Cognitive Science

Types of Degrees Cognitive Science Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many cognitive science graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	2,120
Master’s Degree	92
Doctor’s Degree	46
Graduate Certificate	14
Basic Certificate	3

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Cognitive Science?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 2,120 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in cognitive science in 2019, making it rank #128 in popularity. This major is dominated by women with about 61% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of cognitive science majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	635
Black or African American	68
Hispanic or Latino	279
White	732
International Students	231
Other Races/Ethnicities	175

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Cognitive Science, too. About 10.9% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• India
• South Korea
• Canada
• Taiwan

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The median early-career salary of cognitive science students with a bachelor’s degree is $32,900 a year according to 2017-2018 data from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $28,850 (25th percentile) and $40,250 (75th percentile).

One thing to note here is that not all of these people may be working in careers related to cognitive science.

Online Cognitive Science Programs

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 66 schools offered some type of cognitive science program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	2	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	5	0
Post-Baccalaureate	2	0
Master’s Degree	10	0
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	15	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Cognitive Science

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to cognitive science.

Major	Number of Grads
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	37,392
Biological & Physical Science	29,278
International Studies	7,967
Interdisciplinary Studies	6,609
Nutrition Science	4,794
Behavioral Science	3,731
Natural Sciences	2,571
Sustainability Science	2,194
Human Biology	1,460
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution	1,310
Gerontology	1,281
Human Computer Interaction	1,272
Science, Technology & Society	1,171
Mathematics & Computer Science	1,105
Computational Science	927
Systems Theory	917
Museum Studies	801
Dispute Resolution	668
Historic Preservation	433
Multicultural & Diversity Studies	424
Classical & Ancient Studies	303
Marine Science	275
Cultural Studies & Analysis	227
Biopsychology	165
Medieval Studies	108
Accounting & Computer Science	71
Maritime Studies	45
Holocaust Studies	40

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Allan Ajifo under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.