The Gender Gap in Graduate School Enrollments and Degree Attainments

A new report from the Council of Graduate Schools shows total enrollments at the nation’s graduate school in 2012 of 1,738,245 students. Enrollments are up slightly, bolstered by a significant increase in enrollments of foreign students.

In the fall of 2012 there were 1,016,115 women enrolled in U.S. graduate programs. They made up 58.5 percent of all students in graduate programs.

There were 461,704 students who enrolled in graduate school for the first time in the fall of 2012. Of these, 267,268, or 57.9 percent, were women. Women made up a slightly higher percentage of graduate students at private, not-for-profit universities than they did at state-operated universities.

The new report from the Council of Graduate Schools also presented data on degree attainment. In the 2011-12 academic year, U.S. graduate schools awarded 540,157 master’s degrees. Of these, 319,648, or 59.5 percent, went to women. Women earned 80.7 percent of all master’s degrees in the health sciences, 76.2 percent of all master’s degrees in education, and 76.7 percent of all master’s degrees in public administration. In contrast, women earned only 23.1 percent of all master’s degrees in engineering and 30.9 percent of all master’s degrees in mathematics and computer science.

Women also lead men in doctoral degree attainment, according to the report. In the 2011-12 academic year, women earned 52.2 percent of the 67,220 doctoral degrees earned at U.S. universities. Women earned more than 60 percent of all doctorates in education, social sciences, and health sciences but less than 35 percent of all doctorates in the physical sciences, mathematics and computer science, and engineering.