What percentage of U.S. PhD candidates complete their dissertation?
Doctor of Philosophy
Depending on the specific field of study, completion of a Ph.D. program usually takes four to eight years of study after the Bachelor's Degree; those students who begin a Ph.D. program with a master's degree may complete their Ph.D. degree a year or two sooner. As Ph.D. programs typically lack the formal structure of undergraduate education, there are significant individual differences in the time taken to complete the degree. Overall, 57% of students who begin a Ph.D. program in the US will complete their degree within ten years, approximately 30% will drop out or be dismissed, and the remaining 13% of students will continue on past ten years.
Immigration to the United States
55% of Ph.D. students in engineering in the United States are foreign born (2004). Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of Ph.D. scientists and engineers employed in the United States who were born abroad has increased from 24% to 37%. 45% of Ph.D. physicists working in the United States are foreign born in 2004. 80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States are foreign-born (1988).
American Jews
31% of American Jews hold a graduate degree, this figure is compared with the general American population where 11% of Americans hold a graduate degree. White collar professional jobs have been attractive to Jews and much of the community tend to take up professional white collar careers requiring tertiary education involving formal credentials where the respectability and reputability of professional jobs is highly prized within Jewish culture. While 46% of Americans work in professional and managerial jobs, 61% of American Jews work as professionals, many of whom are highly educated, salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed in management, professional, and related occupations such as engineering, science, medicine, investment banking, finance, law, and academia.
Bhutanese Americans
According to the same date released by the Pew Research Center, the Bhutanese community has one of the lowest educational attainment level in the entire U.S. with only 9% of all Bhutanese Americans 25 years old and older have at least a bachelor's degree.
List of doctoral degrees in the US
In the United States the doctoral degrees that have been identified by various universities and others (including the NSF at various times) as having original research including a dissertation or equivalent have included:
The PhD Project
The PhD Project’s mission is to increase the diversity of corporate America by increasing the diversity of business school faculty. The PhD Project attracts African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans to business Ph.D. programs, and provides a network of peer support on their journey to becoming professors. As faculty, they serve as role models attracting and mentoring minority students while improving the preparation of all students for a diverse workplace and society.
Graduate science education in the United States
Some programs also include a Master of Philosophy degree as part of the PhD program. The MPhil, in those universities that offer it, is usually awarded after the appropriate MA or MS (as above) is awarded, and the degree candidate has completed all further requirements for the PhD degree (which may include additional language requirements, course credits, teaching experiences, and comprehensive exams) aside from the writing and defense of the dissertation itself. This formalizes the "all but dissertation" (ABD) status used informally by some students, and represents that the student has achieved a higher level of scholarship than the MA/MS would indicate – as such, the MPhil is sometimes a helpful credential for those applying for teaching or research posts while completing their dissertation work for the PhD degree itself.
Thesis
In Pakistan, at undergraduate level the thesis is usually called final year project, as it is completed in the senior year of the degree, the name project usually implies that the work carried out is less extensive than a thesis and bears lesser credit hours too. The undergraduate level project is presented through an elaborate written report and a presentation to the advisor, a board of faculty members and students. At graduate level however, i.e. in MS, some universities allow students to accomplish a project of 6 credits or a thesis of 9 credits, at least one publication is normally considered enough for the awarding of the degree with project and is considered mandatory for the awarding of a degree with thesis. A written report and a public thesis defense is mandatory, in the presence of a board of senior researchers, consisting of members from an outside organization or a university. A PhD candidate is supposed to accomplish extensive research work to fulfill the dissertation requirements with international publications being a mandatory requirement. The defense of the research work is done publicly.
Education in the United States
In 2007, Americans stood second only to Canada in the percentage of 35- to 64-year-olds holding at least two-year degrees. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, the country stands tenth. The nation stands 15 out of 29 rated nations for college completion rates, slightly above Mexico and Turkey.
Puerto Ricans in the United States
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while in Puerto Rico more than 20% of Hispanics have a bachelor's degree, only 16% of stateside Puerto Ricans did as of March 2012.
Candidate of Philosophy
In the United States, it is normal for graduate students working toward a doctorate to take coursework followed by examinations (known variously as candidacy examinations, comprehensive examinations or qualifiers) after which they become candidates for the doctorate. At a few institutions, this status is officially recognized either by a degree or some other official title. This is normally intended to be an interim status, prior to the award of a doctorate, not to be confused with the terminal master's degree awarded by some programs to those who leave after their candidacy examination. Some universities grant a Master of Philosophy degree to students who have been accepted for candidacy.
Education in the United States
ACT Inc. reports that 25% of US graduating high school seniors meet college-readiness benchmarks in English, reading, mathematics, and science. Including the 22% of students who do not graduate on time, fewer than 20% of the American youth, who should graduate high school each year, do so prepared for college. The United States has fallen behind the rest of the developed world in education, creating a global achievement gap that alone costs the nation 9-to-16% of potential GDP each year.
The PhD Project
• The third component of the program is the Minority Doctoral Student Associations, formed by The PhD Project as a means of combating the high (25 percent) attrition rate inherent among all business doctoral students. Through these professional peer associations (in accounting, finance, information systems, management and marketing) minority doctoral students establish peer support relationships with others who are facing similar challenges on the way to becoming business school professors. Every minority business doctoral student in a full-time, AACSB-accredited program is a member of one of these associations. Each association has an annual conference held in conjunction with the relevant professional academic association. There, the Ph.D. students receive guidance and information concerning every step of the process of earning the doctorate and obtaining employment. The retention rate of doctoral students who are members of these associations exceeds 90 percent.
Education of immigrants in the United States
By 2000, 23% of scientists with a PhD in the U.S. were immigrants, including 40% of those in engineering and computers. Roughly a third of the United States' college and universities graduate students in STEM fields are foreign nationals—in some states it is well over half of their graduate students.
Education in the United States
Of students who were freshmen in 2005 seeking bachelor's degrees at public institutions, 32% took four years, 12% took five years, 6% took six years, and 43% did not graduate within six years. The numbers for private non-profit institutions were 52% in four, 10% in five, 4% in six, and 35% failing to graduate.
