The Top 10 Majors at UC Davis
In the 2016-17 academic year, 7,855 UC Davis undergraduates donned caps and gowns to gather their diplomas. Wonder what the top 10 most popular majors were for our industrious Aggies? Here are the statistics, including the percentage of students who declared each major.
Top 10 majors at UC Davis in 2016-17 and percent of total
- Psychology — 8 percent
- Managerial economics — 7 percent
- Read about what you can do with managerial economics.
- Economics — 7 percent
- Read about what you can do with an economics
- Neurobiology, physiology and behavior — 5 percent
- Biological sciences — 4 percent
- Read about what you can do with biological sciences.
- Human development — 4 percent
- Read about what you can do with human development.
- Communication — 4 percent
- Read about what you can do with communication.
- Computer science — 4 percent
- Animal science — 3 percent
- Read about what you can do with animal science.
- Biochemistry and molecular biology — 3 percent
10 recommended majors in the U.S.
Check out these college majors, based on job prospects, alumni salaries and popularity, as recommended by The Princeton Review. UC Davis has most of them. Our managerial economics degree is quite similar to a business degree. And, while we don’t offer a nursing undergraduate degree, our Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing offers four master’s degrees and a doctoral degree. As for biology, at this public university known for its biological sciences, you can choose from nearly two dozen majors in that category that span from animal science to microbiology.
- Computer science
- Communications
- Government/political science
- Business
- Economics
- English (language and literature)
- Psychology
- Nursing
- Chemical engineering
- Biology
Top 5 majors by colleges
Curious which majors are the most popular at UC Davis by college? Within this university,our 102 majors and academic programs are organized by undergraduate college. When you apply to UC Davis, you choose a major, which automatically places you into one of these colleges.
Here’s a summary of the statistics based on the number of students enrolled in 2016-17. The percentages show the proportion of students pursuing the major in that college.
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The No. 1 ranked university in the U.S. for agriculture has 28 majors in environmental, human and animal sciences.
- Managerial economics — 26.7 percent
- What you can do with a major in managerial economics
- Human development — 15.3 percent
- What you can do with a major in human development
- Animal science — 11.1 percent
- What you can do with a major in animal science
- Clinical nutrition — 5.9 percent
- Wildlife, fish and conservation biology — 5 percent
- What can you do with a major in wildlife, fish and conservation biology
College of Biological Sciences
Our biological sciences college offers nine majors in versatile disciplines of life science and prepares students for futures in research, postgraduate programs and, yes, even law school.
- Neurobiology, physiology and behavior — 33 percent
- What you can do with a major in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior
- Biological sciences — 28.2 percent
- What you can do with a major in biological sciences
- Biochemistry and molecular genomics — 16.4 percent
- Genetics and genomics — 5.5 percent
- What you can do with a major in genetics and genomics
- Microbiology — 4.8 percent
College of Engineering
The College of Engineering welcomes students with its comprehensive major tracks in 11 diverse engineering fields, preparing its students for careers in engineering.
- Civil engineering — 18.7 percent
- Mechanical engineering — 17 percent
- Chemical engineering — 14.2 percent
- Electrical engineering — 13.6 percent
- Biomedical engineering — 12 percent
College of Letters and Sciences
Our largest college, known for its liberal arts studies, has 53 majors. From health management and languages to computer programming and the arts, it gives students the skills training for careers in a variety of disciplines.
- Psychology — 17.4 percent
- Economics — 13.6 percent
- What you can do with a major in economics.
- Communication — 7.6 percent
- What you can do with a major in communication.
- Computer science — 7.5 percent
- Political science — 5.2 percent
