Figure

II-04b: Number of Bachelor’s Degrees Earned as “Second Majors” in Selected Humanities Disciplines, 2001–2015

Data Source and Other Information

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Data System; accessed via the National Science Foundation’s online data system, WebCASPAR. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

About the Data

A “second major” degree in a humanities discipline is one earned at the same time as another degree in a nonhumanities field or a different humanities discipline. Data on “second majors” are reported by the institution (rather than the student), and thus no meaning can be inferred from these degrees being designated as second (rather than first) majors. When this indicator was revised in 2017, the Humanities Indicators adjusted the taxonomy of degrees tabulated as part of the field. The largest change was the inclusion of categories in the field of communication that fall within the humanities. For an inventory of the specific degree programs that together constitute each of the academic disciplines as they are conceptualized by the Humanities Indicators, see the Degree Program Code Catalog.

Related Indicators

For information on trends in first majors, see “Bachelor’s Degrees in the Humanities.” For the demographics of students earning humanities bachelor’s degrees, see “Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Bachelor’s Degrees in the Humanities” and “Gender Distribution of Bachelor’s Degrees in the Humanities.” For details as to the types of humanities bachelor’s degrees awarded and the nature of the institutions from which they are received, see “Disciplinary Distribution of Bachelor’s Degrees in the Humanities” and “Institutional Distribution of Bachelor’s Degrees in the Humanities.” For Humanities Departmental Survey findings relating to undergraduate education, see “Trends in the Demographics of Humanities Students: Key Findings from the 2012–13 Humanities Departmental Survey.” For information on trends at the graduate level, see “Advanced Degrees in the Humanities.”

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The Humanities Indicators and Departmental Survey have been made possible in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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