Master of Philosophy
In most UK universities, completion of an M.Phil. typically requires two years of full-time or five years or more of part-time study (being five or eight years from initially entering university) and the submission of a thesis comprising a body of original research undertaken by the candidate. It is common for students admitted into a Ph.D. program at a UK university to be initially registered for the degree of M.Phil., and then to transfer (or upgrade) to the Ph.D. upon successful completion of the first (or sometimes the second) year of study: this will often involve the submission of a short report or dissertation by the student, and possibly an oral examination or presentation. In addition, most universities allow examiners to recommend award of an M.Phil. if a Ph.D. candidate's thesis is deemed not to be of the requisite length or standard for a doctorate. However, many students register for an M.Phil. with no intention of upgrading to a Ph.D. Others are not able to do a Ph.D. because their research does not have sufficient scope for a Ph.D. or because they are seeking a shorter program.
Higher education in the United States
Completion
Bharat B. Chattoo
Over 25 students have completed their Ph D and around 200 students completed their M Sc dissertation projects under his supervision during the past few decades at MSU.
Graduate science education in the United States
A thesis or dissertation committee is a committee that supervises a student's dissertation. This committee, at least in the US model, usually consists of a primary supervisor or advisor and two or more committee members, who supervise the progress of the dissertation and may also act as the examining committee, or jury, at the oral examination of the thesis (see below). At most universities, the committee is chosen by the student in conjunction with his or her primary adviser, usually after completion of the comprehensive examinations or prospectus meeting, and may consist of members of the comps committee. The committee members are doctors in their field (whether a PhD or other designation) and have the task of reading the dissertation, making suggestions for changes and improvements, and sitting in on the defense. Sometimes, at least one member of the committee must be a professor in a department that is different from that of the student.
Pakistani Americans
According to American Factfinder, Pakistani Americans are high achievers academically and tend to be better educated as compared to other heritage groups in the United States with 87.4% being at least high school graduates and 60.9% holding a bachelor's degree or higher professional degree.
Dr. Mehtab Karim, at the Pew Research Center found that 29.5% of Pakistanis completed four years of college, 22.5% completed a Master’s in a professional degree while 1.6% acquired a doctorate degree, this compared with the American national average of 17.6%, 20% and 1.1% respectively.
Doctor of Philosophy
A career in academia generally requires a PhD, though, in some countries, it is possible to reach relatively high positions without a doctorate. In North America, professors are increasingly being required to have a PhD, because the percentage of faculty with a PhD is used as a university ratings measure.
List of doctoral degrees in the US
In addition to the research doctorate, the US has many professional degrees sometimes referred to as first-professional degrees which are titled as doctor's degrees and classified as "doctors degree professional practice". While research doctorates require "advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement", professional doctorates must have a total time to degree (including prior study at bachelor's level) of at least six years, and provide "the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice".
Thesis
In Portugal and Brazil, a dissertation ("dissertação") is required for completion of a master. The defense is done in a public presentation in which teachers, students, and the general public can participate. For the PhD, a thesis ("tese") is presented for defense in a public exam. The exam typically extends over 3 hours. The examination board typically involves 5 to 6 scholars (including the advisor) or other experts with a PhD degree (generally at least half of them must be external to the university where the candidate defends the thesis, but it may depend on the University). Each university / faculty defines the length of these documents, and it can vary also in respect to the domains (a thesis in fields like philosophy, history, geography, etc., usually has more pages than a thesis in mathematics, computer science, statistics, etc.) but typical numbers of pages are around 60–80 for MSc and 150–250 for PhD.
Immigration to the United States
Scientific laboratories and startup internet opportunities have been a powerful American magnet. By 2000, 23% of scientists with a PhD in the U.S. were immigrants, including 40% of those in engineering and computers. Roughly a third of the United States' college and universities graduate students in STEM fields are foreign nationals—in some states it is well over half of their graduate students. On Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014, the presidents of 28 Catholic and Jesuit colleges and universities, joined the "Fast for Families" movement. The "Fast for Families" movement reignited the immigration debate in the fall of 2013 when the movement's leaders, supported by many members of Congress and the President, fasted for twenty-two days on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Model minority
In 1997, 19.4 percent of all adult African immigrants in the United States held a graduate degree, compared to 8.1 percent of adult white Americans and 3.8 percent of adult black Americans in the United States. According to the 2000 Census, the percentage of Africans with a graduate degree is highest among Nigerian Americans at 28.3 percent, followed by Egyptian Americans at 23.8 percent.
Hunter College
Out of 442 nationally ranked colleges and universities, Hunter is No. 2 in the number of women graduates who pursue PhDs and No. 9 in the number of minority graduates who pursue PhDs. In a separate study conducted by the National Science Foundation for the period 1999–2003, out of 604 institutions of higher education evaluated, Hunter was No. 6 in the total number of doctorate recipients earned by undergraduates.
Doctor of Philosophy
At the start of the 20th century, U.S. universities were held in low regard internationally and many American students were still traveling to Europe for PhDs. The lack of centralised authority meant anyone could start a university and award PhDs. This led to the formation of the Association of American Universities by 14 leading research universities (producing nearly 90% of the approximately 250 legitimate research doctorates awarded in 1900), with one of the main goals being to "raise the opinion entertained abroad of our own Doctor's Degree".
Decreasing graduation completion rates in the United States
In his 2010 State of the Union Address, President Obama said that he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. To reach this "big goal", American college graduates should increase by 50%, adding at least 8 million additional graduates. Obama said that increasing college completion rate is important to increase economic opportunities and lower social costs for individuals.
Doctorate
The structure of US doctoral programs is more formal and complex than some others. US research doctorates are awarded for successfully completing and defending independent research presented in the form of a dissertation, along with advanced study. Multiple professional degrees use the term "doctor" in their title, such as Juris Doctor and Doctor of Medicine, but these degrees do not always contain an independent research component or always require a dissertation and should not be confused with Ph.D./D.Phil./Ed.D./D.Ed. degrees or other research doctorates. Law school graduates, although awarded the J.D. degree, are not normally addressed as "doctor". In legal studies the Ph.D. equivalent is the much rarer Doctor of Juridical Science.
Educational inequality
Males get worse grades than females do regardless of year or country examined in most subjects. In the U.S. Women are more likely to have earned a bachelor's degree than men by the age of 29. Female students graduate high school at a higher rate than male students. In the U.S. in 2003, 72 percent of female students graduated, compared with 65 percent of male students.
