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| Table 324.80. | Statistical profile of persons receiving doctor's degrees, by field of study and selected characteristics: 2015-16 and 2016-17 |
| Selected characteristic | All fields, 2015-16 |
Field of study, 2016-17 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All fields |
Educa- tion |
Engineer- ing |
Human- ities and arts |
Life sciences1 |
Physical sciences and earth sciences |
Mathemat- ics and computer sciences |
Social sciences and psychol- ogy |
Other fields |
||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Number of doctor's degrees conferred | 54,904 | 54,664 | 4,823 | 9,843 | 5,290 | 12,592 | 6,081 | 3,843 | 9,079 | 3,113 |
| Sex (percent)2 | ||||||||||
| Male | 53.9 | 53.3 | 31.5 | 75.1 | 48.8 | 44.7 | 66.9 | 74.6 | 40.7 | 44.9 |
| Female | 46.0 | 46.6 | 68.4 | 24.9 | 51.2 | 55.3 | 33.1 | 25.4 | 59.3 | 55.0 |
| Race/ethnicity (percent)3 | ||||||||||
| White | 71.5 | 69.5 | 65.7 | 64.9 | 78.2 | 68.4 | 76.0 | 67.6 | 69.3 | 63.7 |
| Black | 6.6 | 6.7 | 14.7 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 7.7 | 12.8 |
| Hispanic | 7.2 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 8.4 | 7.0 |
| Asian | 8.6 | 9.8 | 5.5 | 16.9 | 4.2 | 11.4 | 9.6 | 15.8 | 7.7 | 9.7 |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Two or more races | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Other and unknown4 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 6.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Citizenship (percent) | ||||||||||
| U.S. citizen/permanent resident | 65.1 | 65.5 | 83.9 | 44.1 | 81.1 | 70.3 | 61.1 | 45.4 | 75.7 | 61.7 |
| Temporary visa holder | 30.0 | 29.9 | 11.1 | 51.5 | 13.1 | 26.4 | 35.5 | 50.2 | 18.5 | 29.8 |
| Unknown | 4.9 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 5.8 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.8 | 8.5 |
| Median age at doctorate (years) | 31.6 | 31.6 | 38.3 | 29.9 | 34.1 | 31.0 | 29.5 | 30.4 | 32.3 | 34.8 |
| Percent with bachelor's degree in same field as doctorate |
54.0 | 54.7 | 23.7 | 76.9 | 51.5 | 48.5 | 68.8 | 61.5 | 51.9 | 34.9 |
| Median time lapse to doctorate (years) | ||||||||||
| Since bachelor's degree completion | 8.8 | 8.8 | 15.0 | 7.3 | 11.0 | 8.3 | 6.9 | 7.9 | 9.3 | 11.4 |
| Since starting graduate school | 7.3 | 7.5 | 12.0 | 6.7 | 9.3 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 9.3 |
| Postdoctoral plans (percent)5 | ||||||||||
| Definite postdoctoral study6 | 23.5 | 25.8 | 5.8 | 23.7 | 11.8 | 38.2 | 38.7 | 22.4 | 27.7 | 6.5 |
| Fellowship or research associateship | 22.7 | 24.3 | 5.1 | 22.4 | 11.2 | 35.8 | 37.9 | 21.5 | 25.2 | 5.9 |
| Other7 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 0.6 |
| Definite postdoctoral employment8 | 37.1 | 40.2 | 62.5 | 39.8 | 44.4 | 25.9 | 26.7 | 49.8 | 44.0 | 66.9 |
| Academe9 | 17.1 | 19.4 | 38.5 | 6.8 | 34.1 | 11.0 | 6.9 | 16.6 | 25.6 | 53.7 |
| Government | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 5.2 | 3.4 |
| Industry, business | 12.3 | 13.2 | 3.3 | 27.8 | 2.6 | 9.1 | 15.9 | 28.9 | 8.0 | 6.6 |
| Nonprofit organization | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 3.6 | 2.5 |
| Other and unknown10 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 14.4 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.7 |
| Seeking employment or study | 34.3 | 30.3 | 27.7 | 33.5 | 39.7 | 30.4 | 32.2 | 25.1 | 25.8 | 23.4 |
| Other/unknown11 | 5.1 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 3.2 |
| Primary work activity after doctorate (percent)12 |
||||||||||
| Research and development | 43.2 | 41.6 | 12.8 | 71.0 | 8.8 | 44.9 | 62.1 | 62.0 | 35.7 | 34.4 |
| Teaching | 32.5 | 32.9 | 41.6 | 9.8 | 71.1 | 24.7 | 19.8 | 24.3 | 35.5 | 48.0 |
| Management or administration | 11.2 | 10.4 | 32.7 | 4.3 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 8.4 | 9.9 |
| Professional services | 10.4 | 10.0 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 14.7 | 8.7 | 6.1 | 16.0 | 5.7 |
| Other | 2.7 | 5.1 | 4.3 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 1.9 |
| Location after doctorate (percent)13 | ||||||||||
