Two trends in higher education nationwide are colliding at the University of Maryland: booming enrollment in computer science and plummeting student demand for the humanities.

Premvanti Patel experienced both firsthand. The 23-year-old senior from Sierra Vista, Ariz., triple-majored in computer science, linguistics and Persian studies. Some classes in her first major bulged with hundreds of students, while those in other fields were much smaller. In computer science, Patel said, she often felt “more like an ID number than a student.”

Across the country, spring graduation season highlights the swiftly tilting academic landscape. Cap-and-gown roll-calls for computer science and other technology-centered disciplines are becoming ever lengthier, and for the humanities, ever shorter.