Examining the Data on Enrollments of Women in U.S. Graduate Schools

A new report from the Council on Graduate Schools provides data on graduate school enrollments by gender. The report shows that in 2016, there were 296,839 women students enrolled in graduate schools for the first time. They made up 58.1 percent of all first-time graduate students at U.S. universities.

If we break down the data by broad academic field, we find that women made up 79 percent of all first-time graduate students in public administration and more than 75 percent of all first-time graduate students in the health sciences and education. But women were only 26.2 percent of all first-time graduate students in engineering and 39.9 percent in the physical sciences. Women were 34.4 percent of all first-time graduate students in mathematics and computer science.

If we look at total enrollments in U.S. graduate schools, we find that in 2016, there were 1,045,500 women students. They made up 57.5 percent of all enrollments. In 2016, women made up less than 40 percent of all graduate students in engineering, mathematics and computer science, and physical sciences. Women were more than 70 percent of all graduate students in education, the health sciences, and public administration.

Of all women graduate students, 55.9 percent were enrolled on a full-time basis. For men the figure was 61.2 percent. Only 37 percent of women enrolled in graduate programs in education were enrolled full-time.

The full report, Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, 2006 to 2016, may be downloaded by clicking here.