Back to Data Tables
Excel icon Download to excel

Table 4. Female graduate students in science, engineering, and health in all institutions, by field: 1977–2016

Year All science, engineering, and health Science and engineering Health
Total Science Engineering Total Clinical medicine Other healtha
1977 100,450 77,914 74,208 3,706 22,536 2,665 19,871
1978 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
1979 116,739 89,277 83,390 5,887 27,462 4,019 23,443
1980 124,122 94,393 88,053 6,340 29,729 4,392 25,337
1981 131,572 99,845 92,098 7,747 31,727 4,474 27,253
1982 135,993 103,569 94,792 8,777 32,424 4,539 27,885
1983 139,504 106,503 96,694 9,809 33,001 4,632 28,369
1984 142,017 107,530 97,231 10,299 34,487 4,889 29,598
1985 145,805 110,621 99,538 11,083 35,184 5,285 29,899
1986 150,787 114,375 102,002 12,373 36,412 5,180 31,232
1987 153,556 117,167 104,196 12,971 36,389 5,253 31,136
1988 159,133 121,238 108,110 13,128 37,895 5,658 32,237
1989 165,753 125,872 112,264 13,608 39,881 5,945 33,936
1990 176,441 133,722 119,043 14,679 42,719 6,282 36,437
1991 186,315 140,830 125,132 15,698 45,485 6,716 38,769
1992 199,300 150,212 132,992 17,220 49,088 7,305 41,783
1993 209,828 156,538 138,850 17,688 53,290 8,180 45,110
1994 216,044 159,111 141,061 18,050 56,933 8,668 48,265
1995 220,335 160,210 142,197 18,013 60,125 9,095 51,030
1996 222,419 161,671 143,417 18,254 60,748 8,749 51,999
1997 222,711 162,011 143,291 18,720 60,700 8,807 51,893
1998 224,608 163,427 144,439 18,988 61,181 9,721 51,460
1999 230,581 168,396 148,509 19,887 62,185 10,201 51,984
2000 231,202 170,479 149,733 20,746 60,723 9,910 50,813
2001 238,452 177,419 155,162 22,257 61,033 10,588 50,445
2002 253,345 188,617 163,650 24,967 64,728 11,775 52,953
2003 268,439 198,397 170,810 27,587 70,042 12,823 57,219
2004 277,749 201,865 174,593 27,272 75,884 13,471 62,413
2005 286,935 206,308 179,413 26,895 80,627 14,075 66,552
2006 297,825 211,106 183,162 27,944 86,719 15,533 71,186
2007oldb 299,671 218,295 188,321 29,974 81,376 16,306 65,070
2007newb 307,490 227,273 196,801 30,472 80,217 15,350 64,867
2008 311,179 231,997 200,460 31,537 79,182 16,347 62,835
2009 303,120 237,749 204,431 33,318 65,371 16,445 48,926
2010 297,171 240,481 206,028 34,453 56,690 17,857 38,833
2011 291,550 242,732 208,991 33,741 48,818 18,788 30,030
2012 291,056 242,548 207,997 34,551 48,508 18,838 29,670
2013 291,380 245,387 208,989 36,398 45,993 18,795 27,198
2014oldc 294,727 248,221 209,264 38,957 46,506 19,087 27,419
2014newc 300,745 253,493 213,803 39,690 47,252 19,125 28,127
2015 309,101 259,585 219,076 40,509 49,516 20,346 29,170
2016 309,256 261,575 220,220 41,355 47,681 19,644 28,037
NA = not available; master's-granting institutions were not surveyed in 1978, and the survey of doctorate-granting institutions did not collect data by sex.
a Beginning in 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.
b 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. See appendix A in https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
c In 2014, the survey frame was updated following a comprehensive frame evaluation study. The study identified potentially eligible but not previously surveyed academic institutions in the United States with master's- or doctorate-granting programs in science, engineering, or health. A total of 151 newly eligible institutions were added, and two private for-profit institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible.
NOTE: Data were not collected on sex before 1977.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.