<p>Does anybody know which are the most studied subjects/majors/courses at undergrad level in the U.S.A. or in the world?</p>
<p>Are there any statistics showing which are the most common/most rare?</p>
<p>I'd really appreciate if you could answer me :)</p>
<p>Economics is probably the "in" major right now (note the sudden boom in U Chicago's popularity :eek:). Biology, political science, English, history, math, and international studies/relations are also pretty popular.</p>
<p>psychology is up there</p>
<p>business is, by far, the most popular major.</p>
<p>"business is, by far, the most popular major."</p>
<p>no way, business is a specialty school</p>
<p>from IPEDS data
number of bachelors degrees conferred 2003-2004</p>
<p>Business .................................................. ......... | | 307,149
Social sciences and history ........................................ | | 150,357
Education ............................................... | | 106,278
Psychology ......................................... | | 82,098
Visual and performing arts ............................... | | 77,181
Health professions and related clinical sciences .................. 73,934
Communication, journalism, and related programs .............................................. | | 70,968
Engineering ........................................... | | 63,558
Biological and biomedical sciences ....................................... | | 61,509
Computer and information sciences ........................... | | 59,488
English language and literature/letters ....................... | | 53,984
and humanities ................................. | | 42,106
Multi/interdisciplinary studies ................................ | | 29,162
Security and protective services .................................... | | 28,175
Agriculture and natural resources .................. | | 22,835
Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies ................... | | 22,164
Public administration and social services ........................ | | 20,552
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences ........... | | 19,172
Physical sciences and science technologies ............................. | | 17,983
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics ......................... | | 17,754
Engineering technologies ................................ | | 14,669
Mathematics and statistics ........................................ | | 13,327
Philosophy and religious studies .................................. | | 11,152
Architecture and related services ....................... | | 8,838
Theology and religious vocations .................... | | 8,126
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies ..........................|7,181
Transportation and materials moving ..................... | | 4,824
Legal professions and studies ................................... | | 2,841
Communications technologies .......................... | | 2,034
Library science .......................................... | | 72
Precision production .................................... | | 61
Military technologies ................................ | | 10</p>
<p>most schools don't even offer business degrees</p>
<p>EDIT: i'll try and look up some numbers, since you did, heh</p>
<p>Nearly every school offers an undergrad business degree, except for some of the elites</p>
<p>nevermind, heh, you just did it for me, i guess you're right, i wouldn't have expected that at all</p>
<p>that would be weird to be one of the ten people in the country to graduate with military technology degrees</p>
<p>Ok. Thank you very much for the statistics :)
(I basically had no clue what keywords I had to search on Google)</p>
<p>I more or less expected business and social studies to be among the roads most taken.</p>
<p>What I'm not sure about is whether these numbers reflect which majors/careers will be most in demand in future; the more economists graduate today, the less the might be needed in future and competition will be extremely high among them. And business... well, business is based on competition :)
And while they struggle to get the best position, mathematicians and statisticians will be more in demand... and probably even paid more.</p>
<p>Is that kind of reasoning possible? Or are there other variables that influence the future opportunities of those who chose to study a specific degree today?</p>
<p>The data is all right here</p>
<p>
[quote]
What I'm not sure about is whether these numbers reflect which majors/careers will be most in demand in future; the more economists graduate today, the less the might be needed in future and competition will be extremely high among them. And business... well, business is based on competition
And while they struggle to get the best position, mathematicians and statisticians will be more in demand... and probably even paid more.</p>
<p>Is that kind of reasoning possible? Or are there other variables that influence the future opportunities of those who chose to study a specific degree today?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure. The biggest factor is that you don't have to choose a career that ties into your major. In fact, most people don't. For example, very few history majors will actually become professional historians. Very few psychology majors become professional psychologists. Very few math majors become professional mathematicians. The key is to choose a major that has flexibility such that it prepares you for a wide range of careers. </p>
<p>Nobody knows exactly which career is going to be hot in the future. A strong general education will prepare you for whatever comes up. It was only about 60 years ago that the first true computers were built, and now the computer industry is one of the largest industries in the world. 15 years ago, only the academic community and the military had ever heard of the Internet. Now, many people have jobs working for Internet companies like Google or Amazon, or developing Internet technology, or whatever. 15 years in the future, who knows what's going to be big?</p>