Back to Data Tables
Download to excel

NCSES GSS 2012 DST 17 SAS Output Newer information icon. Newer information is available.
Table 17. Graduate students in science, engineering, and health in public doctorate-granting institutions, by detailed field: 2006–12

Field 2006 2007olda 2007newa 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
All surveyed fields 372,074 379,576 387,725 396,733 399,013 402,741 399,959 400,950
   Science and engineering 306,122 314,948 324,148 333,478 345,236 353,439 356,869 357,583
      Science 222,064 225,512 233,884 238,463 245,153 250,472 255,327 255,417
         Agricultural sciences 11,561 11,721 12,016 12,521 13,224 13,793 14,172 14,379
         Biological sciences 45,934 46,790 46,594 46,699 46,533 47,208 47,606 48,727
            Anatomy 607 638 510 456 528 519 427 442
            Biochemistry 3,982 4,130 4,075 3,659 3,634 3,660 3,508 3,484
            Biology 10,027 9,669 9,464 10,001 10,008 9,976 9,691 9,590
            Biometry and epidemiology 2,881 3,105 3,260 3,357 3,134 3,684 4,478 4,940
            Biophysics 772 766 745 676 641 645 611 592
            Botany 1,773 1,812 1,742 1,726 1,753 1,789 1,814 1,742
            Cell biology 4,149 4,285 4,396 4,581 4,522 4,437 4,064 3,968
            Ecology 1,810 1,789 1,645 1,649 1,383 1,444 1,338 1,398
            Entomology and parasitology 1,079 1,043 1,043 1,047 1,047 1,084 1,089 1,118
            Genetics 1,286 1,285 1,228 1,233 1,247 1,343 1,441 1,413
            Microbiology, immunology, and virology 3,336 3,309 3,273 3,195 3,140 3,056 3,121 3,069
            Nutrition 3,653 3,817 3,457 3,579 3,603 3,652 3,457 3,453
            Pathology 1,006 955 867 859 824 830 780 764
            Pharmacology 1,923 1,978 2,010 1,982 2,058 1,965 1,953 2,002
            Physiology 1,358 1,396 1,691 1,774 1,854 1,942 2,008 1,988
            Zoology 1,138 1,078 1,102 919 869 889 1,053 1,076
            Biological sciences nec 5,154 5,735 6,086 6,006 6,288 6,293 6,773 7,688
         Communicationa ne ne 5,094 5,675 6,319 6,359 6,757 6,756
         Computer sciences 26,903 27,407 27,026 27,698 29,133 29,838 30,338 30,299
         Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 11,656 11,509 11,051 11,218 11,489 12,239 12,183 12,234
            Atmospheric sciences 1,039 1,059 1,120 1,328 1,287 1,378 1,428 1,471
            Geosciences 5,627 5,648 5,586 5,580 5,960 6,523 6,560 6,723
            Oceanography 2,196 2,104 2,056 2,028 2,033 1,914 1,986 1,834
            Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences nec 2,794 2,698 2,289 2,282 2,209 2,424 2,209 2,206
         Family and consumer sciences and human sciencesa ne ne 2,291 2,645 2,675 3,138 3,506 3,316
         Mathematical sciences 14,594 15,006 14,883 15,288 15,957 16,523 16,927 17,144
            Mathematics and applied mathematics 11,457 11,632 11,521 11,553 12,275 12,516 12,828 12,904
            Statistics 3,137 3,374 3,362 3,735 3,682 4,007 4,099 4,240
         Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studiesa ne ne 2,944 3,586 4,115 5,045 4,629 4,131
         Neurosciencea na na 1,007 1,168 1,308 1,673 2,276 2,476
         Physical sciences 26,520 26,502 26,234 26,566 27,342 27,770 28,298 28,693
            Astronomy 679 698 697 704 821 707 695 746
            Chemistry 15,394 15,263 15,137 15,373 15,872 16,025 16,302 16,731
            Physics 9,963 10,030 10,016 10,085 10,295 10,661 10,866 10,867
            Physical sciences nec 484 511 384 404 354 377 435 349
         Psychologyb 22,204 23,759 23,220 23,681 22,917 22,228 23,325 23,784
            Clinical psychology 3,006 3,075 3,084 3,001 3,174 3,284 3,373 3,131
            Psychology, general 8,752 8,671 8,608 8,909 8,185 7,476 7,749 8,025
            Psychology nec 10,446 12,013 11,528 11,771 11,558 11,468 12,203 12,628
         Social sciences 62,692 62,818 61,524 61,718 64,141 64,658 65,310 63,478
            Agricultural economics 2,081 2,047 1,910 2,045 2,130 2,083 2,013 1,939
            Anthropology (cultural and social) 5,800 5,711 5,741 5,848 5,913 6,039 5,998 5,865
            Economics (except agricultural) 7,834 7,814 7,956 8,132 8,783 8,900 9,173 8,975
            Geography 3,921 3,771 3,771 3,807 3,848 4,022 4,109 3,936
            History and philosophy of science 515 677 663 733 706 407 324 312
            Linguistics 2,203 2,159 2,079 2,207 2,260 2,214 2,325 2,342
            Political science 20,686 20,963 20,663 20,444 21,582 22,370 23,851 23,533
            Sociology 6,186 6,239 6,213 6,643 6,559 6,726 6,660 6,387
            Sociology and anthropology 711 728 579 542 467 231 202 173
