In recent studies, it is noted that most engineering graduates have only engineering Bachelor's degrees and no other degrees. It also states that degrees held in addition to the engineering baccalaureate, regardless of the order in which they were obtained or the educational level they represent, have more often been in a non-engineering field than in engineering (502,000 versus 476,000).

Many combinations of degree level and field have been identified for the 2.2 million employed people with an engineering degree, and their relationships to occupation are analyzed in more detail in an upcoming NSF report. One example will suffice to show that particular levels and mixes of degrees are associated with particular occupational outcomes during the course of careers. Among master's-level engineering graduates the private for-profit sector (where most engineering graduates work), those who have combined their engineering degree(s) with a degree outside of S&E are more likely to become senior managers at some point in their career. (Although not shown here, in the case of the engineering-business combination, virtually all business degrees were at the master's level and were the highest degree earned.) People with a master's degree who have degrees in both engineering and business were twice as likely to be in senior management as people with a master's who have only engineering degrees.