Engineering, Mathematics or Computer Science? Courses international students prefer to study in US – Find out

International students drove an increase in first-time enrolments in the US in 2022 compared with 2021. The Council of Graduate Schools’ Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2012 to 2022 report shows that international commencements grew by 10.2% between 2021 and 2022, in contrast to a 4.7% decline in domestic commencements.

The significant jump in international enrolments comes on the back of a 12% jump in international applications to US graduate programmes in Fall 2021 and a 26% surge in 2022.

However, even with that growth in international student numbers, overall enrolment in US graduate programmes has been trending downward in recent years.

Where do international graduate students prefer to study?

At private, not-for-profit universities, international students made up a third (33.2%) of all first-time enrolments, while at public universities, their share was lower (25%).

Foreign students accounted for almost 7 in 10 commencements in mathematics and computer science and more than half in engineering programmes. Only one field of study – engineering – did not see growth in first-time international graduate enrolments in 2022. Mathematics and computer sciences saw a 16.6% bounce, biological and agricultural sciences enrolled 16.6% more, and physical and earth sciences saw 10.3% more new international students.

Mathematics and computer sciences, business, engineering, and health sciences accounted for 47% of all graduate applications for which the intended field of study was known.

Master’s programmes in US saw the biggest increase in applications. Overall, applications to US graduate schools rose by nearly 4% between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022. This increase was driven by interest in master’s programmes, especially from Indian students.