Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

202.461.3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, D.C. – Since 2004 the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has conducted the International Graduate Admissions Survey, an annual study of applications and offers of admission, as well as first-time and total enrollment of international graduate students in master’s/certificate and research doctoral programs. The data from the 2016 preliminary applications survey provide an initial look into Fall 2016 international graduate admissions at U.S. institutions, and suggest that it will follow recent trends.

Key points gleaned from our preliminary dataset are below. Visit the CGS website for additional information including infographics, data tables, and notes and definitions from the survey. The final application counts, along with first-time and total international graduate enrollment for Fall 2016 will be available in early 2017.

Key points from the 2016 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey: Preliminary Applications

• The total preliminary number of international graduate applications reported in this year’s survey declined slightly from the results of the 2015 preliminary survey; however, this may be due to the lower response rate (n=345), as well as the change in the census date for this survey.
• Chinese and Indian applicants continue to represent the vast majority of international graduate applications in both master’s/certificate and doctoral programs.
• For the first time, the survey asked the preliminary application data for Iranian applicants and found they constituted 8% of international doctoral applications, tied with South Korean applicants.
• Engineering fields continue to be the most popular fields of study for international graduate applications in both master’s/certificate and doctoral programs.
• Master’s/certificate applications in mathematics & computer sciences have increased proportionally by five percentage points compared to the Fall 2015 preliminary data.