Women and Minority Members Tend to Take Longer to Earn Ph.D.'s, Study Finds

By Peter Schmidt

Women and members of minority groups tend to take longer than other subsets of the population to complete doctoral programs, while international students stand out as the fastest in earning Ph.D.'s, according to a report being released today by the Council of Graduate Schools.

The report, based on data from 24 universities in the United States and Canada, is unusual both in its large scope—covering 19,000 students who entered doctoral programs in the 1990s—and in its