Rise of the Machines

If you wonder why the UW decided to create a School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, you really should check the data. Over the last 20 years, the number of students majoring in computer sciences has grown at more than 800 percent.

According to the most recent figures, the UW’s top five majors — as measured by seniors in the spring semester — are computer sciences; psychology; economics; data science; and finance, investment, and banking. Four of those five didn’t appear among top majors 20 years ago. In spring 2003, the top five were heavy on humanities and social sciences: political science, English, history, psychology, and biology. Here’s how today’s top majors and those from a generation ago have changed.

Published in the Winter 2023 issue