Back to Data Tables
Download to excel
Newer information icon. Newer information is available.
Table 10. Female graduate students in science, engineering, and health in all institutions, by detailed field: 2007–13
Field 2007a 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
All surveyed fields 307,490 311,179 303,120 297,171 291,550 291,056 291,380
   Science and engineering 227,273 231,997 237,749 240,481 242,732 242,548 245,387
      Science 196,801 200,460 204,431 206,028 208,991 207,997 208,989
         Agricultural sciences 6,627 6,891 7,485 7,819 8,026 8,229 8,334
         Biological sciences 40,754 41,334 41,818 42,571 42,833 43,206 43,479
            Anatomy 428 383 428 432 380 353 270
            Biochemistry 2,868 2,691 2,615 2,655 2,550 2,574 2,400
            Biology 8,891 9,226 9,494 9,582 9,474 9,096 8,848
            Biometry and epidemiology 3,412 3,560 3,395 3,747 3,927 4,549 5,005
            Biophysics 417 383 377 376 366 344 328
            Botany 940 945 971 979 985 913 930
            Cell biology 3,742 3,903 3,950 3,823 3,743 3,702 3,595
            Ecology 1,139 1,126 960 1,009 958 913 787
            Entomology and parasitology 507 504 512 550 539 571 618
            Genetics 1,274 1,277 1,351 1,373 1,401 1,356 1,345
            Microbiology, immunology, and virology 3,004 2,933 2,911 2,849 2,905 2,826 2,844
            Nutrition 3,865 4,172 4,300 4,479 4,400 4,348 4,385
            Pathology 964 1,011 910 835 801 722 652
            Pharmacology 1,671 1,679 1,772 1,755 1,709 1,733 1,672
            Physiology 1,460 1,505 1,425 1,466 1,490 1,515 1,656
            Zoology 595 466 476 508 634 654 770
            Biological sciences nec 5,577 5,570 5,971 6,153 6,571 7,037 7,374
         Communication 4,647 5,381 6,029 6,353 7,041 7,168 7,265
         Computer sciences 12,017 12,545 13,053 12,807 12,607 13,223 14,688
         Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 6,650 6,621 6,815 7,200 7,175 7,386 7,196
            Atmospheric sciences 419 449 447 484 477 509 501
            Geosciences 3,040 3,042 3,195 3,493 3,461 3,679 3,674
            Oceanography 1,439 1,433 1,431 1,423 1,494 1,481 1,525
            Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences nec 1,752 1,697 1,742 1,800 1,743 1,717 1,496
         Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 2,327 2,958 3,203 3,461 3,721 3,385 3,342
         Mathematical sciences 7,678 7,751 7,979 8,127 8,360 8,618 8,744
            Mathematics and applied mathematics 5,648 5,540 5,787 5,768 5,899 6,028 6,005
            Statistics 2,030 2,211 2,192 2,359 2,461 2,590 2,739
         Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 2,560 3,234 3,809 4,493 3,431 3,067 2,871
         Neuroscience 863 1,097 1,264 1,474 2,199 2,371 2,484
         Physical sciences 12,109 12,333 12,691 12,826 13,112 13,216 13,018
            Astronomy 414 410 431 423 423 423 422
            Chemistry 8,770 8,983 9,222 9,261 9,441 9,575 9,369
            Physics 2,768 2,758 2,846 2,899 2,979 2,992 3,009
            Physical sciences nec 157 182 192 243 269 226 218
         Psychologyb 45,116 44,615 42,536 40,238 40,921 40,585 40,570
            Clinical psychology 11,269 10,589 10,205 9,455 8,210 7,792 7,693
            Psychology, general 13,036 12,581 10,867 9,992 12,533 12,338 11,378
            Psychology nec 20,811 21,445 21,464 20,791 20,178 20,455 21,499
         Social sciences 55,453 55,700 57,749 58,659 59,565 57,543 56,998
            Agricultural economics 849 914 949 927 908 888 816
            Anthropology (cultural and social) 5,169 5,314 5,337 5,490 5,357 5,287 5,260
