STEM graduate programs are for the most part immigration programs for India and China. Going to STEM graduate school for Americans who don’t need to jump through immigration hoops quite often has negative expected value, not to mention the stress and lack of career options in academia.
And not only that, but the push for STEM imo has more to do with lowering wages and getting more software engineers (especially for S and M, I don’t think there is any real critical lack of PhDs. In fact a very large amount of physics and math phds just go into data science or software engineering). It’s entirely an economic problem, if it’s even a problem at all.
One of my American classmates who loved science got a masters in physics said all the jobs they could get were either joining PhD programs or building instruments so they switched to programming in 1990!
And not only that, but the push for STEM imo has more to do with lowering wages and getting more software engineers (especially for S and M, I don’t think there is any real critical lack of PhDs. In fact a very large amount of physics and math phds just go into data science or software engineering). It’s entirely an economic problem, if it’s even a problem at all.