| New England | 8.5 | 8.1 | 4.6 | 7.3 | 8.1 | 9.8 | 9.5 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 6.1 |
| Middle Atlantic | 12.6 | 12.3 | 10.3 | 10.2 | 14.8 | 13.0 | 11.2 | 14.5 | 13.0 | 14.0 |
| East North Central | 12.0 | 11.8 | 14.9 | 11.7 | 13.3 | 11.6 | 12.7 | 9.3 | 11.2 | 12.7 |
| West North Central | 5.2 | 4.9 | 8.2 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| South Atlantic | 16.3 | 14.7 | 16.9 | 13.6 | 15.5 | 15.9 | 12.9 | 11.8 | 17.1 | 16.3 |
| East South Central | 3.7 | 3.4 | 7.7 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 4.5 |
| West South Central | 7.4 | 6.8 | 9.1 | 6.9 | 8.4 | 7.1 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 10.0 |
| Mountain | 5.7 | 5.6 | 8.2 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 6.7 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 5.2 |
| Pacific and insular | 19.1 | 20.6 | 9.0 | 26.8 | 11.6 | 18.3 | 23.5 | 30.1 | 14.5 | 10.9 |
| Foreign | 9.4 | 11.1 | 10.6 | 9.9 | 12.9 | 7.7 | 11.0 | 10.9 | 16.6 | 14.3 |
| Location unknown | 0.2 | # | 0.0 | # | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | # | 0.1 |
| #Rounds to zero. | ||||||||||
| 1 Includes agricultural sciences and natural resources; biological and biomedical sciences; and health sciences. | ||||||||||
| 2 Distribution based on respondents reporting sex data. | ||||||||||
| 3 Distribution based on U.S. citizens and permanent residents. | ||||||||||
| 4 Includes Pacific Islanders and persons whose race was not reported. | ||||||||||
| 5 Percentages are based on only those doctorate recipients who responded to questions about postgraduation plans. | ||||||||||
| 6 Excludes doctorate recipients who indicated plans for another full-time degree program. Percentages are based on doctorate recipients reporting other definite postgraduation plans for study. | ||||||||||
| 7 Includes respondents who indicated definite postgraduation study plans for traineeship, internship/clinical residency, or other study. | ||||||||||
| 8 Percentages are based on only those doctorate recipients who indicated definite postgraduation plans for employment and who indicated the sector of employment. | ||||||||||
| 9 Includes 2-year, 4-year, and foreign colleges and universities, and medical schools. | ||||||||||
| 10 "Other" is mainly composed of elementary and secondary schools. | ||||||||||
| 11 Includes doctorate recipients who indicated that they did not plan to work or study, those who indicated some other type of postgraduation plans, and those who indicated definite plans for another full-time degree program. | ||||||||||
| 12 Percentages are based on only those doctorate recipients who indicated definite postgraduation plans for employment and who indicated their primary work activity. | ||||||||||
| 13 Percentages are based on only those doctorate recipients who indicated definite postgraduation plans and type of plans. The calculations included doctorate recipients who indicated they would be working in the United States but did not specify a region of the country; however, percentages for these recipients are not shown. | ||||||||||
| NOTE: The above classification of degrees by field differs somewhat from that in most publications by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). One major difference is that history is included under humanities rather than social sciences. Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level. Includes only graduates of research programs, which typically require the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement. Excludes nonresearch professional practice doctor's degrees (e.g., M.D., D.D.S., and J.D.) that are conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice in such fields as health and theology. The number of doctor's degrees in this table differs from that reported in the NCES Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which includes both research and nonresearch degrees. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. | ||||||||||
| SOURCE: Doctorate Recipients From U.S. Universities: 2016 and 2017, 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 June 2019.) |