April 21, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR UTPALA DUBEY IN IL
That is not an easy question to answer. I would probably be better
off by giving you the specific fields in which there were increases or
decreases. Among science and engineering fields, the greatest gain in
enrollment (12 percent) was in computer science. The gain in graduate
enrollment in computer science was the largest of any science and
engineering field in both absolute number and in percentage increase.
Other science fields experiencing gains include astronomy, oceanography,
and agricultural economics. Graduate enrollment in chemistry, physics,
geosciences, mathematical sciences, agricultural sciences, biological
sciences, psychology, and most social sciences continued declines seen
over much of the 1990s.

Table 2. Graduate student enrollment in science and engineering, by
field: 1993-2000 broken down annually, 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Total, science and engineering fields.......................
435,703 431,114 422,438 415,148 407,597 404,809 411,257 414,570
Sciences, total...............................................
318,831 318,090 315,237 311,924 306,449 304,771 309,566 309,969

Physical sciences, total.......................................
35,328, 34,466 33,399 32,333 31,105 30,575 30,691 30,463
Astronomy......................................................
880 973 912 874 778 820 832 888
Chemistry......................................................
20,131, 19,803 19,570 19,334 18,774 18,482 18,416 18,188
Physics......................................................
13,841, 13,162 12,425 11,728 11,147 10,809 10,869 10,836
Other physical sciences...........................
476 528 492 397 406 464 574 551

Earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences, total..........................................
15,721, 15,957 15,716 15,183 14,548 14,258 14,083 13,940
Atmospheric sciences...........................
1,112 1,109 1,072, 1,086 1,092 965 913 963
Geosciences.........................................................
7,759 7,713 7,582 7,304 6,959 6,687 6,637 6,595
Oceanography.........................................................
2,627 2,870 2,723 2,615 2,479 2,562 2,624 2,668
Other earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences..........................................
4,223, 4,265 4,339 4,178 4,018 4,044 3,909 3,714

Mathematical sciences..........................................
20,000, 19,573 18,504 18,008 16,719 16,485 16,257 15,646
Computer sciences..........................................
36,213, 34,158 33,458 34,626 35,991 38,027 42,560 47,594
Agricultural sciences..........................................
11,950, 12,242 12,422 11,974 11,852 11,844 11,988 11,684
Biological sciences..........................................
56,292, 58,033 58,680 58,060 57,044 56,994 57,115 56,494
Psychology, total.............................................
54,557, 54,554 53,641 53,122 53,126 52,557 51,864 50,689

Social sciences, total.............................................
88,770 89,107 89,417 88,618 86,064 84,031 85,008 83,459
Agricultural economics..........................................
2,415 2,289 2,338 2,117 2,043 1,995 2,014 2,079
Anthropology........................................................
7,361 7,665 7,693 7,773 7,560 7,577 7,633 7,633
Economics ........................................................
13,214 12,913 12,673 12,080 11,097 10,701 10,562 10,763
Geography........................................................
4,378 4,502 4,371 4,331 4,287 4,326 4,250 4,044
History and philosophy of science..........
369 387 401409 443 508 557 532
Linguistics..............................................
3,321, 3,279 3,194 3,156 3,068 2,935 2,799 2,674
Political science..............................................
35,076, 34,317 34,298 33,252 32,083 30,828 31,381 31,179
Sociology................................................
9,425, 9,498 9,564 9,425 9,413 9,058 8,966 8,689
Sociology/anthropology..............................................
935 987 941 923 948 857 741 745
Other social sciences..............................................
12,276 13,270 13,944 15,152 15,122 15,246 16,105 15,121

Engineering, total........................................................
116,872, 113,024 107,201 103,224 101,148 100,038, 101,691 104,601
Aerospace engineering..........................................
3,940, 3,715 3,343 3,208 3,083 3,137 3,349 3,407
Chemical engineering..........................................
7,554, 7,639 7,452 7,408 7,288 7,093 6,883 7,093
Civil engineering..........................................
19,583, 19,925 19,218 18,528 17,193 16,517 16,226 16,456
Electrical engineering..........................................
35,290 33,020 30,721 29,702 30,548 31,129 31,382 33,308
Industrial/manufacturing engineering..........
13,905 13,992 13,475, 12,675 11,957 11,221 11,803 12,253
Mechanical engineering...........................
18,477 17,761, 16,363 15,509 15,045 14,696 14,956 15,457
Metallurgical/materials engineering............
5,410 5,228 4,956, 4,747 4,688 4,680 4,481 4,377
Other engineering.......................................
12,713, 11,744 11,673 11,447 11,346 11,565 12,611 12,250

SOURCE: National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources
Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and
Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2000.

Good Luck with your choice of career!