Science and Engineering Doctorates

Overall counts and trends

The number of first-generation college students who later received a doctorate peaked at 19,060 in 1973. Doctorates awarded to this group declined at an average rate of nearly 2% per year from 1973 to 1987; despite short periods of growth and decline there has been no discernible trend since 1987. The number of doctorate recipients for whom at least one parent earned a college degree (second- or later-generation college students) grew at an average rate of almost 2% annually from 1973 to 1987 and grew at an even faster annual rate (3%) after 1987. As a result of these differential rates of growth, the proportion of doctorate recipients who were first-generation college students has fallen from more than two-thirds in 1963 to less than one-third in 2014.

Fields of study

In 1994, compared with doctorate recipients who were second- or later-generation college graduates, doctorate recipients who were first-generation college graduates were more likely to earn their degree in education (22% versus 11%) and were less likely to choose an S&E field of study (62% versus 71%).

Twenty years later, the field of study choices between the two groups became more similar. Education was only the fifth most common field of study in 2014 for doctorate recipients who were first-generation college graduates, and the percentage of doctorate recipients who were first-generation graduates choosing an S&E field for their doctoral studies (74%) nearly matched the share of other doctorate holders earning an S&E doctorate that year (76%)

Characteristics of doctorate recipients: Citizenship and Sex

From 1994 to 2014, the share of first-generation college students with a doctorate remained between 7 and 11 percentage points greater among temporary visa holders than among U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The proportion of first-generation college students with a doctorate declined steadily over the 20 years in both citizenship categories.

These citizenship trends differ for men and women. Among temporary visa holders, male doctorate recipients are more likely than their female counterparts to be first-generation college students. The reverse is true among the U.S. citizen and permanent resident category. Also, while the share of first-generation graduates among female temporary visa holders has remained nearly stable since 2002, the shares of first-generation graduates among the other three citizenship-sex categories continued to decline from 2002 to 2014.

Characteristics of doctorate recipients: Ethnicity and race

Among doctorate recipients reporting U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status, black or African American doctorate holders and Hispanic or Latino doctorate recipients are more likely to be first-generation college students than are Asian or white doctorate recipients. The share of doctorate holders who were first-generation college students declined gradually from 1994 to 2014 for all ethnic and racial groups except American Indian or Alaska Native doctorate recipients.

Characteristics of doctorate recipients: Doctoral institutions

The two generation groups differ in the types of institutions they choose for their doctoral studies. Doctorate recipients who were first-generation college students are less likely than other doctorate recipients to earn their doctoral degree from the most research-intensive universities. In the selected years 1994, 2004, and 2014, between 77% and 80% of second- or later-generation college students with doctorates received their doctorates from very high research universities, but only 66% to 70% of doctorate recipients who were first-generation doctorate college students did so.