Most popular university majors for students in Canada

Here’s a clear, practical snapshot of what students in Canada actually study—and where they tend to land right after graduation. The Canadian job market is diverse and steady. Public services sit alongside big private employers in finance, energy, tech, media, and healthcare. Co-op programs are a superpower here, so use them. Your degree opens a door; your projects, internships, and reliability push it wider.

Below are the 20 most popular majors you’ll see across Canada, with plain-English notes on the jobs new grads step into—even when the role isn’t a perfect match to the major.

• Business / Management
  Operations, account management, project coordination, customer success, and sales development across banks, telcos, retailers, logistics, and tech; graduate rotational programs are common.
• Accounting
  Audit and tax assistant, financial reporting analyst, payroll, and compliance; public practice firms hire heavily, and corporate roles in every industry value solid spreadsheet skills.
• Finance
  FP&A analyst, commercial banking, credit risk, wealth operations, and insurance underwriting; Toronto’s fintech scene adds product and analytics paths.
• Economics
  Policy analysis, consulting, market research, banking, and business intelligence; many join analyst pools in government or large enterprises.
• Computer Science / Software Engineering
  Junior developer, QA, DevOps assistant, and product analyst in fintech, gaming, e-commerce, enterprise SaaS, and public digital services; co-ops lead to offers.
• Data Science / Statistics / Applied Math
  Data analyst, junior data scientist, pricing/risk analyst, and analytics engineer across finance, health, mobility, retail, and energy; SQL plus Python goes a long way.
• Engineering (Mechanical)
  Manufacturing/process, quality, maintenance, and product development in automotive, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and med-tech.
• Engineering (Electrical / Electronics)
  Power systems, renewables, building services, embedded systems, and EV infrastructure; commissioning and field roles build experience quickly.
• Civil / Infrastructure Engineering
  Site engineer, transportation or water engineer, and project planner on transit, roads, bridges, housing, and climate-resilience builds; public-private partnerships hire year-round.
• Nursing
  Hospital and community health roles across provinces, including acute care, eldercare, and primary care; rural placements offer rapid responsibility.
• Health Sciences / Public Health
  Health program coordination, epidemiology assistant, community outreach, and health data roles with provincial ministries, hospitals, and NGOs.
• Biological / Biomedical Sciences
  Lab tech, clinical research coordinator, QA/RA for medical devices, and bioprocess manufacturing; technical sales and applications support are common pivots.
• Chemistry / Materials
  Analytical chemistry, quality control, coatings, batteries, and process roles in consumer goods, mining, and clean-tech manufacturing.
• Environmental Science / Sustainability
  Environmental officer, ESG analyst, remediation tech, and climate adaptation roles with municipalities, utilities, and consulting firms.
• Education / Teacher Training
  Primary/secondary classrooms, special education, and student services; ed-tech, assessment, and corporate L&D for those who prefer applied learning design.
• Psychology
  HR, recruiting, UX research, customer success, community services, and care-support roles (where licensing applies); communication and empathy travel well.
• Law / Legal Studies
  Paralegal, legal assistant, compliance analyst, and contracts specialist; regulated industries—finance, health, energy—value the risk mindset.
• Communications / Media / Journalism
  PR, social, content, internal comms, and employer branding; Vancouver’s film/VFX and Montreal’s gaming hubs add crossover roles in production and storytelling.
• Arts & Humanities (History, English, Philosophy)
  Policy support, research, communications, publishing, customer operations, and analyst roles in public service and large enterprises; writing and stakeholder skills are the edge.
• Indigenous Studies / Public Policy (emerging focus)
  Community liaison, consultation coordinator, policy analyst, and program officer in government, energy, infrastructure, and education; understanding of duty-to-consult is valuable.

A few Canada-specific tips to turn this into action:

• Co-op and internships are your multiplier. Canada’s co-op culture is built to convert students into employees. Apply early, track your apps like a sales pipeline, and target teams doing real work you can show on a portfolio.
• Public sector = real careers. Federal, provincial, and municipal employers hire graduates for digital, analytics, infrastructure, health, and program delivery. These roles teach process, delivery, and stakeholder management at scale.
• Bilingual and bicultural wins. English gets you far. French opens roles in federal service and Quebec. If you can operate in both, your market doubles.
• Think sector clusters. Toronto for finance and fintech; Waterloo/Toronto/Vancouver for tech; Montreal for gaming/AI; Vancouver for VFX and clean tech; Calgary/Edmonton for energy and infrastructure; Ottawa for government and national-scale projects. Aim where momentum already exists.
• Show outcomes, not adjectives. A dashboard that cut report time 40%, a process fix that reduced defects, a paid media test that lifted conversions—put numbers to it. That beats “motivated team player” on any CV.

Bottom line: choose a program that helps you think clearly, build useful things, and communicate results. Stack co-ops and projects that prove you can deliver. Aim at the sectors Canada is known for—digital services, healthcare, infrastructure, energy transition, finance, and advanced manufacturing—and let compounding do its thing. Your major is the starting block. Your habits and outcomes carry you across the finish lines that matter.