            Social sciences nec 12,755 12,709 11,949 11,317 11,893 11,666 10,655 10,016
      Engineering 84,058 89,436 90,264 95,015 100,083 102,967 101,542 102,166
         Aerospace engineering 3,154 3,275 3,275 3,533 3,929 4,163 4,251 4,069
         Agricultural engineering 1,011 1,059 1,059 1,173 1,230 1,277 1,406 1,301
         Architecturea na na 3,610 4,597 5,362 5,389 2,465 1,892
         Biomedical engineering 3,984 4,308 4,308 4,783 4,873 5,152 5,468 5,570
         Chemical engineering 5,052 5,104 5,248 5,458 5,717 5,914 5,953 6,022
         Civil engineeringa 13,783 15,204 12,349 12,974 14,233 14,820 14,849 14,912
         Electrical engineering 25,047 26,639 26,833 27,218 27,594 27,495 28,229 28,435
         Engineering science 1,088 1,115 1,059 1,255 1,361 1,297 1,354 1,442
         Industrial engineering 8,270 9,023 8,714 9,491 9,137 8,547 8,434 8,745
         Mechanical engineering 12,686 12,814 12,795 13,321 14,502 15,632 15,331 15,593
         Metallurgical and materials engineering 4,010 4,078 4,027 4,144 4,389 4,680 4,996 5,141
         Mining engineering 238 296 211 283 302 408 498 355
         Nuclear engineering 992 1,086 1,058 1,065 1,110 1,315 1,352 1,374
         Petroleum engineering 696 887 887 854 1,009 1,105 1,127 1,351
         Engineering nec 4,047 4,548 4,831 4,866 5,335 5,773 5,829 5,964
   Healthb 65,952 64,628 63,577 63,255 53,777 49,302 43,090 43,367
      Clinical medicine 12,447 14,240 13,275 14,232 14,385 15,472 15,807 16,184
         Anesthesiology 547 388 388 157 104 11 3 3
         Cardiology 3 0 0 25 24 29 31 34
         Endocrinology 42 40 40 44 50 52 55 52
         Gastroenterology 18 19 19 7 13 2 5 2
         Hematology 14 8 8 5 8 5 1 5
         Neurologya 1,548 1,856 814 671 637 454 87 65
         Obstetrics and gynecology 16 14 14 5 8 11 9 81
         Oncology and cancer research 179 202 171 124 149 127 150 153
         Ophthalmology 406 407 379 1 1 5 2 2
         Otorhinolaryngology 12 12 12 14 4 1 2 2
         Pediatrics 211 231 231 147 114 119 124 125
         Preventive medicine and community health 7,531 8,738 9,115 10,389 10,872 12,078 13,366 14,090
         Psychiatry 236 233 173 133 165 177 19 24
         Pulmonary disease 9 10 10 12 13 12 14 12
         Radiology 198 253 264 273 306 284 242 249
         Surgery 99 40 24 18 28 48 17 27
         Clinical medicine nec 1,378 1,789 1,613 2,207 1,889 2,057 1,680 1,258
      Other healthb 53,505 50,388 50,302 49,023 39,392 33,830 27,283 27,183
         Dental sciences 1,311 1,190 1,298 1,333 1,303 1,216 1,425 1,309
         Nursing 22,280 20,303 20,303 18,975 11,690 7,540 5,138 5,502
         Pharmaceutical sciences 4,257 3,493 3,589 3,211 3,483 3,435 3,371 3,394
         Speech pathology and audiology 8,769 9,601 9,593 9,543 9,624 9,470 8,618 8,362
         Veterinary sciences 1,951 1,872 2,124 2,244 1,981 1,997 1,757 1,659
         Other health nec 14,937 13,929 13,395 13,717 11,311 10,172 6,974 6,957

na = not applicable; data were not collected at this level of detail. ne = not eligible; data were not collected for this field prior to 2007.
nec = not elsewhere classified.
a In 2007, eligible fields were reclassified, newly eligible fields were added, and the survey was redesigned to improve coverage and coding of eligible units. “2007new” presents data as collected in 2007; “2007old” shows data as they would have been collected in prior years. The science fields Communication and Family and consumer sciences and human sciences were newly eligible in 2007; data for these two fields begin in 2007new. The science field Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies was also added to the code list in 2007; some data reported in this field were reported under other fields before 2007 and are included in those fields in 2007old. Neuroscience is reported as a separate field of science in 2007new; data were reported under health field Neurology in 2007old and previous years. Architecture is reported as a separate field of engineering in 2007new; data were reported under Civil engineering in 2007old and previous years. See appendix A in http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
b Beginning with 2008, more rigorous follow-up was done with institutions regarding the exclusion of practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs in Psychology and in Other health (a subfield of health). This change may affect interpretation of trends in these fields.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.
Data from survey cycle Fall 2012, as of December 2013.