Postdoctoral Appointments Rise While Graduate Enrollment Slows

Master’s Enrollment Trends, by Field

Master’s enrollment in SEH fields increased 22.1% between 2020 and 2024, with enrollment in biological and biomedical sciences and in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences increasing in each year. From 2020 to 2024, these two fields saw increases of 16.9% (from 39,920 to 46,661) and 140.7% (from 10,980 to 26,426), respectively (table 1). From 2023 to 2024, the largest numeric and percentage increase was in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences enrollment, with a 21.7% increase (from 21,709 to 26,426). Within multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences, data science and analytics drove this growth (table 1 and data tables: table 1-2).

As in previous years, computer and information sciences was the largest broad field in the GSS, enrolling over a quarter (27.1%) of master’s students in 2024 (table 1 and data tables: table 2-7). From 2021 to 2023, computer and information sciences was consistently the fastest growing field for master’s students. In 2024, enrollment of master’s students in this field declined for the first time since 2020, from 141,116 in 2023 to 137,358 in 2024 (2.7%). Even with this 1-year decline, the overall enrollment of master’s students in computer and information sciences in 2024 was 70.2% higher than it was in 2020 (table 1).

Among engineering broad fields, only three fields increased enrollment between 2023 and 2024: biological, biomedical, and biosystems engineering (5.2%); aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering (3.4%); and metallurgical, mining, materials, and related engineering (1.7%). All the remaining engineering subfields either remained stable or declined, with the largest decline in civil, environmental, transportation, and related fields (5.8%). Enrollment in the health field continued to decline, with a 2.5% decline from 2023 to 2024, mostly due to declining enrollment in public health (see data tables: table 1-2).

Doctoral Enrollment Trends, by Field

In 2024, doctoral enrollment rose to a record high of 312,148 (table 1). From 2023 to 2024, both science and engineering grew (1.9% and 2.0%, respectively), whereas health declined slightly (1.0%). Over the past 5 years, however, health fields had the largest growth (22.8%), followed by science (10.2%) and engineering (7.2%).

Within the sciences, doctoral enrollment in 7 of the 10 broad fields grew every year between 2020 and 2024. Of the remaining 3 science fields, mathematics and statistics enrollment grew from 2022 to 2024, psychology enrollment grew unevenly from 2020 to 2024, and social sciences enrollment declined most of the years from 2020 to 2024, with a 5.7% decline in enrollment over that period, including a 1.5% decline between 2023 and 2024. Offsetting the decline in the social sciences enrollment, enrollment in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences increased by 15.9% from 2023 to 2024 and enrollment in computer and information sciences and in biological and biomedical sciences grew by 6.8% and 2.5%, respectively, during that period (table 1).

Temporary Visa Holders

From 2021 to 2023, enrollment of temporary visa holders consistently increased in SEH master’s degree and full-time doctoral degree programs, yet between 2023 and 2024, enrollment for these groups slowed or declined, with differences across enrollment intensity and degree type (figure 2 and table 2). Among temporary visa holders enrolled in master’s degree programs, the number of part-time students increased 5.8% (from 31,049 in 2023 to 32,860 in 2024), the number of full-time students decreased by 8.0% (from 164,041 to 150,855), and the number of first-time, full-time students fell by 21.2% (from 77,702 to 61,263).

Among temporary visa holders in doctoral degree programs, the number of part-time students declined by 3.8% (from 9,017 in 2023 to 8,675 in 2024), whereas the number full-time students increased by 5.3% (from 115,985 to 122,179). First-time, full-time enrollment of temporary visa–holding doctoral students increased 2.4% (from 23,199 in 2023 to 23,756 in 2024) (data tables: table 1-7).

Among temporary visa holders in SEH, graduate enrollment for men and women from 2023 to 2024 followed the overall trends described above, increasing for part-time master’s students and for full-time doctoral students and decreasing for full-time master’s students and part-time doctoral students. Among full-time master’s students who were temporary visa holders, the percentage decline of female student counts was smaller than that for male students. Conversely, the percentage increase in the number of female students was slightly larger than the increase for male students. Specifically, part-time master’s enrollment for temporary visa holders from 2023 to 2024 increased by 7.1% for women and 5.1%, for men (table 2). However, full-time master’s enrollment for temporary visa holders from 2023 to 2024 decreased by 6.6% for women and 9.0% for men. Between 2023 and 2024, part-time doctoral enrollment for temporary visa holders decreased by 4.4% for women and 3.4% for men; however, full-time doctoral enrollment for temporary visa holders increased by 6.6% for women and 4.6% for men.