The gender gap in graduation rates is particularly large for minority students. Men are under-represented among both graduate students and those who successfully complete master's and doctoral degrees in the U.S. Causes include boys having worse self-regulation skills than girls and being more sensitive to school-quality and home environment than girls. Boys perceiving education as feminine and lacking educated male role-models also contributes to males being less likely to complete college. In the U.S., male students perform worse on reading tests and read less than their female counterparts in part because males are more physically active, more aggressive, less compliant, and because school reading curricula do not match their interests. Teacher Bias in grading accounts for 21% of the male deficit in grades.
Diana Natalicio
As of February 2016, Natalicio has served as university president longer than any sitting president at a U.S. major public research university. She has been criticized for low graduation rates during her tenure (13 percent in 2013, compared to 2.6 percent in 1999), but she has said that graduation rates are not the most important measures of a university's success.
Graduate science education in the United States
In North America, the "thesis defense" or "oral defense" is the final examination for doctoral candidates, and sometimes for master's candidates. The examining committee normally consists of the thesis committee, usually a given number of professors mainly from the student's university plus his or her primary supervisor, an external examiner (someone not otherwise connected to the university), and a chair person. Each committee member will have been given a completed copy of the dissertation prior to the defense, and will come prepared to ask questions about the thesis itself and the subject matter. In many schools, master's thesis defenses are restricted to the examinee and the examiners, but doctoral defenses are open to the public.
Doctor of Computer Science
There are two active definitions of what comprises a research doctorate or similar in the U.S. The National Center for Education Statistics defines a "Doctor's degree-research/scholarship" as "A Ph.D. or other doctor's degree that requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement." The awarding institution defines which degrees meet this description themselves. The National Science Foundation defines a "research doctorate" as "a doctoral degree that (1) requires completion of an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project (e.g., musical composition) and (2) is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession." Under this definition, the 
DCS, which (as noted above) is intended for professionals in the field of computer science, is not recognized by the National Science Foundation as a research doctorate equivalent to a Ph.D in Computer Science.
Ross University School of Medicine
In 2013, the attrition rate at Ross University was reported to be approximately 20-27%, which was significantly higher than that of U.S. medical schools (3%). According to the university's Gainful Employment data, 77% of students completed the program in four years in 2014-2015. According to the US Department of Education, 70% of students completed the program on time in 2016 with a mean combined loan debt of $268,134.00 for U.S. borrowers, significantly higher than the national mean of $190,694. In 2016, the university reported a residency match rate of 86% among first-time eligible applicants. In 2016, the university reported first-time pass rates for the USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2 CK, and USMLE Step 2 CS were 93%, 87%, and 94%, respectively.
Graduate science education in the United States
In some U.S. doctoral programs, the term "dissertation" can refer to the major part of the student's total time spent (along with two or three years of classes), and may take years of full-time work to complete. At most universities, "dissertation" is the term for the required submission for the doctorate, and "thesis" refers only to the master's degree requirement. Generally speaking, a dissertation is judged as to whether or not it makes an original and unique contribution to scholarship. Lesser projects (a master's thesis, for example) are judged by whether or not they demonstrate mastery of available scholarship in the presentation of an idea.
Brazilian Americans
The 2000 U.S. Census showed that 34.5 percent of Brazilians had completed four or more years of college, while the corresponding number for the general U.S. population is only 24.4 percent. However, although effectively many Brazilian immigrants in the United States are university educated, most of these immigrants fail to get well-qualified jobs and have to get lower-status jobs because the United States doesn't recognize their qualifications and also because many of them do not speak English.
Higher education in the United States
Suzanne Mettler notes in her book, Degrees of Inequality, that in 1970 40% of US students in top income quartile had achieved a bachelor's degree by the age of 24. By 2013, this percentage rose to 77%. For students in the bottom income quartile, only 6% had earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. By 2013, this percentage was still at a marginal 9%. Unfortunately, there have been and continue to be many barriers for students of lower socioeconomic status to get access. There are certain organizations and programs that have capitalized on the idea that attaining a college degree, specifically at a top tier university, is critical to social mobility. Organizations like QuestBridge, a non-profit focused on helping students of low socioeconomic status and minority background, have helped historically underrepresented groups attain a significant degree of social advantage. QuestBridge is partnered with the nation's top 38 colleges and has helped over 13,000 students gain entrance into these universities since 2004. However, even these accomplishments are minuscule, when we recognize that there are between 25,000 and 35,000 low income students that are qualified to gain entrance into the nation's top universities each year, but do not even apply. By these standards, QuestBridge has served less than 4% of the students that they focus on.
Science and technology in Uzbekistan
In 2011, three-quarters of Uzbek researchers were employed in higher education and just 6% in the business enterprise sector. With most university researchers nearing retirement, this imbalance imperils Uzbekistan’s research future. Almost all holders of a Candidate of Science, Doctor of Science or PhD are more than 40 years old and half are over the age of 60. Nearly one in four researchers (38.4%) holds a PhD, or its equivalent, and the remainder a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Graduate school
Doctoral students generally spend roughly their first two to three years taking coursework and begin research by their second year if not before. Many master's and all specialist students will perform research culminating in a paper, presentation, and defense of their research. This is called the master's thesis (or, for Educational Specialist students, the specialist paper). However, many US master's degree programs do not require a master's thesis, focusing instead primarily on course work or on "practicals" or "workshops." Some students complete a final culminating project or "capstone" rather than a thesis. Such "real-world" experience may typically require a candidate work on a project alone or in a team as a consultant, or consultants, for an outside entity approved or selected by the academic institution and under faculty supervision.
List of fields of doctoral studies in the United States
These are fields of research-oriented doctoral studies, leading mostly to PhDs – in the academic year 2014–15, 98% of the 55,006 research doctorates awarded in the U.S. were PhDs; 1.1% were EdDs; 0.9% were other research doctorates. Professional degrees, though they are also considered doctorates (earned, not honorary), and do entitle the holder to call themselves "Doctor", such as MD, DDS, DVM, JD, DPharm, DMin and PsyD, are not included in the survey.
