Applied engineering

According to USA Today, Pittsburgh Steeler Offensive Coordinator Ken Whisenhunt credits his degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech with helping him call plays. "There are a lot of people who are glad I didn’t put my degree into practice on all those bridges and roads out there," Whisenhunt said. "But the school was difficult, and you have to be creative in how you solve problems in civil engineering. So that’s where my degree has translated well for me in play calling."

A recent National Science Foundation (NSF) survey found that people who earned a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering (S&E) generally report that their science and engineering knowledge is important to their job, even if it’s non-technical work.

According to the survey, among those workers whose only degree was an S&E bachelor’s degree, 27 percent had S&E occupations. Sixty-three percent working in non-technical fields still said their jobs were related to their S&E degree.

Of those who went on to receive advanced degrees, the largest proportion, almost 29 percent, took those degrees in non-S&E fields, namely business, law, or medicine. "S&E knowledge remained important to the jobs of most S&E bachelor’s holders with advanced degrees, being reported as necessary by a majority of both those with master’s degrees in business and those with other non-S&E advanced degrees," the NSF report said.