Doctoral Stats

•U.S. universities awarded more than 1.35 million research doctorates—Ph.D's—between 1920 and 2000.

•Overall, men received 73%, although women were acquiring 41% annually by the end of that period.

•Some 62 percent of the newly minted doctorates were awarded for research in science and engineering fields. However, from the 1960s on, more education doctorates were awarded than in any other single field.

•Since the 1990s, foreign nationals have been receiving one-in-three Ph.D's from U.S. universities.

•Since 1995, the median age at which people have been attaining their doctorates has been almost 34 years old.

Source: Thurgood, L., MJ. Golladay, and S.T. Hill. 2006. U.S. Doctorates in the 20th Century: A Special Report (NSF 06-319), issued by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Statistics, Arlington, Va. (June).