New Delhi:
Every year, a considerable number of Indian students aspire to pursue their higher education dreams in the United States. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) application trends have recently disclosed a shift in preferences among applicants. While engineering was traditionally the top choice for GRE applicants, the data now reveals a surge in interest in physical sciences.
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| Indian Students in the US |
According to GRE statistics, there has been a decline in the percentage of Indian students applying for engineering programs. A decade ago, engineering applications constituted 34%, which has now decreased to 17% in the academic year 2021-22. Conversely, the percentage of students pursuing degrees in physical sciences has increased from 27% to 37%.
The Princeton Review, a study providing guidance on overseas education, suggests that this trend may be attributed to a higher likelihood of obtaining a competitive GRE score for admission to graduate programs in physical sciences in the United States compared to engineering.
The number of Indian students opting for engineering studies in the United States has declined over the past ten years, dropping from 38.8% in the academic year 2009-10 to 29.6% in the academic year 2021-22, as per reports compiled by the US Department of State and non-profit institutions focusing on international education.
Furthermore, an increasing number of students are choosing business-related studies. In the academic year 2012-13, only 1,697 individuals took the GRE with the intention of obtaining a master's degree in business. However, this number skyrocketed to 7,912 in the academic year 2021-22. The percentage of students applying for humanities and arts subjects has also seen a decline from 0.3% in 2012-13 to 0.1% in the academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22.