Comparison of MD and DO in the United States
Of the 860,917 physicians actively practicing in the United States in 2015, 67.1% hold an MD degree granted in the U.S., 24.3% are international medical graduates, and 7.6% hold a DO degree. The percentage of physicians that hold a DO degree varies by specialty, with the greatest representation in Family Medicine/General Practice (16.5% of general practitioners), Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (13.8%), and Emergency Medicine (11.2%).
Cornell University
Cornell, a research university, is ranked fourth in the world in producing the largest number of graduates who go on to pursue PhDs in engineering or the natural sciences at American institutions, and fifth in the world in producing graduates who pursue PhDs at American institutions in any field. Research is a central element of the university's mission; in 2009 Cornell spent $671 million on science and engineering research and development, the 16th highest in the United States.
BYU School of Accountancy
The SOA started a Ph.D. prep track informally in 1994. The professors noticed several students who had a desire to enter a Ph.D. program but realized that they understood very little about what earning a Ph.D. entailed; moreover, since academia is suffering from a significant shortage of accounting professors and is projected to face even more significant shortages in the future, the program seemed ideally suited for the situation., The program was formalized in 2000, as applicants were required to apply and efforts were made to more formally recruit students. In 2002, seven students finished the program and entered Ph.D. programs. Thereafter, the program has placed between four and nine students each year into Ph.D. programs across the country. The Ph.D. Prep Track has been successful in placing into doctoral programs 100 percent of its graduates who have submitted applications. The school has become the largest single provider of students into Ph.D. programs in the United States.
Women's health
These challenges are included in the goals of the Office of Research on Women's Health, in the United States, as is the goal of facilitating women's access to careers in biomedicine. The ORWH believes that one of the best ways to advance research in women's health is to increase the proportion of women involved in healthcare and health research, as well as assuming leadership in government, centres of higher learning, and in the private sector. This goal acknowledges the glass ceiling that women face in careers in science and in obtaining resources from grant funding to salaries and laboratory space. The National Science Foundation in the United States states that women only gain half of the doctorates awarded in science and engineering, fill only 21% of full-time professor positions in science and 5% of those in engineering, while earning only 82% of the remuneration their male colleagues make. These figures are even lower in Europe.
Doctor of Philosophy
The US higher education system often offers little incentive to move students through Ph.D. programs quickly and may even provide incentive to slow them down. To counter this problem, the United States introduced the Doctor of Arts degree in 1970 with seed money from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The aim of the Doctor of Arts degree was to shorten the time needed to complete the degree by focusing on pedagogy over research, although the Doctor of Arts still contains a significant research component. Germany is one of the few nations engaging these issues, and it has been doing so by reconceptualising Ph.D. programs to be training for careers, outside academia, but still at high-level positions. This development can be seen in the extensive number of Ph.D. holders, typically from the fields of law, engineering, and economics, at the very top corporate and administrative positions. To a lesser extent, the UK research councils have tackled the issue by introducing, since 1992, the EngD.
Immigration to the United States
At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90-95% of the student population (most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries). However, the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools. The proportion of foreign-born engineers among assistant professors younger than 35 years has increased from 10% in 1972 to 50%-55% in 1983-1985, illustrating a dramatic increase on US dependence on foreign-born students in the US college system. The increase in non-citizen assistant professors of engineering is the result of the fact that, in recent years, foreign-born engineers received close to 50 percent of newly awarded engineering doctorates (naturalized citizens accounted for about 4 percent) and, furthermore, they entered academe in disproportionately large numbers. 33% of all U.S. Ph.D.s in science and engineering are now awarded to foreign born graduate students as of 2004.
Ms. JD
Though women comprise approximately half of the student body of American law schools, they represent only 17% of partners at major law firms and less than a quarter of tenured law professors. Similarly, on the national level, we have had only one female U.S. Attorney General, three female Secretaries of State, three women Supreme Court Justices, and one acting Solicitor General. Concerned by the rates at which women opt out of the legal profession, the lack of representation of women in the highest courts and echelons of the legal community, and the role of gender in the progression of many women's legal careers, a group of female law students from UC Berkeley, Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and Yale Law School came together and created Ms. JD in March 2006 at a two-day conference hosted by Stanford Law School. In 2006, Ms. JD incorporated in the state of California and received 501(c)(3) charitable status from the Internal Revenue Service. On March 31, 2007, Ms. JD publicly launched its website at a national conference co-hosted by Yale Law Women and hosted at Yale Law School. The Women's Law School Coalition (WLSC) merged with Ms. JD in 2007.
Doctor of Philosophy
U.S. students typically undergo a series of three phases in the course of their work toward the Ph.D. degree. The first phase consists of coursework in the student's field of study and requires one to three years to complete. This often is followed by a preliminary, a comprehensive examination, or a series of cumulative examinations where the emphasis is on breadth rather than depth of knowledge. The student is often later required to pass oral and written examinations in the field of specialization within the discipline, and here, depth is emphasized. Some Ph.D. programs require the candidate to successfully complete requirements in pedagogy (taking courses on higher level teaching and teaching undergraduate courses) or applied science (e.g., clinical practice and predoctoral clinical internship in Ph.D. programs in clinical, counseling, or school psychology).
Educational attainment in the United States
In 2003, over four-fifths (85 percent) of all adults 25 years or older reported they had completed at least high school, or obtained a GED/high school equivalency certificate. Over one in four adults (27 percent) had attained at least a bachelor's degree. Both of these measures are all time highs. In 2003, the percentage of the adult population who had completed high school or had not completed high school but obtained a GED increased for the first time since 2000, when it was 84 percent. This increase follows a general trend that the Current Population Survey has shown since educational attainment was first measured in 1947.
Comprehensive examination
In some U.S. graduate programs, particularly in the natural sciences, the majority of students do not have master's degrees when they begin doctoral work, and the successful students will earn doctorates without getting master's degrees on the way. In these programs, a student who does not pass "comps" or "prelims" on the second attempt will generally be allowed to earn a terminal master's degree but is not permitted to become a candidate for a doctoral degree. At some institutions, students who pass the exam and are formally accepted as PhD candidates are technically entitled to a Master of Arts or Master of Sciences degree, but submitting an application is required, so no master's degree will be awarded unless the student specifically requests it. Other institutions issue an All But Dissertation certificate after a student has passed the comprehensive exams.
KIPP (organization)
Overall in the United States 83% of students complete high school, 62% enroll in college, and 31% complete a four-year degree.
