Graduate Student Survey

Technical Notes and Data Summaries

Data Summary

• In fall 1994 506,626 graduate students were enrolled in master's and doctoral programs in the science, engineering, and health fields. This total represents a 0.3 percent increase from the fall 1993 figure. There was a 2.6 percent decrease in the engineering fields, a 0.9 percent decrease in the science fields, and a 7.2 percent increase in health fields.

• Of all science fields, agricultural sciences and biological sciences had the largest increases (3 percent). Computer science showed a drop of almost 6 percent when compared to 1993. The social sciences continued to be the most popular field in the sciences, with 89,653 graduate students or more than one-fourth of the total. Nearly 30 percent of the engineering graduate students, 33,715, were enrolled in electrical engineering.

• Graduate students enrolled full-time numbered 331,969 and accounted for 66 percent of the total. The number of graduate students enrolled full-time increased 0.6 percent from 1993 to 1994 compared to a 0.2 percent decrease for those enrolled part-time.

• The number of women enrolled in graduate S&E programs continued to rise, reaching 43 percent of the total. Women increased by 3 percent, whereas men decreased 1.6 percent. Women continued to make up the majority of those enrolled in psychology and the health fields but accounted for only 15.9 percent of engineering graduate students.

• Foreign students, at almost 21 percent of the total, increased by less than 1 percent, probably due to a change in the definition of foreign students. Foreign students were most heavily concentrated in the physical sciences and in engineering, making up 34 percent and 33 percent of the total, respectively. Foreign students also made up almost one-third of all graduate students in the mathematical sciences and computer sciences.

• At almost 39 percent of the full-time total, academic institutions remained the major source of support for full-time graduate students. Self-supported students (including those supported by loans, family money, or personal savings) made up a little more than 32 percent of the full-time total. The Federal Government supported slightly more than 20 percent.

• Enrollment in doctorate-granting institutions, at 441,480, represented 87 percent of all graduate students. This percentage has varied only slightly since 1975. Although master's-granting institutions accounted for more than one-eighth of all graduate students reported, the total number of students did not change between 1993 and 1994, whereas there was a 3.8-percent growth in enrollment at doctorate-granting institutions.