Table 25.2. Percentage of degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions in most popular fields of study, by race/ethnicity and level of study: 2003

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities

NCES 2007-039
September 2007

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Table 25.2.

Percentage of degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions in most popular fields of study, by race/ethnicity and level of study: 2003–04

Level and field of study	Total	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian/ Pacific Islander	American Indian/ Alaska Native
Bachelor's degrees
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Biological and biomedical sciences	4.4	4.2	3.9	3.8	8.5	4.0
Business	21.9	20.8	25.5	22.1	24.1	19.3
Communications, journalism, and related programs	5.1	5.4	5.0	4.4	3.1	3.6
Computer and information sciences	4.3	3.4	5.3	3.9	9.2	4.6
Education	7.6	8.9	4.9	5.1	1.9	9.3
Engineering	4.5	4.3	2.6	3.8	8.7	3.3
Health professions and related clinical sciences	5.3	5.5	6.5	4.4	4.1	5.4
Psychology	5.9	5.8	6.8	7.4	4.9	5.9
Social sciences and history	10.7	10.6	10.5	11.8	12.2	10.9
Visual and performing arts	5.5	5.8	3.2	5.0	5.2	5.1

Master's degrees
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Biological and biomedical sciences	1.4	1.3	0.9	1.1	2.7	1.1
Business	24.9	23.0	28.8	21.7	33.9	20.5
Computer and information sciences	3.6	1.8	2.1	2.2	8.9	2.1
Education	29.0	34.3	31.2	36.8	12.8	33.1
Engineering	5.9	3.3	1.7	3.4	10.2	2.6
English language and literature/letters	1.4	1.8	0.8	1.0	0.9	1.9
Health professions and related clinical sciences	8.0	8.9	7.9	7.4	10.6	9.0
Psychology	3.2	3.5	4.5	3.7	2.3	4.4
Social sciences and history	2.9	2.7	2.4	2.7	2.3	2.8
Visual and performing arts	2.3	2.4	1.1	1.9	2.2	2.6

Doctor's degrees
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Biological and biomedical sciences	10.8	10.9	5.6	10.4	18.8	7.4
Business	3.1	2.4	3.9	3.1	2.5	4.1
Education	14.7	16.8	38.3	18.5	7.7	25.8
Engineering	12.2	6.2	3.6	6.3	14.0	3.7
Health professions and related clinical sciences	9.0	11.1	7.2	8.9	10.9	8.8
Physical sciences and science technologies	7.9	6.8	2.5	4.6	7.3	7.4
Psychology	10.0	13.1	11.8	16.6	9.4	18.4
Social sciences and history	7.9	8.3	6.5	9.2	5.8	7.4
Theology and religious vocations	2.7	2.7	4.5	2.3	4.4	0.9
Visual and performing arts	2.6	3.0	1.0	1.9	2.9	0.9
NOTE: Reported racial/ethnic distributions of students by level of degree, field of degree, and sex were used to estimate race/ethnicity for students whose race/ethnicity was not reported. Detail do not sum to totals because colleges and universities conferred degrees in many other fields not shown separately. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic origin. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2005, (NCES 2006-030), tables 262, 265, and 268, data from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2004.