The Long Haul to a Doctorate

Susan Coyle

[Reprinted from a collection of essays, Headline News, Science Views, published by National Academy Press, 1991. At the time this essay was published, Susan Coye was a project officer with the National Research Council]

Universities are opening for the fall term, and young people who received their bachelor's degrees this past spring are coming face to face with their decision to either enter graduate school or go to work right away.

For many bright students, the choice was easy. They decided to spend two years in business school or three years in law school, an investment likely to yield a healthy starting salary and desirable career track. But for other top graduates, those interested in science and engineering fields, the decision was more agonizing. For them, getting a doctorate takes about seven years, followed by up to three years in a postdoctoral appointment.

Little wonder that many of these graduates are saying, "Thanks, but no thanks." There is a growing decline of Americans pursuing doctorates in scientific and engineering fields, and one reason is that it takes longer and longer to earn a Ph.D.

This is a dilemma not only for the students themselves but for any American who wants new medicines, better transportation, a cleaner environment or new consumer products. A steady supply of doctoral recipients is essential to teach, do research and create the knowledge that private industry uses to develop new products and services. Although graduate enrollments are rising in the sciences and engineering, most of the increase is now due to foreign students - and many of them return to their homeland.

In 1967, it took about five years to earn a doctorate in technical fields. Now it takes two years longer. Since many students take time off during their studies, the mean total time between receiving a bachelor's and doctoral degrees actually is 10 years. During the past two decades, this "total time to the doctorate" has increased by as little as four months in economics to nearly three years in the health sciences, with increases of at least two years in mathematics, psychology and the social sciences.

For students, this means more debt, less income and perhaps postponing the start of a family. Although most scientists do love their work, few are so single-minded as not to consider other career options. If they choose to become lawyers, investment bankers or something else, their skills and insight probably are lost forever to science.

We also are missing the opportunity to diversify the scientific work force by widening our country's traditional pool of technical talent - white male doctoral students. As the number of these students declines in physics, chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics and engineering, more women and minorities are acutely needed to fill the ranks. But their talents, too, will be lost as many of them size up the current situation and head elsewhere.

Taxpayers also suffer. Graduate students pay only about 12 percent of the approximate $25,000 annual cost of their education. The rest generally comes from federal research grants, the budgets of state universities and other public sources. Adding a couple of years to the time required of 13,000 American students adds up to "real money" that otherwise might be spent on financial aid for minority students, new research facilities or other pressing needs.

Some have suggested that this disturbing trend is the result of the additional time needed to cover the explosion in scientific knowledge. After all, there is much more to learn than there was in Thomas Edison's era. Yet this justification fails to explain why students in the same field take such varying lengths of time to complete their degrees. Those with fellowships or research assistantships usually complete their degrees more quickly than others. In fact, students paying their own way often need five or six years more to complete their doctorates. In other words, the problem is not scientific complexity so much as financial inadequacy.

The problem goes beyond money to include market forces, university policies, student readiness and other factors. Whatever the reasons, the road to the doctorate has become too prolonged, both for students and for society generally. If our nation wants continued technical advances, it must make it easier for its sons and daughters to get the advanced training they need.