The troubling secret in higher education is that approximately 50% of doctoral students drop out before graduating. It doesn't have to be. Sarah Church became fascinated by the Mock Orals program at St. John's University in New York, which produced a startlingly higher completion rate. From 1991 to 2006, 87.5% of matriculated students graduated. Dr. Church's fascination grew into a study, reported, here, of the components of the program and the reasons for its positive effects on student completion rates. Academic, social, and professional integration for the students at all stages of the...