Table 311.90.

Graduate enrollment in research-based programs in engineering, natural and social sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, and selected health fields in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by discipline division: Selected years, fall 2007 through fall 2021

Discipline division	2007	2010	2011	2012	2013	20141	2015	2016	20172	2018	2019	2020	2021
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Total, all surveyed discipline divisions	604,815	611,841	608,171	609,760	615,706	648,525	667,939	667,057	649,112	668,307	690,117	697,813	760,156
Engineering	127,075	142,446	143,390	146,022	150,873	162,671	167,789	166,772	165,581	163,301	164,004	157,729	168,050
Aerospace	4,616	5,540	5,691	5,069	5,181	5,116	5,345	5,416	5,708	5,848	6,255	6,971	7,838
Agricultural	1,126	1,457	1,656	1,552	1,642	1,740	1,630	1,626	1,186	1,032	1,156	1,058	1,187
Biomedical	6,904	8,497	9,175	9,157	9,198	9,510	9,761	10,208	10,882	11,480	12,050	12,775	14,059
Biosystems	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	234	283	308	---	---
Chemical	7,584	8,668	8,828	9,222	9,698	9,870	10,008	10,187	10,166	10,011	9,689	9,457	9,670
Civil	16,071	19,559	19,596	19,922	20,110	20,789	20,978	20,569	21,132	20,461	19,625	18,304	19,608
Electrical	40,588	41,336	41,580	42,347	45,562	51,909	52,940	50,062	47,752	46,227	46,754	43,032	45,265
Engineering science, mechanics, and physics	1,806	2,071	2,101	2,227	2,142	2,162	1,708	1,756	2,136	2,157	2,299	2,208	2,239
Industrial/manufacturing	14,474	15,205	14,494	14,469	14,363	14,845	16,284	16,200	15,905	15,987	15,674	14,869	15,870
Mechanical	18,347	22,509	21,883	23,088	24,087	25,651	27,314	27,898	27,428	26,593	26,108	25,782	27,258
Metallurgical/materials	5,314	6,274	6,649	6,985	7,144	7,518	7,741	8,106	6,541	6,689	6,590	7,181	7,422
Mining	222	419	500	356	357	396	407	378	541	527	493	---	---
Nanotechnology	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	139	118	195	---	---
Nuclear	1,180	1,459	1,499	1,513	1,459	1,467	1,449	1,466	1,442	1,453	1,449	1,479	1,516
Petroleum	1,014	1,295	1,301	1,525	1,609	2,056	2,021	1,862	1,578	1,403	1,249	1,097	1,026
Other engineering	7,829	8,157	8,437	8,590	8,321	9,642	10,203	11,038	12,811	13,032	14,110	13,516	15,092
Natural and social sciences
Agricultural sciences	13,528	15,656	16,129	16,234	16,429	17,505	18,610	18,284	9,347	9,538	9,518	10,800	11,244
Biological sciences	73,516	77,726	79,540	80,994	81,444	83,413	85,098	84,372	85,217	87,933	91,993	94,825	100,883
Anatomy	867	849	762	700	527	554	594	448	---	---	---	---	---
Biochemistry	5,853	5,308	5,183	5,245	4,970	5,025	4,793	4,481	5,341	5,297	5,342	5,537	5,833
Biology	15,898	17,210	16,911	16,321	16,004	16,697	16,612	16,380	15,811	15,750	15,801	15,649	15,694
Biometry/epidemiology	5,694	6,398	6,786	7,800	8,478	8,326	8,987	9,007	7,710	8,409	9,820	10,412	10,620
Biophysics	1,193	1,072	1,016	976	952	877	919	941	861	836	897	868	979
Biostatistics and bioinformatics	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	5,219	5,836	6,228	6,482	7,110
Biotechnology	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	1,984	2,062	3,255	3,244	3,523
Botany and plant biology	1,821	1,863	1,915	1,852	1,878	1,877	1,869	1,820	1,690	1,690	1,687	1,631	1,632
Cell and molecular biology	6,839	7,047	6,905	6,799	6,543	6,214	6,450	6,535	5,712	5,909	5,902	5,962	6,500
Ecology	2,026	1,828	1,713	1,667	1,437	1,416	1,302	1,396	3,487	3,508	3,510	3,777	3,991
Entomology/parasitology	1,078	1,116	1,119	1,187	1,278	1,304	1,285	1,171	---	---	---	---	---
Epidemiology	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	4,217	4,437	4,692	5,185	5,785
Genetics	2,120	2,333	2,403	2,342	2,315	2,411	2,412	2,404	2,533	2,662	2,663	2,802	3,167
Microbiology, immunology, and virology	5,212	4,896	5,031	4,950	4,961	4,670	4,571	4,615	5,011	5,168	5,307	5,773	6,382
Molecular biology	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	1,412	1,492	1,531	1,618	1,670
