Dealing with weak grad students

[inon]

I'm a 2nd year Assistant Professor at a R1 with a very low graduate program ranking. While some grad students are decent to good, most students that we accept into our program have low GRE's, weak personal statements, and are far behind the curve then they should be. Quite frankly, we should probably not have a PhD program at all.

My question is: how do I deal with grad students that are so obviously behind the curve? It has been shocking to me how far behind the students are. I often come across undergrads that have more potential than the graduate students. Not only this, but the faculty seem to have the mentality that advisors should do anything possible to get grad students through the program even if it is clear they will not succeed in their field (one joked to me about how funny she thinks it is that one faculty member simply writes his students' theses). How does one navigate a dynamic like this while maintaining academic integrity? I should note that I am not expecting brilliance out of these students.

[wow]

There is no way to reconcile "one faculty member simply writes his students' theses" and your desire for "maintaining academic integrity." Those two things do not exist simultaneously. The collective weakness of the grads sounds like an impossible issue to navigate structurally. This is neoliberalism in higher education (and the grade inflation it produces) goes right up the chain to Ph.D.

I think you should cull the weakest ones. As a graduate student adviser, you partially serve a "weeding out" function, We need to continue to see quality and competency as important. This point has been made by others before, but (for example) regarding the medical arts, I don't want to think sh**ty professionals were just funneled through the system.

[mtgoat]

I am in a similar boat - I teach the methods classes and have the ability to shine a bright light on students who are severely underperforming. I do my best to avoid the majority of our graduate students all together. I am able to identify the ones with potential pretty early on and steer them into my research program along with undergrads, who at my school are also often stronger. The others tend to have a tough time in my methods classes and usually self select out of working with me. I do everything I can to focus on my undergrads and avoid being the salesperson for our graduate programs. I can't stomach advising students to take on loan debt for these degrees.