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I thought I would add something fun to my collection of blogs today. There are hundreds of facts that can be posted about grad school, but I want to focus on 10. These are facts that surprised me and were just down right interesting to know. I hope you enjoy the list.

Top 10 Best Facts About Grad School

1) About 13.1% of the population has an advanced degree. This includes Master’s, Professional Degrees, and Doctorates.

I always thought that it was more. Apparently, the majority of college degree holders only have a bachelor’s degree.

2) On average, a Doctorate program takes about 8 years to complete. This varies significantly from field to field.

I did not believe this one until I actually started grad school. Many of the sciences are 5 to 6 years, but the humanities programs can be 8 to 10 years. This also includes professional degrees such as being a MD where school and residency can take quite a long time to complete.

3) Doctoral attrition rates in North America are estimated to be about 40-50%. Half of the people that start will not finish.

One of the saddest things to read. If you are in grad school, particularly in a PhD program, the odds are almost against you. This is basically saying that 50% of PhD students will not become doctors. This does not meant that you have a 50% chance of becoming one though. If you work hard, you will succeed.

4) The United States has more doctoral graduates than any other country.

Getting a degree in the US is seen as almost prestigious. Many international students come to the states to get their degrees before going back home. This is why you often see many more international students in your classes than domestic.

5) Individuals that hold a master’s degree earn about 38% more than those with a bachelor’s degree.

This is an average that I found. In some cases, getting a master’s may not make you any money at all. In some cases, you’ll make even more than 38% more. Honestly, to spend 2 extra years in school and get 38% more money is totally worth the investment. Plus, being able to tell people you have a master’s is pretty darn cool.

Intermission

Ok, did you know about these 5 facts about grad school so far? If not, let me know in the comment section which ones really surprised you. Yes, after 5 facts, I put in an intermission lol. Ok, Let us keep going.

6) One average, only about 1.1% of the world’s 25-64 year olds who have been to university, have a PhD.

This one was crazy to find out. There are not many people in the world with an advanced degree like this. Only 1.1% of people have a PhD??? I would have thought at least 2%, but nope. I was wrong.

7) Walden University has the most graduate students as of 2019-2020 academic year.

I had not even heard of this school until writing this post. Of course this fact had to go in the list. You should learn at least one or two new things ever once in a while lol.

8) The most common type of graduate degree is a Master’s.

This does make sense to me. Many master’s degrees only take less than 2 years to complete. As I mentioned before, a PhD may take 8 years. Getting a 38% pay increase after 2 years is way better than getting about that after 8 years. Also, MBAs are master’s degrees and many people get those. You can see with all of the benefits of getting a master’s that it would be the most popular. Then why do people get doctorates??? Hmmmmm.

9) There is a Master’s in Imagineering which you can get at Breda University of Applied Sciences, in the Netherlands

This is a weird degree but only because of the name. The degree is an advanced one dealing with using creativity and imagination to benefit businesses. This is extremely valuable to business that need to stay updated with the times. The link that I posted also has some other very interesting degrees that you should check out too.

10) There are nearly three times as many men and women becoming attorneys as there were earning a medical degree (MD)

I do not understand the appeal of becoming a lawyer. I know more lawyers than scientists and I know for a fact that the lawyers work a billion times more than us scientists. It is high stress, low life-work balance (yes, life comes first). Also, many of them are just plain miserable. Though, I guess it can be pretty fulfilling after a while. I think many of the people that choose being a lawyer than a doctor don’t want to spend upwards of like 7 years to finish and become a doctor. Law school is just 3 years. Though, those three years are brutal.

Final Thought

This list of facts about grad school was extremely fun to look up and share with you guys and gals. Do you happen to have any interesting facts? They don’t even have to pertain to grad school, I just like reading weird and interesting facts lol. If so, please share them in the comments. I would love to read them. Also, take a look at my other blogs about education (link here). I am sure you will find some other very interesting facts in those articles.

As always, I sincerely hope that you guys and gals have a wonderful day and week. I appreciate you all for stopping by and reading about these wonderful grad school facts. If you have some really weird facts, post them in the comments below and I will definitely update this page with those. Let’s keep the list going! Alright, enough for today. I will see you all in the next blog. Best, Ben.