UC Davis

The Top 10 Majors at UC Davis

In the 2020-21 academic year, 29,699 undergraduates were enrolled at UC Davis. 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 2020-21, based on percent of total undergraduate students

1. Psychology — 8 percent
2. Biological sciences — 7 percent
   • Read about what you can do with biological sciences.
3. Neurobiology, physiology and behavior — 6 percent
   • Read about what you can do with neurobiology, physiology and behavior.
4. Managerial economics — 5 percent
   • Read about what you can do with managerial economics.
5. Economics — 5 percent
   • Read about what you can do with an economics
6. Animal science — 5 percent
   • Read about what you can do with animal science.
7. Biochemistry and molecular biology — 4 percent
8. Computer science — 3 percent
9. Communication — 3 percent
   • Read about what you can do with communication.
10. Political Science — 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.

1. Computer science
2. Communications
3. Government/political science
4. Business
5. Economics
6. English (language and literature)
7. Psychology
8. Nursing
9. Chemical engineering
10. 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 2020-21. The percentages show the proportion of students pursuing the major out of the total students enrolled in that college.

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

The No. 1 ranked university in the U.S. for agriculture has 30 majors in environmental, human and animal sciences.

• Managerial economics — 20.7 percent
  • What you can do with a major in managerial economics
• Animal science — 18.3 percent
  • What you can do with a major in animal science
• Human development — 9.5 percent
  • What you can do with a major in human development
• Environmental Science and Management — 6.5 percent
• Global Disease Biology — 4.7 percent

College of Biological Sciences

Our biological sciences college offers 10 majors in versatile disciplines of life science and prepares students for futures in research, postgraduate programs and, yes, even law school.

• Biological sciences — 33.3 percent
  • What you can do with a major in biological sciences
• Neurobiology, physiology and behavior — 28.1 percent
  • What you can do with a major in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior
• Biochemistry and molecular biology — 17.3 percent
• Genetics and genomics — 5.5 percent
  •  What you can do with a major in genetics and genomics
• Undeclared — Life Sciences — 4.3 percent

College of Engineering

The College of Engineering welcomes students with its comprehensive major tracks in 12 diverse engineering fields. By connecting people and technology, the college solves the world’s most pressing problems and creates the next generation of engineering leaders and entrepreneurs.

• Computer science — 20.7 percent
• Mechanical engineering — 12.7 percent
• Civil engineering — 10.4 percent
• Electrical engineering — 10.3 percent
• Biomedical engineering — 9.7 percent

College of Letters and Sciences

Our largest college, known for its liberal arts studies, has 56 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 — 15.8 percent
• Economics — 9.2 percent
  • What you can do with a major in economics.
• Computer science — 6.7 percent
• Communication — 5.6 percent
  • What you can do with a major in communication.
• Political science — 5 percent