Moravian College’s list of most popular majors from the 2017 to 2018 school year contains some surprises, showing that many undergraduates choose majors that lack clear career paths.

The top 10 majors account for 72% of the 450 undergraduate students who completed their degrees last school year.

Nursing and management are the most popular majors, which makes sense perhaps because they’re pre-professional and thus tend to lead to jobs right after graduation.

The third most popular major, however, isn’t one on the pre-professional track: psychology.

Dr. Dana Dunn, professor of psychology and chair of the psychology department, isn’t surprised. “What could be more interesting than other people?” he asks. “[Students] want to understand themselves and other people, and [so] the field has grown tremendously.”

Psychology students at Moravian are given broad exposure to that field and build on skills that help them to focus on their specific career and research goals, says Dunn. The major is considered a “hub science,” as there are over 700 diverse branches, from social to cognitive studies. Because of this, undergraduates can work in nearly any field, from STEM and social service to even management.

Sociology is another popular major that is unconventional in today’s STEM-driven world. Not many students who enter Moravian intend on majoring in sociology but find they like it when they take a soc course to fulfill a LINC requirement.

Dr. Debra Wetcher-Hendricks, professor of sociology and chair of the sociology and anthropology department, understands the subject’s appeal. “Sociology is finding how outside factors external to a person’s behavior affects them,” she said. “[As a student] I loved the reward of applying social research to data analysis”

As with psychology, the major in sociology is interdisciplinary, so students can go into any field of study after college.

At Moravian, soc undergraduates choose from two tracks. One prepares them to go to graduate school for a master’s in sociology or in social work. In general, these graduates work on their advanced degrees while holding down jobs, as most workplaces help pay for graduate school tuition.

The other track is criminal, law and society, which is popular with students who want to become lawyers, state troopers, FBI agents, and the like.