This guide designed to be particularly useful to minority graduate students, outlines the process one must master in order to earn a doctoral degree. Through a step-by-step approach, it divides the doctoral degree process into four phases from entry to graduate school to completion of the doctoral requirements. It provides guides and checklists for monitoring one's progress through each phase of the process. Action steps and milestones are highlighted for each phase along the way. The first section, on getting off to a good start in graduate school, includes tips for dealing with department faculty and some of the basic terminology unique to graduate education, including a glossary of acronyms. A section on financing graduate education describes forms of graduate assistance, national fellowship programs, and includes a financial planning worksheet. A section on program planning explores course selection, selecting the major professor, and a doctoral process milestone checklist. The dissertation process is addressed in a section that covers the research topic area, the "doldrums' period, the dissertation itself, and microfilming and filing copies with various departments. A final section talks about making the system work for the student with tips on tapping one's full potential, and a "Ten Commandments" for completing a doctoral degree. (JB)