Two national sources describe where graduate degrees and pathways in engineering, computer science and the physical sciences are heading. The Council of Graduate Schools' most recent Graduate Enrollment and Degrees report shows engineering and the physical sciences drawing more applications in fall 2024 while mathematics and computer sciences declined. Newer National Student Clearinghouse figures carry the computing decline through fall 2026. For graduate deans, program directors and employers that rely on advanced degrees, the data outline which pathways are expanding and which are contracting.

About the CGS report

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees 2025, published in November 2025 by the Council of Graduate Schools with ETS, reports results of the CGS/ETS survey conducted in late 2024. A total of 536 institutions responded. Because the set of responding schools changes from year to year, CGS reports most year-to-year comparisons as averages per institution grouped by size (small, medium and large), and it describes those comparisons as general patterns rather than strict trends.

Applications: engineering and physical sciences up

Responding institutions received 899,141 applications to doctoral programs and 1,961,548 to master's and other programs for fall 2024. At the doctoral level, engineering drew 116,249 applications, third among 11 broad fields. At the master's level, mathematics and computer sciences drew the most applications of any field, 330,894, and engineering ranked third with 206,419.

Direction is where the fields split. Average applications in engineering rose at small, medium and large institutions (by 10, 36 and 250 respectively), as did those in the physical and earth sciences (by 8, 24 and 116). Mathematics and computer sciences fell at all three sizes (by 13, 83 and 95). CGS attributed the computing drop largely to fewer international applicants. At the doctoral level, average applications rose in engineering, the physical and earth sciences and mathematics and computer sciences at large institutions. At the master's level, engineering gained while mathematics and computer sciences recorded the largest decline.

Selectivity also varies. The doctoral acceptance rate was 21 percent in engineering and 15 percent in mathematics and computer sciences. At the master's level, the physical and earth sciences had one of the lowest acceptance rates, at 38 percent, and mathematics and computer sciences accepted 45 percent.

New enrollees and the doctoral pathway

Institutions enrolled 537,850 first-time graduate students in fall 2024, with 83 percent in master's or other programs. Engineering had 11,551 first-time doctoral students, second only to health sciences. The physical and earth sciences stood apart as a doctoral pathway: 69 percent of their first-time graduate students entered doctoral programs, and 81 percent of their total graduate enrollment was doctoral. In engineering, 25 percent of first-time students entered doctoral programs.

Mathematics and computer sciences was the only broad field where average first-time enrollment fell at small, medium and large institutions. International first-time enrollment in the field dropped by an average of 2, 14 and 21 students at those three sizes, while engineering's international first-time enrollment rose by 14 at large institutions.

Clearinghouse figures through fall 2026

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which counts enrollment across nearly all U.S. institutions, reported for fall 2025 that graduate enrollment in computer and information sciences fell 14.0 percent, to about 190,000 students, and graduate engineering enrollment fell 2.2 percent.

Preliminary fall 2026 data, released October 29, 2026, show total graduate enrollment down 1.6 percent, driven largely by a 3.7 percent drop in master's enrollment, with doctoral enrollment down 0.5 percent. Graduate computer and information sciences enrollment fell another 10.4 percent. Those preliminary figures cover 46.0 percent of institutions as of September 24, 2026, and final numbers are due in January 2027.

What the data suggest for graduate degrees and pathways

  • Engineering master's and doctoral programs saw rising applications in the CGS data, but Clearinghouse counts show graduate engineering enrollment slipping in fall 2025, so application growth did not translate into enrollment growth everywhere.
  • Computing graduate programs face declines in both data sets, with CGS linking the drop to international applicants.
  • The physical and earth sciences remain chiefly a doctoral pathway, with more than four in five of their graduate students in doctoral programs.

The next CGS report, covering fall 2025, and the Clearinghouse's January 2027 final fall report will show whether these patterns held.

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