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Table 1-9a. Graduate students in science broad fields: 1975–2017

Year Total Agricultural sciencesa Biological and biomedical sciencesa Communicationa,b Computer and information sciences Family and consumer sciences and human sciencesa,b Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences Mathematics and statistics Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studiesa,c Natural resources and conservationa Neurobiology and neurosciencea,c Physical sciencesa Psychologyd Social sciencesa
1975 234,649 10,804 46,185 ne 8,415 ne 12,079 16,892 ne NA NA 26,310 36,191 77,773
1976 238,675 11,427 47,453 ne 8,627 ne 12,809 17,071 ne NA NA 26,641 37,458 77,189
1977 242,932 11,812 48,975 ne 9,108 ne 13,446 16,052 ne NA NA 26,864 38,617 78,058
1978e 236,465 11,981 47,665 ne 9,847 ne 13,268 14,812 ne NA NA 26,282 37,522 75,088
1979 247,235 12,365 47,932 ne 11,690 ne 13,731 15,031 ne NA NA 26,701 39,766 80,019
1980 251,265 12,689 47,261 ne 13,578 ne 14,051 15,311 ne NA NA 26,934 40,610 80,831
1981 252,404 12,585 46,302 ne 16,437 ne 14,263 15,881 ne NA NA 27,360 40,666 78,910
1982 255,146 12,826 45,627 ne 19,812 ne 15,018 17,157 ne NA NA 28,188 40,073 76,445
1983 255,820 12,728 45,253 ne 23,333 ne 15,443 17,358 ne NA NA 29,463 40,905 71,337
1984 256,903 12,528 45,353 ne 25,526 ne 15,500 17,443 ne NA NA 30,061 40,931 69,561
1985 261,973 11,846 45,709 ne 29,769 ne 15,414 17,563 ne NA NA 30,987 40,721 69,964
1986 266,077 11,771 46,302 ne 31,349 ne 15,053 17,949 ne NA NA 32,259 41,241 70,153
1987 269,256 11,405 46,317 ne 32,051 ne 14,357 18,508 ne NA NA 32,741 42,612 71,265
1988 272,309 11,438 47,126 ne 32,227 ne 13,854 19,077 ne NA NA 32,975 43,963 71,649
1989 278,577 11,461 48,449 ne 32,482 ne 13,630 19,247 ne NA NA 33,629 45,528 74,151
1990 289,383 11,563 49,602 ne 34,257 ne 13,977 19,774 ne NA NA 34,082 48,167 77,961
1991 299,057 11,766 51,365 ne 34,681 ne 14,466 19,952 ne NA NA 34,724 51,343 80,760
1992 312,478 12,153 53,693 ne 36,325 ne 15,324 20,355 ne NA NA 35,357 53,484 85,787
1993 318,851 12,305 55,950 ne 36,213 ne 15,721 20,000 ne NA NA 35,328 54,557 88,777
1994 318,118 12,611 57,676 ne 34,158 ne 15,957 19,573 ne NA NA 34,466 54,554 89,123
1995 315,265 12,768 58,344 ne 33,458 ne 15,716 18,504 ne NA NA 33,399 53,641 89,435
1996 311,957 12,301 57,749 ne 34,626 ne 15,183 18,008 ne NA NA 32,333 53,122 88,635
1997 306,482 12,203 56,705 ne 35,991 ne 14,548 16,719 ne NA NA 31,105 53,126 86,085
1998 304,818 12,168 56,695 ne 38,027 ne 14,258 16,485 ne NA NA 30,575 52,557 84,053
1999 309,491 12,312 56,959 ne 42,478 ne 14,083 16,257 ne NA NA 30,691 51,727 84,984
2000 309,424 12,023 56,282 ne 47,350 ne 13,941 15,650 ne NA NA 30,385 50,466 83,327
2001 319,736 12,235 57,639 ne 52,196 ne 13,841 16,651 ne NA NA 31,038 50,454 85,682
2002 335,166 12,698 61,088 ne 55,269 ne 14,240 18,163 ne NA NA 32,341 51,152 90,215
2003 347,268 13,197 64,701 ne 53,696 ne 14,620 19,465 ne NA NA 34,298 52,162 95,129
2004 352,307 13,445 66,565 ne 50,016 ne 15,131 19,931 ne NA NA 35,761 54,126 97,332
2005 357,710 13,123 68,479 ne 47,978 ne 14,836 20,210 ne NA NA 36,375 57,282 99,427
2006 363,246 13,016 69,941 ne 47,653 ne 14,920 20,815 ne NA NA 36,901 57,653 102,347
2007oldc 372,120 13,222 71,663 ne 48,959 ne 14,675 21,335 ne NA NA 37,111 60,284 104,871
2007newc 384,523 13,528 71,932 7,303 48,246 2,780 14,100 20,975 4,484 NA 1,584 36,824 59,617 103,150
2008 391,419 14,153 72,666 8,444 49,553 3,549 14,389 21,400 5,559 NA 2,012 37,319 58,991 103,384
2009 401,008 15,200 73,304 9,418 51,161 3,794 14,839 22,226 6,557 NA 2,356 38,149 56,184 107,820
