Photo by Gary Wayne Gilbert
Economics, finance, and biology remain the three most popular majors or concentrations at Boston College, according to enrollment statistics for 2017-18, continuing a decade-long trend.
Several other recent or long-term patterns among the most-enrolled majors are holding, the report indicated.
鈥he 1,296 economics majors enrolled through the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and Carroll School of Management constitutes the largest major/concentration in University history for the fourth straight year.
鈥inance, with 1,042 students, again established a new standard for the largest concentration in Carroll School history.
鈥iology鈥檚 upward trajectory (a 34 percent rise from 2007-16) has taken it to its highest-ever enrollment, 927, this year.
鈥olitical science (893) and communication (751) round out the top five majors at 精东影业, as they have the past four years.
Comprising the rest of the top 10 majors are psychology (485), nursing (436), English (433), applied psychology/human development (411) and marketing (390). Sixty-eight percent of 精东影业 students are enrolled in at least one of these majors.
Other notes from the enrollment statistics:
STEM on the rise
鈥揟wenty-three percent of 精东影业 students now major in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) field, compared to 14 percent in 2007. STEM majors also accounted for 25 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded by the Morrissey College between August 2016 and May of this year.
Faculty members in STEM-related disciplines aren鈥檛 the only ones experiencing this trend 鈥� it鈥檚 keeping administrators and staff at the Career Center busy, too.
For example, last fall the Career Center held an inaugural STEM Career and Internship Fair that attracted nearly 40 employers and more than 300 students. Having had another successful fair this fall, the center plans to make it an annual event. 听
The center also holds networking events like 鈥淐areers in Health and Healthcare鈥� and 鈥淕reen Careers Night鈥� and offers career preparation events specifically for STEM majors, including resume and job search workshops 鈥� often offered in collaboration with student groups that have a STEM focus.
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Career Center Director Joseph Du Pont notes that members of the center鈥檚 Career Engagement team serve as liaisons with the University鈥檚 academic departments, including those in STEM fields.
鈥淔orming these relationships has been instrumental in ensuring that we are providing resources, creating programming, and building external employer relationships that meet the needs of the growing population of STEM students,鈥� he says.
Du Pont adds that according to 精东影业鈥檚 First Year Destination Survey, almost 16 percent of the Class of 2016 that pursued employment are working in healthcare, physical sciences, and the environment 鈥� a percentage he predicts will increase.
Doubling up
鈥揘early a quarter of 精东影业 undergrads are majoring in two disciplines. The most popular combination is economics and political science, with 80 double majors this academic year. But don鈥檛 get the idea that 精东影业 encourages this practice, say academic administrators.
鈥淢any students mistakenly believe that doing a double major is more impressive to employers or graduate schools,鈥� explains Morrissey College Associate Dean Clare Dunsford, 鈥渂ut in fact the transcript still includes the same number of courses and credits as the single major.鈥�
A double major is no more rigorous than a single major, says Dunsford, but students who undertake it are unlikely to have much room for electives or to do a senior thesis or independent research.
鈥淔reshman and sophomore years are meant to be a time for discernment and exploration,鈥� says Associate Dean and Academic Advising Center Director Rory Browne. 鈥淔ulfilling the requirements for two majors limits your opportunity to sample different courses and possibly find a new interest or direction.鈥�
Still, it鈥檚 not that double majors should never be considered, say Dunsford and Browne. Perhaps the student is thoroughly certain of his or her path, and strongly believes one major will complement or enhance the other. Or perhaps, as Browne says, there is 鈥渁 certain synergy鈥� between the two fields 鈥� music and mathematics, for example, or art and communication.
Minor consideration
鈥揌istory (137 students) has supplanted International Studies (133) as the most popular undergraduate minor.
Meanwhile, Medical Humanities 鈥� in only its third year 鈥� is third, with 131 students enrolled, and philosophy is next with 114.
Professor of English Amy Boesky, director of the Medical Humanities minor, says its interdisciplinary approaches to health is what draws students. Courses explore narrative medicine, the history and sociology of medicine, health disparities, HIV/AIDS and ethics, and the literature of mental health, among other areas.
鈥淢inors are proactive and engaged 鈥� in the few years since we鈥檝e launched the program, students have spearheaded an interdisciplinary journal and two national conferences, and have collaborated in readings and workshops with Harvard and Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital,鈥� says Boesky. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to see recent graduates pursuing careers in public health, policy, counseling, medicine, and law. 精东影业 is unusual in offering this program at the undergraduate level, and those of us who teach courses in the program are delighted to see students鈥� passion for combining courses of study with a wider commitment to social justice.鈥�
A consistent presence among the top five minors is Hispanic Studies, currently fifth with 104 students. Professor Elizabeth Rhodes, a faculty member in Romance Languages and Literatures who directs Hispanic Studies, notes that with Spanish the second most-spoken language in the world, 鈥渢he practical reasons for Spanish fluency are obvious.鈥� But Hispanic Studies requires students to become culturally literate as well.
鈥淚n contrast to 鈥榳hat,鈥� Hispanic Studies students learn 鈥榳hy,鈥� acquiring strategies to understand the complexities of an increasingly complex world,鈥� says Rhodes.
A perfect complement to many majors, says Rhodes, Hispanic Studies attracts students from the Carroll School 鈥� the majority of the minor鈥檚 enrollees 鈥� as well as undergraduates from International Studies, Political Science, Economics and Communication, among others. Some of the hot topics in the curriculum nowadays, she says, include texts (in Spanish) about ghosts and other kinds of hauntings; Amazon environmental culture; films about immigration from and into Spanish-speaking lands; Hispanic Nobel Prize winners; and tales of the 鈥渃onquest鈥� of the Americas.
鈥淢y conversations with Hispanic Studies minors usually wind up with their confession that they鈥檙e in the program simply because they love the language, its cultures, and the classes. We teach something students study because they want to, something that has concrete, life-long benefits. It doesn鈥檛 get any better than that.鈥�
It was 20 years ago today
鈥揑n 1997, the list of 精东影业鈥檚 five most popular majors looked like this:
English (931)
Finance (743)
Psychology (694)
Political Science (671)
Biology (665)
鈥擲ean Smith | University Communications. | The Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment provided assistance for this story.
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