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Table 6. Female, full-time 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 64,853 52,046 49,783 2,263 12,807 1,783 11,024
1978 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
1979 72,185 57,055 53,614 3,441 15,130 2,656 12,474
1980 77,557 61,316 57,461 3,855 16,241 2,806 13,435
1981 80,573 63,918 59,304 4,614 16,655 2,772 13,883
1982 81,484 65,505 60,256 5,249 15,979 2,681 13,298
1983 83,802 67,898 62,277 5,621 15,904 2,716 13,188
1984 84,848 68,589 62,540 6,049 16,259 2,839 13,420
1985 86,342 69,776 63,492 6,284 16,566 3,031 13,535
1986 89,592 72,917 65,939 6,978 16,675 2,941 13,734
1987 91,626 75,028 67,737 7,291 16,598 2,928 13,670
1988 95,572 78,277 70,654 7,623 17,295 3,233 14,062
1989 99,863 81,773 73,629 8,144 18,090 3,475 14,615
1990 106,063 86,678 77,973 8,705 19,385 3,671 15,714
1991 113,471 92,050 82,372 9,678 21,421 3,884 17,537
1992 121,737 98,686 88,025 10,661 23,051 4,376 18,675
1993 128,866 103,120 91,923 11,197 25,746 4,857 20,889
1994 134,663 106,356 94,778 11,578 28,307 5,079 23,228
1995 138,083 107,401 95,899 11,502 30,682 5,546 25,136
1996 141,420 109,350 97,523 11,827 32,070 5,426 26,644
1997 143,897 110,501 97,993 12,508 33,396 5,624 27,772
1998 146,396 111,623 98,796 12,827 34,773 6,183 28,590
1999 151,483 114,838 101,315 13,523 36,645 6,719 29,926
2000 155,022 118,572 103,720 14,852 36,450 6,509 29,941
2001 161,057 124,158 107,965 16,193 36,899 7,038 29,861
2002 172,839 133,663 115,246 18,417 39,176 8,005 31,171
2003 183,379 140,543 120,467 20,076 42,836 9,020 33,816
2004 189,743 143,708 123,889 19,819 46,035 9,443 36,592
2005 194,775 146,078 126,606 19,472 48,697 9,724 38,973
2006 202,199 150,151 129,469 20,682 52,048 10,760 41,288
2007oldb 206,848 156,096 133,929 22,167 50,752 11,240 39,512
2007newb 211,167 161,545 138,944 22,601 49,622 10,169 39,453
2008 217,162 167,106 143,480 23,626 50,056 11,500 38,556
2009 215,551 172,490 147,071 25,419 43,061 11,337 31,724
2010 213,874 175,481 148,831 26,650 38,393 12,211 26,182
2011 210,397 176,306 150,211 26,095 34,091 12,535 21,556
2012 210,809 177,533 150,802 26,731 33,276 12,166 21,110
2013 213,011 180,466 151,905 28,561 32,545 12,365 20,180
2014oldc 216,501 183,945 153,270 30,675 32,556 12,321 20,235
2014newc 219,042 185,940 154,746 31,194 33,102 12,327 20,775
2015 225,558 191,011 159,132 31,879 34,547 13,169 21,378
2016 227,957 193,877 161,197 32,680 34,080 12,895 21,185
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.