Council of Graduate Schools
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(202) 223-3791 • www.cgsnet.org
RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS FROM THE
2008 CGS INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE
ADMISSIONS SURVEY
PHASE I: APPLICATIONS
APRIL 2008
(Narrative revised October 2008)
Council of Graduate Schools
2
OVERVIEW
In 2004, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) began an extensive, multi-year empirical
examination of international graduate application, admission, and enrollment trends. This
analysis responds to member institutions’ concerns about continuing changes in the enrollment
of students from abroad seeking master’s and doctoral degrees from American colleges and
universities.
The key component of this examination is a three-phase survey of CGS member institutions. The
survey collects an initial snapshot of graduate school applications (Phase I, conducted in January
of each year), final applications and an initial picture of admissions offers (Phase II, June), and
final offers of admission, first-time enrollments, and total enrollments (Phase III, September).
The 2004 Phase I survey found a 28% decline in the number of applications to American
colleges and universities from prospective international graduate students from 2003 to 2004.
Subsequent surveys revealed a 5% decline from 2004 to 2005, an 11% increase from 2005 to
2006, and an 8% increase from 2006 to 2007.1
CGS survey data for 2008 suggest that the rate of growth in applications from prospective
international graduate students has slowed considerably. Furthermore, a majority of the graduate
schools that have consistently responded to the CGS survey still have not reversed the declines in
international applications they suffered in 2004.
This report first describes the survey methodology used to collect and calculate changes in
applications from 2007 to 2008, and then compares the one-year changes to those found in prior
surveys.