Graduate students stats

Non-US citizens made up about half the students who started physics and astronomy graduate programs in 1997. They tend to be older, have a more solid background in physics, and to have decided on a physics career earlier than their US counterparts, according to a recent report from the American Institute of Physics. They’re also twice as likely to focus on condensed matter physics and less likely to study astronomy and astrophysics. Students from China still account for more than a quarter of foreign students, but the numbers coming from Eastern and Central Europe are rising. Women, who made up about a fifth of the survey respondents, aspire to similar jobs as men—most of those with definite aims say they would like to go into research and teaching. But AIP found that incoming female students tend to be less certain of their career goals and are twice as likely as male students to feel underprepared for graduate work. The 1998 Graduate Student Report: First-Year Students compares the perceptions and plans of first-year graduate students by citizenship, degree program, and gender. It is available for free from AIP, Statistical Research Center, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3842; e-mail: stats@aip.org ; or on the Web at http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/undtrends.htm .