, Columnist
American Students Have Changed Their Majors
Health professions are in, education and the humanities are out. Here are some reasons for the shift.
With the right major, that’s not a problem.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Of the 839,730 recipients of bachelor’s degrees in the U.S. in the 1970-1971 academic year, 176,307 got education degrees. Other big fields of study included the social sciences, business and English.
In 2016-2017, nearly 2 million bachelor’s degrees were awarded. Most of the top 10 majors from 1970-1971 were still in the top 10, but the order had changed a lot.