Doctorate
Criteria for admission to doctoral programs varies. In the U.S. and the U.K., students may be admitted with a bachelor's degree, while elsewhere, e.g. in Finland, a master's degree is required. The time required to complete a research doctorate varies from three years, excluding undergraduate study, to six years or more.
List of master's degrees in North America
In the United States and Canada, a Master of Philosophy or "Magister Philosophiae" (MPhil) degree is sometimes awarded to "ABD" (all but dissertation) doctoral candidates who have completed all coursework, passed their written and oral examinations, and met any other special requirements before beginning work on the doctoral dissertation. Such programs generally award the M.A. to students who have completed all coursework and preliminary exams (about two years after the B.A.), and the M.Phil. after advanced exams (comprehensives) and all language requirements have been met, and a dissertation topic approved (usually a year after the M.A.).
Woman
There is a common misconception that women have still not advanced in achieving academic degrees. According to Margaret Rossiter, a [[historian]] of science, women now earn 54 percent of all bachelor's degrees in the United States. However, although there are more women holding bachelor's degrees than men, as the level of education increases, the more men tend to fit the statistics instead of women. At the [[Postgraduate education|graduate level]], women fill 40 percent of the [[doctorate]] degrees (31 percent of them being in engineering).
Doctor (title)
In 2008, The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany extended their 2001 decision to recognise EU PhDs to cover PhDs that were awarded in Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, and some American universities. It was announced in 2012 that this would be further extended to cover PhDs awarded in New Zealand. PhDs that were awarded in the United States are recognized if the awarding institution is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a "Research University (high research activity)" or as a "Research University (very high research activity)." Permission to use the title covers only scientific research degrees and does not extend to professional degrees such as the M.D. or J.D.
Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD)
USAID and BIFAD have a long history of training foreign students at U.S. institutions of higher education. A total of 1,593 degree seeking individuals were supported (2016) at institutions around the globe, 48% at U.S. institutions higher education another 5% are U.S. citizens working with Feed the Future Innovation Labs. Of the 1,593 individuals the majority of sought degrees were in agriculture followed by, education, social science, business, science and math, medicine and public health, and arts and humanities (2016).
Professors in the United States
Competition for assistant professor positions in many fields is rapidly growing; the number of PhD graduates is rising, while the number of assistant professor openings remains roughly constant. The opposite is true, however, in business disciplines, where the anticipated shortfall of business faculty may reach 2,400 openings by 2012. The U.S. Occupation Outlook Handbook notes that a significant proportion of any growth in academic professor jobs will be due to "part-time and non tenure-track positions". As of 2003, the average age at which scientists received tenure in the United States was 39, which can make it difficult for professors to balance professional and family obligations.
Healthcare reform debate in the United States
The American Academy of Family Physicians predicts a shortage of 40,000 primary care doctors (including family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology) by 2020. The number of medical students choosing the primary care specialty has dropped by 52% since 1997. Currently, only 2% of medical school graduates choose primary care as a career. An amendment to the Senate health bill includes $2 billion in funds over 10 years to create 2,000 new residency training slots geared toward primary care medicine and general surgery. Writing in Forbes, a physician argued that this is a "tiny band-aid at best," advocating full loan repayments and guaranteed positions upon graduation.
Science
In the late 20th century, active recruitment of women and elimination of institutional discrimination on the basis of sex greatly increased the number of women scientists, but large gender disparities remain in some fields; in the early 21st century over half of new biologists were female, while 80% of PhDs in physics are given to men. In the early part of the 21st century, women in the United States earned 50.3% of bachelor's degrees, 45.6% of master's degrees, and 40.7% of PhDs in science and engineering fields. They earned more than half of the degrees in psychology (about 70%), social sciences (about 50%), and biology (about 50-60%) but earned less than half the degrees in the physical sciences, earth sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer science. Lifestyle choice also plays a major role in female engagement in science; women with young children are 28% less likely to take tenure-track positions due to work-life balance issues, and female graduate students' interest in careers in research declines dramatically over the course of graduate school, whereas that of their male colleagues remains unchanged.
Shimer College
Shimer had one of the highest rates of doctoral candidates in the U.S. In a 1998 University of Wisconsin–Madison study, the college had the highest rate of graduates receiving doctoral degrees of any liberal-arts college and the third-highest rate of any undergraduate program in the nation. A 2009 report by "Washington Monthly" ranked Shimer third in graduate Ph.D. rate among U.S. liberal-arts colleges. Studies based on Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium data found that Shimer had the seventh-highest alumni Ph.D. rate of U.S. colleges and universities, and the highest rate for Ph.D.s in linguistics.
Women's education in the United States
2004–2005: For the first time, more doctoral degrees degrees are conferred on women than men in the United States women. More doctoral degrees have been conferred on women every year since. As of 2011, among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men—a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering, but when it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor's degrees, compared to nearly 18.7 million men—a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years.
Doctor of Philosophy
Detailed requirements for the award of a PhD degree vary throughout the world and even from school to school. It is usually required for the student to hold an Honours degree or a Master's Degree with high academic standing, in order to be considered for a PhD program. In the US, Canada, India, and Denmark, for example, many universities require coursework in addition to research for PhD degrees. In other countries (such as the UK) there is generally no such condition, though this varies by university and field. Some individual universities or departments specify additional requirements for students not already in possession of a bachelor's degree or equivalent or higher. In order to submit a successful PhD admission application, copies of academic transcripts, letters of recommendation, a research proposal, and a personal statement are often required. Most universities also invite for a special interview before admission.
MD–PhD
The vast majority (over 80%) of MD–PhD graduates eventually choose to enter academia, government, or industry where medical research is a central component of their duties. According to a FASEB study conducted in 2000, graduates of NIH-funded MSTPs make up just 2.5% of medical school graduates each year, but after graduation, account for about one third of all NIH research grants awarded to physicians. Many MD–PhD graduates also practice clinical medicine in their field of expertise.
Master of Philosophy
Although most American universities do not award the M.Phil., a few award it under certain circumstances. At those institutions (including Yale University, Columbia University, Pardee RAND Graduate School, George Washington University, Rutgers University, The New School for Social Research and the CUNY Graduate Center), the degree is awarded to Ph.D. candidates when they complete their required coursework and qualifying examinations prior to the completion and defense of a doctoral dissertation. This recognizes achievement beyond the Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees conferred after 1–3 years of graduate study and formalizes the more colloquial "All But Dissertation" status; as such, defense of a dissertation proposal is sometimes required for conferral.
