Growing PhD Enrollment & Graduation

Christopher M. Rios

Associate Dean for Enrollment Management

In 2019, the Graduate School developed a plan to grow and enhance PhD enrollment across the university.  It included four strategies.

  1. Identify programs with enough applicants, faculty mentors, and career opportunities to justify increasing enrollment and number of graduates.
  2. Reallocate resources to increase the number of internally funded PhD lines.  
  3. Maximize the use of our sophisticated admissions platform to better complement and enhance recruiting efforts at the department level.  
  4. Increase our outreach to prospective applicants—expanding the top of the funnel, in enrollment jargon.  We were particularly interested in diversifying our applicant pool.    

Recall that by 2019, Baylor’s graduate population had already experienced significant changes due to our rapid expansion in professional education.  These programs had high enrollment, a diverse student body, and students spread across the county.  Of note were the online doctoral programs in the School of Education (EdD) and Louise Herrington School of Nursing (DNP), as well as online master’s programs in Hankamer School of Business (OMBA) and Robbins College (MPH and CSD).  As a result, Baylor’s overall post-graduate enrollment increased more than 50%, the Graduate School’s by 58%.  Graduate students made up a larger share of Baylor’s overall enrollment, and the number and proportion of female and minority graduate students at Baylor grew exponentially.  These programs continue to enhance and help diversify Baylor’s student body.  (Previous Annual Reports have described these trends.)

Fall Enrollment – Graduate
Fall Enrollment – Baylor University

Meanwhile, PhD enrollment went relatively unchanged.  Several programs were growing, but few quickly.  Some were becoming more diverse, but the overall student body much less so.  Graduation rates, though always better than the national average, had plateaued—comfortably higher than most, notably lower than the best. 

Thus, surfaced a need for a more aggressive, more strategic plan for PhD enrollment.  We had clear metrics for identifying fields with the capacity to grow.  We developed a plan and secured the necessary support to dedicate most of our stipend funds to PhD students.  And we redoubled our recruiting efforts.  For example:

What are the results?  As seen in the tables below, Baylor is home to a larger, more diverse, and more successful PhD student body than ever before. 

A Larger Research University

Since the launch of our growth plan in 2019, Baylor’s PhD enrollment has increased 30%, from just under 700 students to nearly 900.  As intended, STEM programs grew the fastest.  Five years ago, STEM students made up 54% of overall enrollment.  Today that number is 60%. 

Fall Enrollment – PhD Increases

A More Diverse Research University

Growing PhD programs was only part of the goal.  We also sought to diversify our programs by attracting more underrepresented students.  The concepts of diversity and underrepresentation require some nuance at the graduate level.  The groupings often align with general minority classifications, but not always.  Black women, for example, are well represented in many education fields, likewise are Asian men in many STEM fields.  Our goals were to grow the number of minority and female students in areas with underrepresentation at Baylor and on the national level.  The results have been impressive.

Since 2019, female PhD enrollment has increased by 46%.  Women now make up 47% of total PhD enrollment (40% of STEM PhD enrollment and 57% of Non-STEM PhD enrollment).  Underrepresented minority students (URMs) increased 89% since 2019.  They represent 22% of all PhD students, and 25% of STEM PhD students.  An unexpected area of growth came from our international enrollment, which increased 80% from 2019.  International PhD students make up 29% of all PhD students in 2023, and 41% of all STEM PhD students. 

Fall Enrollment – PhD Diversity

A More Successful Research University

Finally, growing enrollment should be coupled with greater student success.  Among the many ways to measure such success, one of the most basic is graduation rates.  The only national comparison available is by the Council of Graduate Schools, which found that roughly 55% of PhD students graduate within ten years.  We have consistently outperformed the national average, and four years ago set a goal of reaching 80%.  This is the first year we surpassed 70%, a significant milestone. 

Fall Enrollment – Doctoral Retention to Graduation

Though work remains to accomplish our most ambitious goals, the progress made since 2019 is helping create a place worthy of being known as a Christian research university.

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