More than 91 percent of Ph.D. students surveyed at Cornell rated their academic experience as good to excellent, as noted in the Graduate School’s recently released Doctoral Student Experience Assessment.

The quality of their graduate curriculum and their student life experience at Cornell also received good-to-excellent ratings from 86 and 80 percent, respectively, of doctoral students who responded to the survey.

The Graduate School launched a series of comprehensive assessment surveys in the 2012-13 academic year to provide information about the full graduate student experience, from matriculation to graduation.

Approximately 2,320 Ph.D. students received the Doctoral Student Experience survey in February 2013 and 1,290 responded, a 55 percent response rate.

In the survey assessment report, Cornell’s median time-to-degree and completion figures – prominent indicators of doctoral education – compare favorably with national averages. Median time-to-degree for doctoral candidates across humanities disciplines at Cornell is 6.8 years vs. 9.2 years nationally; the university also has shorter median time-to-degree in the life sciences (5.7 vs. 6.9 years), physical sciences (5.6 vs. 6.5 years) and social sciences (6.0 vs. 7.7 years), compared with national figures.

Cornell’s average completion rate among doctoral students is 72 percent, compared with a national average of 57 percent.

Several questions in the Cornell survey also are asked by other graduate schools of their students, permitting comparison across peer schools.

On most indicators, Cornell student responses were at, or just above or below, the median of responses at peer schools. Responses from Cornell students were somewhat above the median on topics related to opportunities for collaboration across disciplines, and on factors that support academic success such as availability of faculty and program structure and requirements.

“We were pleased with the response rate to this survey but hope that next year’s response rates will be even higher,” said Barbara Knuth, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost.

More than 70 percent of Cornell doctoral students responding to the survey indicated that insufficient financial support was not an obstacle to their academic success. Fewer than 6 percent of those surveyed indicated insufficient financial support was a major obstacle.

Institutional information on doctoral student debt substantiated the survey findings.

“Doctoral students at Cornell, in the main, do not incur debt during their studies,” Knuth said. “For 2013 doctoral graduates, about 8 percent had debt at graduation from their doctoral studies.”

Among students graduating with debt, the median debt was $10,148, she said. Of these students, 61 percent (25 students) borrowed for their studies in only one year, 15 percent (six students) borrowed in only two years, 12 percent (five students) borrowed in three years, and only one or two students borrowed in four or more years. Only 25 fields (out of 81 doctoral fields at Cornell) had any students graduating with debt, and no field had more than three. If any debt occurred, it was most commonly for one student per field, Knuth noted.

The Graduate School also surveyed 1,100 new graduate students in September 2012, asking first-time matriculants about the factors that led them to choose Cornell; and an exit survey was sent to all graduate and professional students following May, August and January graduations.

Students accepted by Cornell but who chose to enroll elsewhere took a separate survey, to provide insights into how Cornell can provide more competitive offers to graduate students. More than 1,450 individuals responded to the “accepted but not attending” survey launched in July 2012.

An Alumni Career Outcomes survey, administered to Ph.D. and J.S.D. graduates two to 20 years post-degree, also launched in January.

The results of the surveys, and more detailed graduate field-level analyses, will help the Graduate School design and develop programs that further support doctoral student success at Cornell, fostering timely and successful degree completion and enhancing graduate student life.