U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents

For the first time since 2021, the enrollment of U.S. citizens and permanent residents in SEH master’s programs in 2024 increased over the past year. Specifically, part-time enrollment increased by 2.1% from 2023 to 2024 (from 147,693 to 151,033), and full-time enrollment for this group increased by 6.2% (from 161,226 to 171,182) (table 2). Since 2020, part-time and full-time enrollment in master’s programs rose by 3.1% and 2.0%, respectively. Additionally, first-time, full-time master’s enrollment increased by 9.5% (from 74,010 to 81,016) from 2023 to 2024.

The trends among doctoral students differed. Among U.S. citizens or permanent residents in doctoral programs, part-time enrollment decreased by 1.8% (from 29,395 in 2023 to 28,872 in 2024), and full-time enrollment remained relatively stable with a modest decrease of 88 students. Yet, first-time, full-time enrollment in doctoral programs for U.S. citizens or permanent residents grew 2.0% (from 27,018 to 27,565) from 2023 to 2024.

Field of Research

From 2023 to 2024, postdoctoral appointments increased by 4.6% in science, 5.5% in engineering, and 9.6% in health (table 3). In 2024, the two fields with the most postdocs were biological and biomedical sciences (20,234) and clinical medicine (17,919). These are the only two fields employing more than 10,000 postdocs; together, they accounted for 54.6% of all postdoctoral employment.

Several broad fields had notable 1-year changes in the number of postdocs from 2023 to 2024. In the science fields, agricultural and veterinary sciences increased by 9.2%, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences increased by 7.4%, social sciences increased by 6.6%, and geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences increased by 6.5%. In engineering fields, mechanical engineering increased by 10.8% and civil, environmental, transportation, and related engineering fields increased by 9.0%. In the health fields, both clinical medicine (9.3%) and other health (11.8%) increased. All other subfields rose as well, with the exception of aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering (-3.1%) and industrial, manufacturing, systems engineering, and operations research (-4.7%).

From 2020 to 2024, NFR employment increased by 18.5%, and between 2023 and 2024, it rose by 2.3% (from 34,342 to 35,142), which is the most NFRs ever reported to the GSS (table 3 and data tables: table 1-1). The overall growth in NFRs was due to a 10.6% increase in the health fields. Specifically, clinical medicine grew by 820 NFRs. Similar to postdoc appointments, biological and biomedical sciences and clinical medicine were the two largest fields, employing about half (49.6%) of NFRs reported in the GSS (data tables: data table 2-1). The number of postdocs and NFRs in the social sciences increased in every year from 2020 to 2024, even as doctoral enrollment declined (table 2 and table 3).

Demographics of Postdocs

Between 2023 and 2024, the number of postdocs increased or remained stable in all racial and ethnic subgroups except for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (table 4). In 2024, 58.3% of postdocs were temporary visa holders, similar to the 57.9% in 2023 (data tables: table 1-7). Temporary visa–holding postdocs increased 6.8% (from 38,149 to 40,746) from 2023 to 2024, with similar count increases for both male and female postdocs (1,303 and 1,294, respectively). Female postdocs who held temporary visas increased by 8.6% from 2023 to 2024 and 24.2% from 2020 to 2024, with male postdocs on temporary visas experiencing smaller percentage growth in these two periods (5.7% and 7.9%, respectively).

The number of U.S. citizen and permanent resident postdocs increased by 5.2% (from 27,701 to 29,131) between 2023 to 2024, although overall counts declined by 2.5% since 2020 (table 4). Among U.S. citizen and permanent resident postdocs, the number of women grew by 7.2% and the number of men increased by 3.3%. Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, the number of female postdocs was similar in 2024 and 2020, whereas the number of male postdocs declined by 5.1% to 14,790 during this period.