Statistical profile of persons receiving doctor's degrees in the life sciences: 1979-80 to 1992-93

Table 294.

Statistical profile of persons receiving doctor's degrees in the life sciences:\1\1979-80 to 1992-93

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
                                  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
               Item               |1979-80|1980-81|1981-82|1982-83|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
                                  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                1                 |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |  10   |  11   |  12   |  13   |  14   |  15
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
     Number of doctorates ........| 5,325 | 5,461 | 5,565 | 5,540 | 5,745 | 5,748 | 5,720 | 5,742 | 6,143 | 6,343 | 6,613 | 6,928 | 7,108 | 7,397
                                  |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Sex (percent)                     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Men ............................|  74.8 |  73.6 |  72.3 |  69.0 |  68.9 |  67.7 |  66.0 |  64.8 |  63.2 |  61.8 |  62.6 |  61.4 |  60.7 |  58.3
  Women ..........................|  25.2 |  26.4 |  27.7 |  31.0 |  31.1 |  32.3 |  34.0 |  35.2 |  36.8 |  38.2 |  37.4 |  38.6 |  39.3 |  41.7
Racial/ethnic group (percent)\2\  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  American Indian ................|   0.2 |   0.2 |   0.3 |   0.2 |   0.3 |   0.4 |   0.5 |   0.4 |   0.4 |   0.3 |   0.2 |   0.4 |   0.4 |   0.3
  Asian ..........................|   5.3 |   4.8 |   4.6 |   5.3 |   4.7 |   4.7 |   4.9 |   5.7 |   5.0 |   5.3 |   5.6 |   6.6 |   7.1 |   8.7
  Black ..........................|   1.6 |   1.9 |   1.5 |   1.6 |   2.1 |   2.1 |   1.9 |   2.5 |   2.2 |   2.1 |   1.9 |   2.4 |   2.3 |   2.9
  Hispanic .......................|   1.1 |   1.4 |   1.5 |   1.2 |   1.4 |   1.9 |   2.1 |   2.0 |   2.3 |   2.1 |   2.7 |   2.6 |   2.8 |   3.0
  White ..........................|  91.8 |  91.7 |  92.0 |  91.6 |  91.5 |  90.8 |  90.5 |  89.4 |  90.0 |  90.1 |  89.6 |  88.0 |  87.3 |  85.1
Citizenship (percent)             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  United States ..................|  80.4 |  80.3 |  80.4 |  79.9 |  79.4 |  77.1 |  75.9 |  73.5 |  71.3 |  71.1 |  68.0 |  66.8 |  65.7 |  65.3
  Foreign ........................|  17.6 |  17.1 |  16.6 |  17.4 |  17.6 |  19.3 |  18.8 |  20.5 |  22.2 |  22.1 |  26.3 |  29.1 |  31.8 |  32.6
  Unknown ........................|   2.0 |   2.6 |   3.0 |   2.6 |   3.0 |   3.6 |   5.3 |   6.1 |   6.4 |   6.9 |   5.6 |   4.0 |   2.5 |   2.2
Median age at doctorate (years) ..|  30.0 |  30.1 |  30.3 |  30.6 |  31.0 |  31.3 |  31.6 |  31.7 |  31.9 |  32.2 |  32.3 |  32.4 |  32.7 |  32.5
Percent with bachelor's degree in |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
 same field as doctorate .........|  40.9 |  40.7 |  41.4 |  56.3 |  58.1 |  58.3 |  57.1 |  55.6 |  55.4 |  53.4 |  53.8 |  54.1 |  53.5 |  51.9
Median time lapse from bachelor's |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
 to doctorate (years)             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Total time .....................|   7.3 |   7.3 |   7.6 |   7.9 |   8.2 |   8.4 |   8.7 |   8.7 |   8.9 |   9.1 |   9.1 |   9.1 |   9.4 |   9.4
  Registered time ................|   5.8 |   5.9 |   6.0 |   6.1 |   6.3 |   6.3 |   6.4 |   6.5 |   6.5 |   6.5 |   6.7 |   6.7 |   6.7 |   6.8
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______

\1\Includes agricultural, biological, and health sciences.
\2\Longitudinal comparisons by race/ethnicity should be done with extreme care, due to periodic changes in the survey. Distribution by race/ethnicity based on U.S. citizens and those with permanent visas only.

NOTE.--The National Research Council's classification of degrees by field differs somewhat from that in most publications of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The number of degrees also differs slightly from that reported in the NCES "Completions" survey. Because of rounding, percents may not add to 100.0.

SOURCE: National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, Doctorate Records File. (This table was prepared May 1995.)

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