Neurobiology and neuroscience	1,584	2,798	4,117	4,547	4,795	4,923	5,002	5,226	5,189	5,350	5,500	5,820	6,349
Nutrition	4,890	5,548	5,345	5,336	5,387	5,868	5,705	5,401	3,132	3,513	3,333	3,359	3,864
Pathology	1,580	1,376	1,313	1,196	1,112	1,036	1,046	998	1,033	973	930	858	949
Pharmacology	3,013	3,101	3,053	3,088	2,979	2,916	2,817	2,873	3,125	3,110	3,074	2,944	3,300
Physiology	2,738	2,879	3,000	3,046	3,224	3,415	3,795	4,024	4,856	4,919	5,297	5,802	5,939
Zoology	1,108	896	1,060	1,083	1,188	1,093	998	815	1,954	2,022	2,089	2,047	2,140
Other biosciences	10,002	11,208	11,908	12,859	13,416	14,791	15,941	15,837	4,940	4,990	5,135	5,055	5,456
Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	14,100	15,655	15,820	16,069	15,816	15,710	15,447	15,015	12,545	12,333	11,878	11,792	12,290
Atmospheric sciences	1,178	1,455	1,513	1,546	1,534	1,466	1,387	1,399	1,348	1,342	1,339	1,305	1,389
Geological sciences	7,020	8,251	8,361	8,659	8,754	8,821	8,876	8,610	8,255	8,294	7,849	7,726	7,871
Oceanography	2,615	2,556	2,680	2,642	2,682	2,666	2,574	2,743	2,695	2,697	2,690	2,761	3,030
Other geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	3,287	3,393	3,266	3,222	2,846	2,757	2,610	2,263	247	---	---	---	---
Multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies	4,484	7,944	6,537	6,038	5,892	7,196	8,138	9,251	9,854	10,338	11,181	14,533	15,768
Natural resources and conservation	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	10,879	11,407	11,743	12,498	13,922
Physical sciences	36,824	38,973	39,694	39,928	40,019	40,332	40,386	40,518	41,829	42,075	42,867	42,616	44,141
Astronomy and astrophysics	1,232	1,331	1,345	1,278	1,250	1,241	1,273	1,353	1,305	1,353	1,450	1,506	1,624
Chemistry	21,298	22,436	22,802	23,117	22,949	22,936	22,840	22,676	22,820	22,691	22,900	22,485	23,215
Material sciences	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	1,375	1,324	1,552	1,492	1,441
Physics	13,816	14,507	14,829	14,940	15,239	15,564	15,609	15,764	15,687	16,086	16,115	16,126	16,779
Other physical sciences	478	699	718	593	581	591	664	725	642	621	850	1,007	1,082
Psychology3	59,617	53,419	54,486	54,117	54,102	48,833	49,740	47,609	50,033	55,707	61,069	68,394	73,325
Social sciences	103,150	109,220	111,661	108,169	107,278	105,742	102,706	100,200	76,286	77,985	78,999	78,353	82,223
Agricultural economics	1,989	2,180	2,095	2,045	1,916	1,931	2,056	1,756	1,678	1,698	1,506	1,242	1,194
Economics (except agricultural)	12,597	14,317	14,920	14,959	14,819	14,604	14,299	14,488	13,069	13,344	14,129	14,073	15,148
Geography	4,660	5,059	5,188	5,016	4,891	4,810	4,434	4,315	4,552	4,566	4,401	4,397	4,876
Linguistics	2,879	3,132	3,219	3,256	3,509	3,489	3,370	3,149	2,883	2,723	2,769	2,850	2,840
Political science and government	41,349	45,045	49,660	48,855	48,411	47,370	45,781	45,213	15,540	16,519	17,096	17,337	18,632
Sociology and anthropology	18,453	18,740	18,365	17,404	17,360	16,789	16,104	15,540	14,894	14,296	13,931	13,872	13,627
Other social sciences	21,223	20,747	18,214	16,634	16,372	16,749	16,662	15,739	23,670	24,839	25,167	24,582	25,906
Mathematics and computer sciences
Mathematics and statistics	20,975	23,136	23,801	24,575	24,804	25,874	26,444	28,050	29,669	31,461	33,159	31,971	34,258
Mathematics and applied mathematics	16,528	17,589	18,157	18,577	18,323	18,863	18,737	20,028	20,511	21,442	22,241	21,358	23,282
Statistics	4,447	5,547	5,644	5,998	6,481	7,011	7,707	8,022	9,158	10,019	10,918	10,613	10,976
Computer sciences	48,246	51,546	51,234	51,789	56,339	76,546	86,192	92,650	89,909	93,478	101,284	98,864	121,730
Selected health fields4	103,300	76,120	65,879	65,825	62,710	64,703	67,389	64,336	67,963	72,751	72,422	75,438	82,322
Clinical medicine fields	22,751	25,699	26,634	26,798	26,362	27,048	28,606	27,212	29,693	32,002	30,822	34,544	39,633
Other health fields5	80,549	50,421	39,245	39,027	36,348	37,655	38,783	37,124	38,270	40,749	41,600	40,894	42,689

