Cognitive Science

Types of Degrees Cognitive Science Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many cognitive science graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	59
Doctor’s Degree	44
Graduate Certificate	20

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

Roughly 49% of the graduates are women, and 51% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	8
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	5
White	28
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Cognitive Science. About 20.3% 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

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a master’s degree in cognitive science made a median starting salary of $42,664 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $42,664 (25th percentile) and $42,664 (75th percentile).

Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a cognitive science degree.

Online Cognitive Science Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 70 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)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	6	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	15	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	2,491
Sustainability Science	1,547
Nutrition Science	1,496
Behavioral Science	1,358
Computational Science	1,063
International Studies	918
Human Computer Interaction	822
Data Analytics	793
Museum Studies	696
Gerontology	655
Biological & Physical Science	639
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution	522
Systems Theory	461
Dispute Resolution	416
Interdisciplinary Studies	402
Data Science	373
Mathematics & Computer Science	290
Historic Preservation	266
Science, Technology & Society	198
Multicultural & Diversity Studies	176
Cultural Studies & Analysis	161
Marine Science	104
Natural Sciences	76
Holocaust Studies	54
Medieval Studies	46
Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature	28
Human Biology	18
Classical & Ancient Studies	17
Earth Systems Science	13
Maritime Studies	9
Accounting & Computer Science	8
Linguistics and Computer Science	6
Environmental Geosciences	6
Linguistics and Anthropology	2
Thanatology	0
Biopsychology	0

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.