Statistical profile of persons receiving doctor's degrees in the physical sciences: Selected years, 1979-80 through 2002-03

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Table 300.

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Selected characteristic              |1979-80|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93|1993-94|1994-95|1995-96|1996-97|1997-98|1998-99|1999-2000|2000-01| 2001-02|2002-03
_____________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________|_______|________|_______
1                                    |      2|      3|      4|      5|      6|      7|      8|      9|     10|     11|     12|       13|     14|      15|     16
_____________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________|_______|________|_______
Number of degrees\1\ ................|  3,151|  4,262|  4,441|  4,575|  4,470|  4,799|  4,618|  4,632|  4,573|  4,639|  4,389|    4,168|  4,138|   3,987|  4,103
                                     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
Sex (percent)                        |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
  Male ..............................|   87.7|   81.2|   81.0|   79.1|   78.9|   79.0|   77.3|   78.1|   77.2|   75.2|   76.2|     74.4|   74.1|    71.9|   71.9
  Female ............................|   12.3|   18.8|   19.0|   20.9|   21.1|   21.0|   22.7|   21.9|   22.8|   22.8|   23.8|     25.6|   25.9|    28.1|   28.1
Racial/ethnic group (percent)\2\     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
  White, non-Hispanic ...............|   90.0|   89.3|   88.8|   86.4|   84.5|   74.8|   70.6|   76.0|   78.9|   81.8|   82.8|     83.8|   84.2|    83.7|   84.1
  Black, non-Hispanic ...............|    1.0|    1.0|    1.2|    1.1|    1.6|    1.6|    1.4|    2.1|    2.0|    2.2|    2.9|      2.7|    2.4|     3.0|    3.1
  Hispanic ..........................|    1.1|    3.1|    2.9|    3.2|    3.4|    2.6|    2.5|    2.8|    2.6|    2.4|    2.8|      3.8|    3.3|     3.4|    3.8
  Asian\3\ ..........................|    7.7|    6.6|    6.6|    8.9|   10.2|   20.8|   25.3|   18.9|   16.1|   13.2|   10.8|      9.2|    9.5|     9.6|    8.7
  American Indian/Alaska Native .....|    0.2|    0.1|    0.5|    0.5|    0.3|    0.2|    0.3|    0.3|    0.4|    0.4|    0.6|      0.6|    0.5|     0.3|    0.2
Citizenship (percent)                |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
  United States .....................|   75.9|   61.0|   59.3|   57.9|   57.1|   56.3|   56.7|   54.7|   57.5|   56.5|   56.8|     56.5|   55.3|    56.0|   55.8
  Foreign ...........................|   21.6|   32.4|   35.9|   39.6|   39.7|   41.7|   41.7|   41.8|   36.3|   36.4|   37.9|     38.2|   40.7|    39.1|   39.1
  Unknown ...........................|    2.4|    6.7|    4.8|    2.5|    3.2|    2.1|    1.8|    3.5|    6.2|    7.1|    5.3|      5.2|    3.9|     4.9|    4.2
Median age at doctorate (years) .....|   29.1|   30.7|   30.2|   30.3|   30.6|   30.7|   30.7|   30.8|   30.4|   30.2|   30.6|     30.3|   30.3|    30.2|   30.3
Percent with bachelor's degree       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
   in same field as doctorate .......|   76.5|   80.0|   76.9|   74.5|   72.9|   73.0|   70.8|   69.6|   65.4|   66.8|   66.7|     66.2|   68.2|    66.9|   68.8
Median time lapse from bachelor's    |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
   to doctorate (years)              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |       |        |
  Total time ........................|    6.8|    7.8|    7.5|    7.8|    8.0|    8.2|    8.1|    8.0|    7.5|    7.5|    7.6|      7.7|    7.4|     8.7|    7.5
  Registered time ...................|    5.7|    6.3|    6.2|    6.4|    6.4|    6.6|    6.8|    6.6|    6.6|    6.5|    6.6|      6.7|    6.6|     6.5|    6.6
_____________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________|_______|________|_______

\1\Excludes mathematics and computer science.
\2\Distribution by race/ethnicity based on U.S. citizens and those with permanent visas only.
\3\Does not include Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders.
NOTE: Longitudinal comparisons by race/ethnicity should be done with extreme care, due to periodic changes in the survey. In particular, large numbers of Asians converted from temporary visas to permanent visas in the mid 1990s. The classification of degrees by field used in this survey differs somewhat from that in most publications of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Includes physics, astronomy, chemistry, and earth, atmospheric, and marine sciences. The number of degrees also differs slightly from that reported in the NCES "Completions" survey. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities, 2003, Survey of Earned Doctorates, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (This table was prepared April 2005.)

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