Dropout Rate of PhD Students

Graduate School
1

<p>hi folks,</p>

<p>anyone know (anecdotally is fine) what is the avg rate in which students remain or drop out of PhD programs? do many students start and never finish? what are the numbers like? </p>

<p>thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>I believe the book "Getting What You Came For" says 50% overall. That includes both those who just never finish and those who are "cut" before candidacy. The author mentions one English department that, if I recall correctly, drops 80% of their students at that point!</p>

<p>The University of Minnesota has complete data on their programs here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.grad.umn.edu/programs/select_program.html?l=t%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.grad.umn.edu/programs/select_program.html?l=t&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>just select the program and the "Statistics" radio button and then "View". Click the "Graduate Student Progress" link and you'll have more than you want to know...</p>

<p>My field, Classics, looks pretty rough - the 1999/2000 cohort admitted 4 students and after 6 years only 1 was ABD with none complete. If I scroll down to "All Language, Lit. and Arts", they admitted 98 students that year with 26 completed, 38 ABD, and 14 still active at the end of 6 years study. Call it 27% actually got the PhD after 6 years.</p>

<p>The numbers for the sciences look better. With 305 admitted in 1999/2000 and 133 complete, 56 ABD, and 17 still active. About 44% with the PhD after 6 years.</p>