunity to participate in an ethnic minority focused event that encouraged mentoring relationships and created opportunities for the sharing of advice between ethnic minority undergraduate and graduate students. The workshop’s goals and agenda and implications for counselors are described. The feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive. The authors believe that col- leges and universities, and the ethnic minority students who attend them, would benefit greatly from the formal and structured implementation of a workshop series dedicated to encouraging graduate school as a postbaccalaureate option. Whereas the number of minority students receiving baccalaureate degrees has been on the rise in recent years (National Science Board, 2002), the number of minority students entering graduate school has remained dispro- portionately small. According to Burgess (1997), barriers to minority enroll- ment in graduate school in the sciences include fewer opportunities for mi- nority undergraduates and a lack of a commitment to diversity on the part of admissions committees. Furthermore, a lack of faculty mentors from minor- ity groups is also apparent (National Science Board, 2002). This observa- tion is troubling because recent research indicates that in some instances, ethnic matching of mentors may be beneficial to minority undergraduates (e.g., Frierson, Hargrove, & Lewis, 1994). Undergraduates who are interested in graduate school are sometimes discouraged from applying to graduate school for various reasons. Underrepresented undergraduates sometimes lack the exposure to and accurate knowledge about graduate school. As a consequence, few are aware of the opportunities that exist for graduate school. The underlying mechanisms behind the aforementioned disparities are difficult to identify. However, the phenomenon may be partially explained by a lack of integration. Past research helps to identify theoretical orien- tations that are particularly relevant. Some scholars have posited that integration of an individual’s academic and social communities can keep a student from leaving college (e.g., Tinto, 1993) and that active partici- pation in communities of higher education leads to enhanced interest in and success with graduate education (e.g., Girves & Wemmerus, 1988; Herzig, 2002; Lovitts, 2001). In fact, Herzig (2004) has developed a theo- Emilio C. Ulloa, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University; Marisel Herrera, Multicultural Student Center, Arizona State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Emilio C. Ulloa, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4611 (e-mail: eulloa@sciences.sdsu.edu).