Where Do History and English Majors Come From?

From 2010-11 to 2017-18, a period when many undergraduates turned away from the humanities, the total number of bachelor’s-degree recipients in history at four-year public and private nonprofit colleges dropped by about a third, and the total number of such recipients in English dropped by about a quarter. But those two majors still thrived at some institutions. Harvard and Yale Universities each had 133 bachelor’s-degree recipients in history in 2017-18. At Yale, that number represented more than 10 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded. Rapidly growing mega-universities like Southern New Hampshire and Liberty also produced large numbers of history majors, and Southern New Hampshire was No. 1 among private nonprofits for its production of English and history graduates. Among the 25 public institutions that graduated the most English majors, the Universities of New Mexico and of Central Florida stood out for their significant percentage increases over the seven-year period.