2010 407,291 15,656 74,928 9,825 51,546 4,191 15,655 23,136 7,944 NA 2,798 38,973 53,419 109,220
2011 414,440 16,129 75,423 11,029 51,234 4,509 15,820 23,801 6,537 NA 4,117 39,694 54,486 111,661
2012 413,033 16,234 76,447 11,010 51,789 4,110 16,069 24,575 6,038 NA 4,547 39,928 54,117 108,169
2013 417,251 16,429 76,649 11,114 56,339 4,014 15,816 24,804 5,892 NA 4,795 40,019 54,102 107,278
2014oldf 425,148 16,947 76,029 11,382 68,766 4,180 15,423 25,502 6,417 NA 4,923 40,196 50,938 104,445
2014newf 437,395 17,505 78,490 11,942 76,546 4,302 15,710 25,874 7,196 NA 4,923 40,332 48,833 105,742
2015 448,654 18,610 80,096 11,759 86,192 4,134 15,447 26,444 8,138 NA 5,002 40,386 49,740 102,706
2016 452,046 18,284 79,146 12,347 92,650 3,750 15,015 28,050 9,251 NA 5,226 40,518 47,609 100,200
2017olda 450,343 17,674 82,603 11,983 90,657 3,709 14,430 28,990 9,934 NA 5,457 41,081 49,896 93,929
2017newa 415,568 9,347 85,217 ne 89,909 ne 12,545 29,669 9,854 10,879 NA 41,829 50,033 76,286
Master's students
2017newa 229,169 5,603 33,926 ne 75,618 ne 6,006 16,568 6,923 7,311 NA 6,368 29,638 41,208
Doctoral students
2017newa 186,399 3,744 51,291 ne 14,291 ne 6,539 13,101 2,931 3,568 NA 35,461 20,395 35,078
NA = not available; these fields were collected as part of other fields in other years (see footnotes a and c). ne = not eligible; the fields collected have changed over time.
a As part of 2017 GSS redesign, the GSS taxonomy was changed to align with the NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines (TOD), thus increasing comparability with other NCSES surveys. As a result, some eligible fields were reclassified and a small number of fields became fully or partially ineligible. Comparisons to prior years should use the 2017old estimates and should be limited to broad areas of study—detailed field comparisons are not recommended. Redesign includes the following: natural resources splitting from agricultural sciences; neurosciences being reported under biological and biomedical sciences; physical sciences adding materials sciences; social sciences no longer including public administration; and multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies no longer including nanoscience.
b The field communications and the field family and consumer sciences and human sciences were added as part of the 2007 field eligibility changes. These fields were dropped in 2017 to align the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) with other National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics surveys.
c 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 field communication and the science field 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 GSS 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. See appendix A in https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
d Beginning in 2008, more rigorous follow-up was done with institutions regarding the exclusion of practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs in psychology. This change may affect interpretation of trends in this field. This follow-up was discontinued in 2017.
e Master's-granting institutions were not surveyed in 1978; totals represent estimates based on 1977 and 1979 data.
f 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. For more information, see https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsf16314.
NOTES: Sum of the broad fields may not add to total because of rounding. Master's and doctoral students were not reported separately until 2017.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.