            Economics (except agricultural) 4,699 4,815 5,120 5,214 5,544 5,560 5,417
            Geography 1,971 1,999 2,071 2,172 2,195 2,150 2,126
            History and philosophy of science 449 496 409 316 266 243 194
            Linguistics 1,876 2,002 1,940 1,888 1,940 1,974 2,143
            Political science 21,820 21,696 23,379 23,970 26,163 25,811 25,498
            Sociology 6,163 6,440 6,159 6,326 6,185 5,634 5,668
            Sociology and anthropology 455 424 371 218 204 185 157
            Social sciences nec 12,002 11,600 12,014 12,138 10,803 9,811 9,719
      Engineering 30,472 31,537 33,318 34,453 33,741 34,551 36,398
         Aerospace engineering 700 722 734 784 782 705 741
         Agricultural engineering 366 398 437 509 618 590 644
         Architecture 1,974 2,612 2,997 3,044 1,443 1,116 1,001
         Biomedical engineering 2,621 2,761 2,979 3,133 3,459 3,503 3,665
         Chemical engineering 2,266 2,409 2,616 2,722 2,850 2,937 3,023
         Civil engineering 4,736 4,765 5,301 5,571 5,589 5,805 5,881
         Electrical engineering 7,439 7,340 7,174 7,193 7,430 7,773 9,155
         Engineering science 409 471 478 438 434 452 420
         Industrial engineering 3,544 3,714 3,800 3,684 3,610 3,699 3,642
         Mechanical engineering 2,614 2,749 2,990 3,186 3,163 3,465 3,636
         Metallurgical and materials engineering 1,473 1,533 1,589 1,754 1,876 1,977 2,021
         Mining engineering 37 49 55 77 93 61 62
         Nuclear engineering 221 214 198 228 225 225 221
         Petroleum engineering 183 191 209 235 229 287 335
         Engineering nec 1,889 1,609 1,761 1,895 1,940 1,956 1,951
   Healthb 80,217 79,182 65,371 56,690 48,818 48,508 45,993
      Clinical medicine 15,350 16,347 16,445 17,857 18,788 18,838 18,795
         Anesthesiology 561 354 249 193 2 1 3
         Cardiology 29 22 20 22 27 17 14
         Endocrinology 24 47 33 31 33 31 27
         Gastroenterology 14 7 8 3 1 1 0
         Hematology 7 4 6 3 1 3 0
         Neurology 932 782 676 552 107 89 0
         Obstetrics and gynecology 57 65 69 61 72 70 55
         Oncology and cancer research 152 154 156 136 147 142 59
         Ophthalmology 273 0 0 1 0 1 0
         Otorhinolaryngology 9 9 2 2 1 1 1
         Pediatrics 249 163 141 161 86 75 0
         Preventive medicine and community health 11,468 12,818 13,452 14,865 16,741 17,084 17,407
         Psychiatry 177 152 182 207 72 87 0
         Pulmonary disease 9 6 9 8 9 5 8
         Radiology 85 85 115 124 100 105 58
         Surgery 11 11 18 29 6 7 0
         Clinical medicine nec 1,293 1,668 1,309 1,459 1,383 1,119 1,163
      Other healthb 64,867 62,835 48,926 38,833 30,030 29,670 27,198
         Dental sciences 699 679 751 744 746 802 890
         Nursing 28,910 27,746 19,462 10,932 6,505 6,666 4,439
         Pharmaceutical sciences 2,722 2,211 2,298 2,227 2,150 2,302 2,140
         Speech pathology and audiology 14,980 14,755 13,590 13,531 13,357 13,059 13,277
         Veterinary sciences 1,510 1,597 1,362 1,415 1,187 1,129 1,239
         Other health nec 16,046 15,847 11,463 9,984 6,085 5,712 5,213

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. 2007 data presented in this table are the data collected in 2007, which were labeled as "2007new" in the past publications. See appendix A in http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail on the changes made in 2007.
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 2013, as of 8 August 2014.
r.1221 20150403 (internal editing revision number, will not be published)