The Secretary may give an absolute preference to any of the academic areas listed as disciplines or subdisciplines below, or the resulting inter-disciplines. The list was derived from the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) developed by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education and includes the instructional programs that may constitute courses of studies toward graduate degrees. The code number to the left of each discipline and subdiscipline is the Department's identification code for that particular type of instructional program.
05. Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies
05.01 Area Studies
05.02 Ethnic and Cultural Studies
11. Computer and Information Sciences
11.01 Computer and Information Sciences, General
11.02 Computer Programming
11.04 Information Sciences and Systems
11.05 Computer Systems Analysis
11.07 Computer Science
13. Education
13.01 Education, General
13.02 Bilingual/Bicultural Education
13.03 Curriculum and Instruction
13.04 Education Administration and Supervision
13.05 Educational/Instructional Media Design
13.06 Educational Evaluation, Research, and Statistics
13.07 International and Comparative Education
13.08 Educational Psychology
13.09 Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
13.10 Special Education
13.11 Student Counseling and Personnel Services
13.12 General Teacher Education
13.13 Teacher Education, Specific Academic, and Vocational Programs
13.14 Teaching English as a Second Language/Foreign Language
14. Engineering
14.01 Engineering, General
14.02 Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering
14.03 Agricultural Engineering
14.04 Architectural Engineering
14.05 Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
14.06 Ceramic Sciences and Engineering
14.07 Chemical Engineering
14.08 Civil Engineering
14.09 Computer Engineering
14.10 Electrical, Electronic, and Communications Engineering
14.11 Engineering Mechanics
14.12 Engineering Physics
14.13 Engineering Science
14.14 Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
14.15 Geological Engineering
14.16 Geophysical Engineering
14.17 Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering
14.18 Materials Engineering
14.19 Mechanical Engineering
14.20 Metallurgical Engineering
14.21 Mining and Mineral Engineering
14.22 Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
14.23 Nuclear Engineering
14.24 Ocean Engineering
14.25 Petroleum Engineering
14.27 Systems Engineering
14.28 Textile Sciences and Engineering
14.29 Engineering Design
14.30 Engineering/Industrial Management
14.31 Materials Science
14.32 Polymer/Plastics Engineering
16. Foreign Languages
16.01 Foreign Languages and Literatures
16.03 East and Southeast Asian Languages and Literatures
16.04 East European Languages and Literatures
16.05 Germanic Languages and Literatures
16.06 Greek Languages and Literatures
16.07 South Asian Languages and Literatures
16.09 Romance Languages and Literatures
16.11 Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures
16.12 Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
22. Law and Legal Studies
22.01 Law and Legal Studies
25. Library Science
25.01 Library Science/Librarianship
25.03 Library Assistant
26. Biological Sciences/Life Sciences
26.01 Biology, General
26.02 Biochemistry and Biophysics
26.03 Botany
26.04 Cell and Molecular Biology
26.05 Microbiology/Bacteriology
26.06 Miscellaneous Biological Specializations
26.07 Zoology
27. Mathematics
27.01 Mathematics
27.03 Applied Mathematics
27.05 Mathematic Statistics
40. Physical Sciences
40.01 Physical Sciences, General
40.02 Astronomy
40.03 Astrophysics
40.04 Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
40.05 Chemistry
40.06 Geological and Related Sciences
40.07 Miscellaneous Physical Sciences
40.08 Physics
42. Psychology
42.01 Psychology
42.02 Clinical Psychology
42.03 Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics
42.04 Community Psychology
42.06 Counseling Psychology
42.07 Developmental and Child Psychology
42.08 Experimental Psychology
42.09 Industrial and Organizational Psychology
42.11 Physiological Psychology/Psychobiology
42.16 Social Psychology
42.17 School Psychology
50. Visual and Performing Arts
50.01 Visual and Performing Arts
50.02 Crafts, Folk Art, and Artisanry
50.03 Dance
50.04 Design and Applied Arts
50.05 Dramatic/Theater Arts and Stagecraft
50.06 Film/Video and Photographic Arts
50.07 Fine Arts and Art Studies
50.09 Music
51. Health Professions and Related Sciences
51.01 Chiropractic (D.C., D.C.M.)
51.02 Communication Disorders Sciences and Services
51.03 Community Health Services
51.04 Dentistry (D.D.S., D.M.D.)
51.05 Dental Clinical Sciences/Graduate Dentistry (M.S., Ph.D.)
51.06 Dental Services
51.07 Health and Medical Administrative Services
51.08 Health and Medical Assistants
51.09 Health and Medical Diagnostic and Treatment Services
51.10 Health and Medical Laboratory Technologies/Technicians
51.11 Health and Medical Preparatory Programs
51.12 Medicine (M.D.)
51.13 Medical Basic Science
51.14 Medical Clinical Services (M.S., Ph.D)
51.15 Mental Health Services
51.16 Nursing
51.17 Optometry (O.D.)
51.18 Ophthalmic/Optometric Services
51.19 Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)
51.20 Pharmacy
51.21 Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., Pod.D.)
51.22 Public Health
51.23 Rehabilitation/Therapeutic Services
51.24 Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)
51.25 Veterinary Clinical Services
51.27 Miscellaneous Health Professions
34C.F.R. 648 app to Part 648