---Not available.

1In 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 2 institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible.

2In 2017, the survey’s list of eligible disciplinary fields was updated to align with the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) Taxonomy of Disciplines, thus increasing comparability with other NCSES surveys. As a result of the update, some eligible fields were reclassified, some fields were split up or moved into different broader fields, and some fields became fully or partially ineligible for inclusion in the survey. Examples of major changes as of 2017 include the following: The architecture, communication, and family science fields are no longer eligible; there is a new broad field of natural resources and conservation, which was split from agricultural sciences; and the field of materials sciences, formerly reported as part of metallurgical/materials engineering, is now reported separately under physical sciences.

3Excludes Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology) programs, which focus on training for clinical practice. Enrollment declines after 2007 may be due to more rigorous follow-up with institutions to exclude such programs.

4Excludes enrollments in practitioner-oriented programs, which have the primary purpose of providing the knowledge and skills required for credentials or licensure to practice in a medical or other health field. Examples of excluded clinical medicine programs are those leading to M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) and D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degrees. Examples of excluded programs in other health fields are those leading to D.N.P. (Doctor of Nursing Practice) and D.P.T. (Doctor of Physical Therapy) degrees.

5Enrollment declines in other health fields such as nursing may be due to more rigorous follow-up with institutions to exclude enrollments in practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs.

NOTE: The survey on which this table is based includes all institutions in the United States and its territories (Guam and Puerto Rico) that grant research-based master’s degrees or doctorates in science, engineering, and selected health fields. Because the architecture, communication, and family science fields are no longer eligible for inclusion in the survey as of 2017, these fields have been omitted from this table and are no longer included in the totals for any of the years.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2007 through 2021. (This table was prepared May 2023.)