Society and Culture > Education > Higher Education

Bachelor's Degrees Earned by Field, 1980–2005

Field of study	1980	1990	2000	2003	2004	2005
Total	929,417	1,051,344	1,237,875	1,348,503	1,399,542	1,439,264
Agriculture and natural resources	22,802	12,900	24,238	23,294	22,835	23,002
Architecture and related services	9,132	9,364	8,462	9,054	8,838	9,237
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	2,840	4,447	6,212	6,629	7,181	7,569
Biological and biomedical sciences	46,190	37,204	63,005	60,072	61,509	64,611
Business	186,264	248,568	256,070	293,545	307,149	311,574
Communication, journalism, and related programs¹	28,616	51,572	57,058	69,792	73,002	75,238
Computer and information sciences	11,154	27,347	37,788	57,439	59,488	54,111
Education	118,038	105,112	108,034	105,790	106,278	105,451
Engineering and engineering technologies	69,387	82,480	73,419	77,267	78,227	79,743
English language and literature/letters	32,187	46,803	50,106	53,670	53,984	54,379
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	18,411	13,514	16,321	18,166	19,172	20,074
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	12,480	13,133	15,886	16,901	17,754	18,386
Health professions and related clinical sciences	63,848	58,983	80,863	71,223	73,934	80,685
Legal professions and studies	683	1,632	1,969	2,466	2,841	3,161
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities	23,196	27,985	36,104	40,221	42,106	43,751
Mathematics and statistics	11,378	14,276	11,418	12,493	13,327	14,351
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	11,457	16,557	28,561	28,757	29,162	30,243
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	5,753	4,582	17,571	21,428	22,164	22,888
Philosophy and religious studies	7,069	7,034	8,535	10,344	11,152	11,584
Physical sciences and science technologies	23,407	16,056	18,331	17,940	17,983	18,905
Psychology	42,093	53,952	74,194	78,613	82,098	85,614
Public administration and social services	16,644	13,908	20,185	19,878	20,552	21,769
Security and protective services	15,015	15,354	24,877	26,789	28,175	30,723
Social sciences and history	103,662	118,083	127,101	143,218	150,357	156,892
Theology and religious vocations	6,170	5,185	6,789	7,926	8,126	9,284
Transportation and materials moving	213	2,387	3,395	4,567	4,824	4,904
Visual and performing arts	40,892	39,934	58,791	71,474	77,181	80,955
Other and unclassified	436	2,992	2,592	147	143	180