Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2005.

The annual Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), sponsored by six Federal agencies, was released in November 2006.  The Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2005 is based on a census of 43,354 research doctorate recipients who earned their degrees between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005.  Summary Report 2005 tracks trends in percentages and numbers based on factors such as degree fields, gender, race/ethnicity, and parental education background.  The report also provides data on time to completion of the doctorate, sources of financial support during graduate school, and postgraduate plans of doctorate recipients.

Gender
There were increases in the number of doctorates earned by both men and women in 2005.  Women earned 45.2 percent of all doctorates awarded.  For U.S. citizens, 51 percent of doctorates were earned by women, marking the fourth consecutive year women were awarded more doctorates than men.

In physical sciences, women earned 26 percent of doctorates awarded, and 18 percent of those awarded in engineering.  In other fields, however, women earned the majority of doctorates awarded with 67 percent of education doctorates, 56 percent in the social sciences, 51 percent in the humanities, and for the first time ever a majority in the life sciences at 51 percent. 

Race and Ethnicity
20 percent of doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens in 2005 were earned by racial or ethnic minorities, matching the largest percentage ever.  Blacks earned the most doctorates, followed by Asians, then Hispanics, American Indians/Alaska natives, and native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders.  

Blacks were the largest minority population in education and social sciences, whereas Asians were the largest contingent in engineering, physical sciences, and life sciences.  Hispanics were the largest minority population the humanities.

When gender and race/ethnicity are taken into account, 50 percent of doctorates awarded to whites were earned by women, whereas for blacks, American Indians, and Hispanics, women constituted a majority (65 percent, 60 percent, and 58 percent, respectively).  For Asians, women were 49 percent of doctorate recipients.

Parental Education Background
The 2005 survey grouped levels of parental education background into four newly defined categories: high school diploma or less, some college, earned baccalaureate, and advanced degree (including master’s, doctorate, or a professional degree).  28 percent of recipients’ fathers and 36 percent of recipients’ mothers had no more than a high school degree.  13 percent of fathers and 17 percent of mothers had attended at least some college.  One-fourth of both mothers and fathers of recipients had earned a baccalaureate degree.  For advanced degrees, 34 percent of fathers and 21 percent of mothers of recipients held graduate degrees.

When race/ethnicity are factored into parental education background, among U.S. citizens Asian doctorate recipients were more likely than other racial/ethnic minorities to have a parent with a baccalaureate degree, where as black, Hispanic, and American Indian recipients’ parents were less likely to have gone beyond high school and far less likely to have attained advanced degrees than whites or Asians.

Female doctorate recipients were more likely to have parents with at least a baccalaureate degree.  The fathers of male and female doctorate recipients were equally likely to have earned a baccalaureate, so differences appear to be driven by mothers’ education.

Fields, Time to Completion, and Age
The highest number of research doctorates awarded were in life sciences, followed in descending order by social sciences and psychology, physical sciences and mathematics, engineering, education, humanities, and finally business and other fields.

The median time to degree completion since receipt of the baccalaureate was 9.9 years, a number that has shown little change over the past 25 years.

The median age of 2005 doctorate recipients was 33 years old.  For science and engineering, the median age was 31.4, whereas for the humanities the median age was 35.2 and for education, 42.5 years old.           

Sources for Financial Support
The survey asked doctorate recipients to check which out of 14 potential sources of support they used to support their graduate education, and then asked respondents to list which was their primary support.  71 percent of doctorate recipients reported program or institution-based sources such as teaching assistantships and dissertation grants as their primary source of support.  23 percent reported their own resources, such as savings, spousal income, family support, and non-academic employment were their primary source of support.

When broken down by gender and race/ethnicity, women of all races, blacks, and American Indians were more likely to report personal resources as the primary source of support.

Just over half of the respondents reported having no graduate education-related debt, and another 21 percent reported education debt under $20,000.  Debt levels of $50,000 or more were most common among graduates in the social sciences, humanities, and education.  Males were less likely to have debt than females, U.S. citizens less likely than non-citizens, and whites less likely than blacks, Hispanics, or American Indians.

Postgraduation Plans, Employment, and Location
71 percent of the new doctorate recipients had definite postgraduation commitments for employment or continued study.  Of those, 65 percent planned to work and 35 percent planned to continue as postdoctoral scholars.  Of those who were committed to work in the United States, 55 percent planned to wok in higher education, 23 percent in industry or self-employment, and 7 percent in government work.