Students heading off to college have decisions to make that can set the course of their lives. Selecting a major sometimes comes first, resulting in a narrowed list of colleges and universities. If the college has been chosen first, then the student must decide on a major.
Kentucky’s colleges and universities offer hundreds of majors—some that are common and some that are unusual or even unique to a particular school. Kentucky Monthly contacted institutions of higher learning across the Bluegrass State about which major is their most popular, and, just for fun, we’re including some unusual or lesser-known majors, too.
In the town of Pippa Passes in Knott County, biology is the most popular major at Alice Lloyd College (alc.edu). With enrollment hovering around 600 students, it offers bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in various disciplines. The school recently added a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies program degree, which focuses on liberal arts, with an array of courses offered in many disciplines.
Asbury University (asbury.edu) offers a specialized degree in equine assisted services, an area of study that focuses on the use of horses in therapeutic settings for human patients. The most popular major among Asbury’s 2,100 students is media communications.
As Kentucky’s first co-ed, racially integrated school of higher education, Berea College (berea.edu) was ahead of its time when it was founded in 1855. The most popular major is computer and information science. Berea, which has an enrollment of 1,500, charges no tuition and has a mandatory work-study program. Most students come from an Appalachian background.
At Brescia University (brescia.edu) in Owensboro, the most popular major is psychology. This Catholic liberal arts school offers both bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and has an enrollment of 800 students.
The major of economics and finance attracts the highest number of students at Centre College (centre.edu) in Danville. The school, which was founded in 1819, boasts 1,400 students.
The 15,000 students at Eastern Kentucky University (eku.edu) in Richmond have a wide range of majors to choose from, and psychology is the most popular. Eastern is the only school in the state to offer a degree in fire, arson and explosion investigation.
Frontier Nursing University (frontier.edu) in Versailles got its start in the mountain community of Hyden in 1939. The graduate school, with an enrollment of 2,600, offers a master of science in nursing program with the option to complete a doctor of nursing practice degree. Students can specialize in nurse-midwifery or become a nurse practitioner. According to Brittney Kinison, director of marketing, this master’s degree is the only program of its kind in Kentucky and the largest such program in the United States, graduating approximately 43 percent of the nation’s certified nurse-midwives.
The 1,100 undergraduates and 250 graduate students at Georgetown College (georgetowncollege.edu) have more than 40 options when it comes to majors, but the most popular is psychology. The college was founded in 1829 and was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.
With 16 colleges and 70 campuses throughout the state, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (kctcs.edu) has an annual enrollment of more than 100,000 students pursuing academic and technical degrees, diplomas, technical certificates and career training. KCTCS offers associate in arts and associate in science degrees. Graduates then can transfer to any of Kentucky’s public four-year institutions to further their education toward a bachelor’s degree. The most popular areas of concentration systemwide are business administration, health-science technology and nursing. Each campus has specialized offerings to meet the needs of its students. Big Sandy Community and Technical College in Prestonsburg offers collision repair technology, and the Jefferson (in Louisville), Maysville and Somerset locations offer aviation maintenance. Other colleges within the KCTCS system feature courses such as sonography, hospitality management and medical massage therapy.
“KCTCS is education for everyone because we meet students where they are, whether they’re just starting out as a dual credit student, pursuing an associate’s degree, or returning as an adult to jumpstart their career or changing careers,” said KCTCS President Ryan Quarles.
Kentucky Wesleyan College (kwc.edu) in Owensboro sees business administration as the most popular major among its 860 students. With more than 40 majors offered, KWC officials like to say they offer majors ranging from accounting to zoology and everything in between.
At Lindsey Wilson College (lindsey.edu), 24 percent of students pursue a bachelor’s degree in human services and counseling, and 22 percent follow a path in business administration. The school, located in Columbia in Adair County, currently has 1,775 undergraduates and 2,179 graduate students enrolled.
Business administration has the highest concentration of students at Midway University (midway.edu). But the school’s 2,003 students have many options, including an unusual major of game studies and design, in which students learn the science and art of virtual game development plus other skills, and a perfect-for-Kentucky minor in bourbon studies. Midway University is perhaps best known for its equine program.
Students interested in exploring the final frontier can major in space systems engineering at Morehead State University (morehead.edu). Morehead students have built a satellite and have assisted with communications and data for the Artemis I Moon Mission. The Space Science Center at Morehead is the only non-NASA node on NASA’s Deep Space Network. For students more interested in earth-related careers, nursing is the most popular among the school’s 8,700 students.
In far western Kentucky, the 10,000 students at Murray State University (murraystate.edu) have their choice of 148 programs to pursue. One major that is both popular and unusual is aimed at protection from the growing risk of online threats. “Cybersecurity and network management are essential for protecting our digital world, making them popular choices among students,” said Dr. Michael Ramage, director of the Murray State University Cyber Education and Research Center. “Our program offers hands-on labs and practical projects that provide valuable learning experiences, equipping students with the skills needed to protect businesses and communities from cyber threats.”
Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1814, Spalding University (spalding.edu) in Louisville is home to 1,700 undergraduate and graduate students. The most popular majors are education and business. The school also offers an occupational therapy doctorate, the first entry-level OTD program in the state designed for students without a degree in occupational therapy.
Thomas More University (thomasmore.edu) in Crestview Hills sees the highest concentration of its 2,300 students majoring in business administration. The private Catholic university in Northern Kentucky offers a minor in marine biology. While Thomas More is not located near an ocean, it operates a biology field station on the Ohio River. Along with a partnership with the Newport Aquarium, the field station allows for biological research and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educational outreach.
Dating back to 1780, before Kentucky had achieved statehood, Transylvania University (transy.edu) became the 16th college in the United States. This private liberal arts school in Lexington has an enrollment of about 1,000 students. Although the most popular major is business administration, Transy offer 46 majors plus the opportunity to design the major of your choice.
The University of Kentucky (uky.edu), a public land-grant research university in Lexington, was founded in 1865. The most popular major at UK, the largest university in the state with enrollment of 36,000, is nursing.
With 24,000 students, the University of Louisville (louisville.edu) sees the highest concentration of students in education and engineering majors. A new and unusual major is the master of science in artificial intelligence in medicine, which launched in the fall of 2024. UofL is one of the few universities in the nation to offer this interdisciplinary degree in a 100 percent online program.
Information technology is the most popular major at the University of the Cumberlands (ucumberlands.edu). The Williamsburg college has an enrollment of 20,374, made up of 6,103 undergraduate and 14,271 graduate students. UC was the first school in the state and one of the first in the nation to launch a degree in global business with blockchain technology.
In Bowling Green, Western Kentucky University (wku.edu) is home to 16,300 students. Although the most popular major is a bachelor of science in management, the most unique is the bachelor of science in military leadership. WKU also offers certificates designed to complement an existing major in a related field in brewing and distilling arts and sciences, game design and esports management.