Household income in the United States
According to the US Census Bureau persons with doctorates in the United States had an average income of roughly $81,400. The average for an advanced degree was $72,824, with men averaging $90,761 and women averaging $50,756 annually. Year-round full-time workers with a professional degree had an average income of $109,600 while those with a master's degree had an average income of $62,300. Overall, "…[a]verage earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for workers with professional degrees (M.D., O.D., D.P.T., D.P.M., D.O., J.D., Pharm.D., D.D.S., or D.V.M.).
United States
The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. The majority of the world's top universities listed by different ranking organizations are in the U.S. There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans 25 and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees. The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%. The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.
Educational attainment in the United States
Overall, women have surpassed men in terms of completion of secondary and post-secondary education. In 2015/2016, women earned 61% of associate degrees, 57% of bachelor's degrees, 59% of master's degrees, and 53% of doctorates. A similar pattern is also seen in high school education where in 2016 7.1% of males, but only 5.1% of females dropped out of high school.
Education in the United States
Higher education in the United States is an optional final stage of formal learning following secondary education, often at one of the 4,495 colleges or universities and junior colleges in the country. In 2008, 36% of enrolled students graduated from college in four years. 57% completed their undergraduate requirements in six years, at the same college they first enrolled in. The U.S. ranks 10th among industrial countries for percentage of adults with college degrees. Over the past 40 years the gap in graduation rates for wealthy students and low income students has widened significantly. 77% of the wealthiest quartile of students obtained undergraduate degrees by age 24 in 2013, up from 40% in 1970. 9% of the least affluent quartile obtained degrees by the same age in 2013, up from 6% in 1970.
Thesis
An undergraduate thesis is completed in the final year of the degree alongside existing seminar (lecture) or laboratory courses, and is often divided into two presentations: "proposal" and "thesis" presentations (though this varies across universities), whereas a master thesis or doctorate dissertation is accomplished in the last term alone and is defended once. In most universities, a thesis is required for the bestowment of a degree to a candidate alongside a number of units earned throughout their academic period of stay, though for practice and skills-based degrees a "practicum" and a written report can be achieved instead. The examination board often consists of 3 to 5 examiners, often professors in a university (with a Masters or PhD degree) depending on the university's examination rules. Required word length, complexity, and contribution to scholarship varies widely across universities in the country.
Trinity University (Texas)
An analysis by the Office of Institutional Research indicated that Trinity has made considerable progress in the number of graduates going on to earn doctoral degrees. Of students earning a bachelor's between 1982 and 1986, 2.9% went on to earn doctorates; of those earning a bachelor's between 1997 and 2001, 8.5% had. Trinity improved its ranking in this category from 328th to 38th among other colleges and universities.Trinity's 2,388 undergraduate students come from 45 U.S. states plus 61 countries. Students of color account for 23 percent of undergraduate and graduate students. The admissions office received 7,663 applications for the class of 2021, a 5.6 percent increase from the previous year. The acceptance rate in 2017 was 38%, representing a 26 percentage-point decrease from 2014.
Thesis
In some U.S. doctoral programs, the "dissertation" can take up the major part of the student's total time spent (along with two or three years of classes) and may take years of full-time work to complete. At most universities, "dissertation" is the term for the required submission for the doctorate, and "thesis" refers only to the master's degree requirement.
Higher education in the United States
A US Department of Education longitudinal survey of 15,000 high school students in 2002, and again in 2012 at age 27, found that 84% of the 27-year-old students had some college education, but only 34% achieved a bachelor's degree or higher; 79% owe some money for college and 55% owe more than $10,000; college dropouts were three times more likely to be unemployed than those who finished college; 40% spent some time unemployed and 23% were unemployed for six months or more; and 79% earned less than $40,000 per year.
The PhD Project
Recently, The PhD Project surveyed undergraduate and graduate students taking classes from minority professors and/or minority doctoral students to gauge the impact those instructors are having on minority and non-minority students’ education. The survey revealed that minority professors are having an astonishing impact on the career decisions of both minority and non-minority students. When asked, 83% of respondents said minority professors are positively impacting minority students’ employment or internship decisions. Almost 70% of respondents believe that they are impacting non-minority students’ employment or internship decisions, as well.
Sexism in academia
According to the National Science Foundation's 2015 survey of Doctorate recipients, only 40.41% of U.S. doctorate scientists employed in teaching positions were women, 61,750 out of a sample of 152,800. Of the female population, 75.95% were White, 11.01% were Asian, 5.34% were Hispanic or Latino, 5.67% were Black or African American, 0.32% were American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 1.62% constituted other races, including Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and those who marked multiple races who were not Hispanic or Latino. In addition, Asian women held 3% of tenured positions, Latinas 2.4%, and Black women 2.3% according to a 2015 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Nelson Diversity Surveys
This NDS was the first national and comprehensive analysis of tenured and tenure track faculty in the “top 50” departments of 14 science and engineering disciplines, quantifying faculty headcount and the underrepresentation of minorities and women among faculty. There were few tenured and tenure-track women faculty in these departments in research universities, even though a growing number of women were completing their PhDs. Qualified women were not going to science and engineering departments. In some engineering disciplines, there was a better match between the representation of females in PhD attainment versus the faculty, but these disciplines were the ones with very low percentages of females in PhD attainment. Underrepresented minority (URM) women faculty were almost nonexistent in science and engineering departments at research universities. In the “top 50” computer science departments, there were no Black, Hispanic, or Native American tenured or tenure track women faculty. For chemistry and chemical engineering faculties, additional national origin data revealed that recently, more immigrants had been hired as faculty than had American females and American minorities combined.
Educational attainment in the United States
In 2015, among adults aged 65 and older, 84 percent had either completed high school or more education, or had failed to complete high school but obtained at least a GED certification, compared to 91 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 and 89 percent of adults aged 35 to 44 years or 45 to 64 years. In addition, 27 percent of the population aged 65 and older reported a bachelor's degree or more education compared to 36 percent of adults 25 to 34 years old and 32 percent of adults aged 45 to 64 years.
