PhD completion rates in the US

Here's the Inside HigherEd story. Even though I knew that a fairly large number of people who enter a PhD program do not complete it, I didn't know that by the end of their tenth year, only 58 percent of the men and 55 percent of the women manage to get their degree.

Here's an interesting finding -- related to international students:

One of the most striking gaps was found between international and domestic graduate students, with the former much more likely (67 percent vs. 54 percent) to complete doctorates within 10 years. Many graduate students from outside the United States enroll in science and technology programs, which historically have speedier Ph.D. completion times than do other programs. But even comparing international and domestic students with disciplines factored in, the non-Americans are much more likely to finish.

Here's the relevant table:

10-Year Completion Rates by Field and Citizenship

Field	Domestic U.S.	International
Engineering	58%	70%
Life sciences	58%	66%
Math and physical sciences	51%	68%
Social sciences	56%	63%
Humanities	50%	52%