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Number of Degrees Conferred, by Discipline, 2009-10

August 26, 2012

Business was the most popular undergraduate major, while the highest number of master’s degrees was awarded in education and the highest number of doctoral degrees in the health professions.

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Number of Degrees Conferred by Discipline, 2009-10

Business was the most popular undergraduate major, while the highest number of master’s degrees was awarded in education and the highest number of doctoral degrees in the health professions.

	Bachelor’s			Master’s			Doctorate
	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
Agriculture, agriculture operations, and related sciences	15,374	7,706	7,668	2,205	1,033	1,172	661	371	290
Architecture and related services	10,051	5,694	4,357	7,280	4,012	3,268	210	116	94
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	8,621	2,694	5,927	1,775	654	1,121	253	107	146
Biological and biomedical sciences	86,400	35,865	50,535	10,725	4,611	6,114	7,666	3,600	4,066
Business, management, marketing, and related support services	357,354	182,867	174,487	177,675	96,706	80,969	2,245	1,335	910
Communication, journalism, and related programs	81,266	28,595	52,671	7,636	2,410	5,226	570	224	346
Communications technologies/technicians and support services	4,782	3,445	1,337	463	249	214	3	1	2
Computer and information sciences and support services	39,589	32,410	7,179	17,953	13,017	4,936	1,599	1,250	349
Construction trades	273	261	12	0	0	0	0	0	0
Education	101,265	20,726	80,539	182,139	41,296	140,843	9,233	3,023	6,210
Engineering	72,654	59,360	13,294	35,088	27,281	7,807	7,704	5,934	1,770
Engineering technologies/technicians	15,596	14,014	1,582	4,258	3,240	1,018	67	50	17
English language and literature/letters	53,231	17,050	36,181	9,201	3,006	6,195	1,332	522	810
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	21,818	2,686	19,132	2,580	362	2,218	296	64	232
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	21,516	6,610	14,906	3,755	1,254	2,501	1,091	446	645
Health professions and related clinical sciences	129,634	19,306	110,328	69,084	12,871	56,213	57,746	23,946	33,800
History	35,198	20,879	14,319	3,854	2,103	1,751	888	487	401
Legal professions and studies	3,886	1,096	2,790	5,734	2,803	2,931	44,626	23,552	21,074
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities	46,953	16,619	30,334	3,804	1,522	2,282	96	40	56
Library science	85	11	74	7,448	1,394	6,054	64	20	44
Mathematics and statistics	16,030	9,087	6,943	5,634	3,376	2,258	1,592	1,116	476
Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians	206	198	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Military technologies	56	54	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	37,648	12,129	25,519	5,973	2,118	3,855	631	265	366
Natural resources and conservation	10,962	5,813	5,149	3,006	1,476	1,530	486	254	232
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	33,318	17,621	15,697	5,617	3,032	2,585	266	140	126
Personal and culinary services	939	434	505	9	3	6	0	0	0
Philosophy and religious studies	12,504	7,910	4,594	2,043	1,298	745	667	450	217
Physical sciences	23,041	13,697	9,344	6,029	3,626	2,403	5,061	3,402	1,659
Precision production	29	19	10	10	5	5	0	0	0
Psychology	97,216	22,275	74,941	23,752	4,797	18,955	5,540	1,478	4,062
Public administration and social-service professions	25,414	4,578	20,836	35,729	8,865	26,864	838	323	515
Science technologies/technicians	338	165	173	34	26	8	2	2	0
Security and protective services	43,667	22,265	21,402	6,714	3,140	3,574	106	57	49
Social sciences	137,582	66,527	71,055	16,368	7,860	8,508	3,350	1,805	1,545
Theology and religious vocations	8,718	5,756	2,962	12,824	8,302	4,522	2,070	1,525	545
Transportation and materials moving	4,998	4,443	555	1,074	924	150	0	0	0
Visual and performing arts	91,802	35,768	56,034	15,552	6,525	9,027	1,599	700	899
Total	1,650,014	706,633	943,381	693,025	275,197	417,828	158,558	76,605	81,953

Note: The doctorate/professional category includes professional degrees, like medical and dentistry degrees.

Source: U.S. Education Department