Doctor of Philosophy
After two or two and a half years it is expected the research work of the doctoral candidate to be submitted in the form of oral qualification, where suggestions and corrections about the research hypothesis and methodology, as well as on the course of the research work are performed. The Ph.D. degree is only received after a successful defense of the candidate's thesis is performed (four or five years after the enrollment), and most of the times also requiring the most important results having been published in at least one peer-reviewed high impact international journal.
Doctorate
Ph.D.s and other research doctorates in the U.S. typically entail successful completion of pertinent classes, passing a comprehensive examination, and defending a dissertation.
Princeton University Department of Psychology
Nine percent of the department's graduate students are underrepresented minorities. In contrast, twelve percent of recipients of psychology doctoral degrees in 2005 were African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. However, the ethnic and racial diversity of the department's students is comparable to the diversity of the student body of the university's Graduate School. Eight percent of the university's graduate students are members of the three aforementioned underrepresented groups. To reduce minority underrepresentation in graduate school, the department's faculty and graduate students participate in the Princeton Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program, which seeks to encourage students from underrepresented groups to apply to and succeed in graduate school.
Bachelor's degree or higher
Bachelor's degree or higher is a commonly used term by the United States Census Bureau and other U.S. government agencies on the federal as well as state and local level. The term describes the portion of the population that has either a bachelor's degree or a higher degree such as a master's or doctorate degree. In 2017, 33.4% of the population over 25 years old in the United States had a bachelor's degree or higher.
University of Notre Dame
In 2016–2017, Notre Dame ranked 7th for undergraduate teaching and 15th overall among "national universities" in the United States in "U.S. News & World Report"s "Best Colleges 2016". In 2014, "USA Today" ranked Notre Dame 10th overall for American universities. "Forbes"'s "America's Top Colleges" ranks Notre Dame 13th among colleges in the United States in 2016, 8th among Research Universities, and 1st in the Midwest. "U.S. News & World Report" also lists Notre Dame Law School as 22nd overall. "BusinessWeek" ranks Mendoza College of Business undergraduate school as 1st overall. It ranks the MBA program as 20th overall. The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks Notre Dame's graduate philosophy program as 15th nationally, while "Architect" Magazine ranked the undergraduate architecture program as 12th nationally.
Additionally, the study abroad program ranks sixth in highest participation percentage in the nation, with 57.6% of students choosing to study abroad in 17 countries. According to PayScale, undergraduate alumni of University of Notre Dame have a mid-career median salary $110,000, making it the 24th highest among colleges and universities in the United States. The median starting salary of $55,300 ranked 58th in the same peer group. In a corporate study carried out by "The New York Times", Notre Dame's graduates were shown to be among the most sought-after and valued in the world,
Educational attainment in the United States
In 2016/2017, women are projected to earn 64.2% of associate degrees, 59.9% of bachelor's degrees, 62.9% of master's degrees, and 55.5% of Doctorates.
Excelsior Scholarship
As of 2012, only 25.9% of CUNY students graduate with a bachelors within 4 years, as required by the Excelsior Scholarship, according to the CUNY Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. 48.9% of State University of New York students graduate with a bachelors within 4 years.
College of Wooster
The College of Wooster also has an Independent Study program, in which all students work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to complete a written thesis or other significant project during the course of the senior year, usually about 50 to 100 pages in length. The student also presents an oral defense of the thesis before a faculty committee. The program, begun in 1947 by Howard Lowry (the college's 7th President), has received attention from other colleges and universities, and a number of other institutions have modeled programs after it. In 2003, the independent study program at Wooster was recognized by "US News and World Report" as the second best 'senior capstone experience' in the US, behind only Princeton University. Wooster ranks 14th in the United States among independent colleges whose graduates earned Ph.D.s between 1920 and 1995 (according to the Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients, 1998). Preparation and completion of the thesis can be time consuming, and led to one view in which a student, writing in the weekly "The Wooster Voice", suggested that the independent study program be interwoven with career planning as well as applications to graduate schools.
American Indian College Fund
Today American Indians account for only 1% of all college students, and 13.6% of American Indians over age 25 years old have a bachelor's degree compared to 29.3% of the overall population. Poverty is part of the reason so few American Indians and Alaska Natives go to college, with current data showing that 28.3% of the American Indian and Alaska Natives living below the poverty level compared to 15.5% of the overall population.
Immigration to the United States
In the United States, a significant proportion of scientists and engineers are foreign-born, as well as students in science and engineering programs. However, this is not unique to the US since foreigners make up significant amounts of scientists and engineers in other countries. As of 2011, 28% of graduate students in science, engineering, and health are foreign. The number of science and engineering (S&E) bachelor's degrees has risen steadily over the past 15 years, reaching a new peak of about half a million in 2009. Since 2000, foreign born students in the United States have consistently earned a small share (3%-4%) of S&E degrees at the bachelor's level. Foreign students make up a much higher proportion of S&E master's degree recipients than of bachelor's or associate degree recipients. In 2009, foreign students earned 27% of S&E master's degrees and 33% in doctorate degrees. Significant numbers of foreign born students in science and engineering are not unique to America since foreign students now account for nearly 60% of graduate students in mathematics, computer sciences, and engineering globally. In Switzerland and the United Kingdom, more than 40% of doctoral students are foreign. A number of other countries, including New Zealand, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and the United States, have relatively high percentages (more than 20%) of doctoral students who are foreign. Foreign student enrollment in the United Kingdom has been increasing. In 2008, foreign students made up 47% of all graduate students studying S&E in the United Kingdom (an increase from 32% in 1998). Top destinations for international students include the United Kingdom (12%), Germany (9%), and France (9%). Together with the U.S., these countries receive more than half of all internationally mobile students worldwide. Although the United States continues to attract the largest number and fraction of foreign students worldwide, its share of foreign students has decreased in recent years.
Thesis
The (DEA) can last two years and candidates must complete coursework and demonstrate their ability to research the specific topics they have studied. After completing this part of the PhD, students begin a dissertation on a set topic. The dissertation must reach a minimum length depending on the subject and it is valued more highly if it contains field research. Once candidates have finished their written dissertations, they must present them before a committee. Following this presentation, the examiners will ask questions.
Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, also referred to as the McNair Scholars Program, is a United States Department of Education initiative with a goal of increasing "attainment of PhD degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society," including first-generation low-income individuals and members from racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in graduate programs.
Doctor of Philosophy
"The Economist" published an article in 2010 citing various criticisms against the state of Ph.D.s. These included a prediction by economist Richard B. Freeman that, based on pre-2000 data, only 20% of life science Ph.D. students would gain a faculty job in the U.S., and that in Canada 80% of postdoctoral research fellows earned less than or equal to an average construction worker ($38,600 a year). According to the article, only the fastest developing countries (e.g. China or Brazil) have a shortage of PhDs.
Kent State University at Stark
Kent State Stark faculty are committed to student success. Ninety percent of full-time faculty hold a Ph.D. or an equivalent terminal degree in their field. Every student is taught by one of the 293 qualified faculty and Kent State Stark does not use graduate assistants and uses very few adjunct faculty to teach classes. Faculty have earned doctorates from twenty U.S. states and ten foreign universities. All instructors hold at least a master's degree in their teaching field.
Small class sizes are designated in the campus strategic plan as a "campus value." Classes average only eighteen students per section and 85% of undergraduate classes have fewer than thirty students.
Grinnell College
Data from 2006 placed Grinnell at number eight among all U.S. undergraduate institutions in the proportion of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D. degrees and 15th for graduating female Ph.D. earners. Grinnell College graduates enjoy a high acceptance rate to law school; over 46% of all applications submitted by students have been accepted by law schools. Unigo.com's 2010 college rankings place Grinnell College in the "Top 10 Colleges Where the Pursuit of Knowledge Goes Outside the Classroom".
Walden University
The U.S. Department of Education's Cohort Default Rate (CDR) demonstrates an institution's borrower's ability to manage their debt against default. Walden's CDR is 6.8%; the national average is 11.8% for all US institutions. A recent study by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) found that the average annual federal student loan amounts of Walden graduate degree borrowers is similar to the federal loan amounts of students at public and private non-profit institutions.
List of doctoral degrees in the US
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has published an annual census of research doctorates called the "Survey of Earned Doctorates" (SED) since 1957 with sponsorship from the NSF, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Education. For the purposes of this survey, a "research doctorate" is defined as "a doctoral degree that (1) requires completion of an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project (e.g., musical composition) and (2) is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession." It should be noted that the second point here – that a research doctorate is "not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession" means that not all doctorates containing "an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project" are regarded as research doctorates by the NSF. The NSF list of research doctorates is recognized internationally as establishing which U.S. doctorates are considered Ph.D.-equivalent, e.g. by the European Research Council.
Decreasing graduation completion rates in the United States
Degree completion has been decreasing since 1970. Bound, Lovenheim and Turner (2010) studied why the college completion rate declined. Their main explanations of the decreasing rate are the changes in student preparation and the collegiate resources. The authors explain that between 1970 and 1999, post-secondary institutions saw a significant increase in enrollments and, at the same time, a decrease in college completion. "Partly as a consequence of the substantial increase in the college wage premium since 1980, a much higher fraction of high school graduates enter college today than they did a quarter century ago. However, the rise in the fraction of high school graduates attending college has not been met by a proportional increase in the fraction who finish."
Indian Americans
According to Pew Research in 2015, 72% of Indian Americans had a bachelor's degree or more. 32% of Indian Americans, aged over 25, had a bachelor's degree and 40% had a postgraduate degree compared to 19% of bachelor's degree attainment and 11% postgraduate degree attainment among
Postgraduate education
Ph.D. candidates undertaking research must typically complete a thesis, or dissertation, consisting of original research representing a significant contribution to their field, and ranging from two-hundred to five-hundred pages. Most Ph.D. candidates will be required to sit comprehensive examinations—examinations testing general knowledge in their field of specialization—in their second or third year as a prerequisite to continuing their studies, and must defend their thesis as a final requirement. Some faculties require candidates to earn sufficient credits in a third or fourth foreign language; for example, most candidates in modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese, and Mandarin, while candidates in pre-modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese, Classical Chinese, and Classical Japanese.
Decreasing graduation completion rates in the United States
Graduation rate has been reported to be decreasing over the past decades in the U.S. However, the percentage of dropouts among 16-24-year-olds has shown some decreases over the past 20 years. The substantial growth in college enrollment among high school graduates has not been matched with a comparable expansion in college degree attainment.
Graduate science education in the United States
The median number of years for completion of doctoral degrees for all fields in the U.S. is seven. Furthermore, doctoral applicants were previously required to have a master's degree, but many programs will now accept students immediately following their undergraduate studies. Many programs simply gauge the potential of a student applying to their program and will give them a master's degree upon completion of the necessary Ph.D. course work. When so admitted, the student is expected to have mastered the material covered in the master's degree even though the student does not officially hold a master's degree. In some institutions, once the person has finished Ph.D. qualifying exams, he/she is considered a Ph.D. candidate, and may begin work on his/her dissertation.
Women in STEM fields
The percentage of PhDs in STEM fields in the U.S. earned by women is about 42%, whereas the percentage of PhDs in all fields earned by women is about 52%. Stereotypes and educational differences can lead to the decline of women in STEM fields. These differences start as early as the third grade according to Thomas Dee, with boys advancing in math and science and girls advancing in reading.
Commission on the Future of Higher Education
The Higher Education Consumers Resource (http://www.highereducationconsumersresource.org/) took exception to the report, citing inadequate research on root cause of the problems. With over 80% of all Americans having successfully completed 12 years of school, the fact that fewer than 25% go on to successfully complete a college degree is meaningful. In Ohio alone, there are 8 colleges that graduate less than 35% of the full-time freshman class within 6 years. This indicates serious institutional barriers to success within those institutions. Higher Education Consumers Resource believes academic and career advising from independent sources not beholding to the college or university is one step towards reducing dismal successful college completion rates.
Decreasing graduation completion rates in the United States
The US Census Bureau in 2009 reported that, nationally, 9% of 18–24 year-olds and only 27.5% of those 25 years and older had a bachelor's degree or more. Massachusetts is the state where the completion rate is the highest with 37.8% of citizens 25 years and older having a bachelor's degree. In West Virginia, the completion rate is the lowest with only 17.1% of the population having bachelor's degrees.