Motivation in pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields among domestic and international students.

The United States has seen a sharp increase in the number of international students pursuing and receiving advanced degrees (Master’s or Ph.D.) in STEM fields. While much literature has been published about the disproportionate number of international students pursuing and receiving advanced degrees in STEM fields, none have attempted to explain the reason why this phenomenon occurs. The purpose of this study was to identify if there was a difference between the reason domestic students and international students were pursuing and receiving advanced degrees in STEM fields. While the findings showed no statistically significant relationship between the student’s status (as a domestic student and an international student) and the reason they chose to pursue an advanced degree in STEM, there was an overwhelming number of respondents from both the domestic student pool and international student pool that indicated that their primary reason in choosing to pursue an advanced degree in STEM was due to their interest in the field