Bachelor of Arts v. Bachelor of Science degree

Is there an advantage of having a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree? I have an opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts which would allow me to major in Business and Minor in Philosophy or to do a Bachelor of Science in Communications. One school is online and the other is a brick and mortar school. The other differences in one is located in the north while the other is located in the south. Is there any advantage of doing it traditional v. non-traditional and does the location of the school make a difference? Both schools are RA. Is it better to just have one major or would the liberal arts degree be good as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated on all of this. If you have any other suggestions or information that I should also be considering when making this decision, this would be helpful as well. Thank you.

 

Additional Question

to add to my decision with regard to this discussion, is there an advantage of graduating from a religious college v. a public college? Thanks again! Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

 

Can you give some more information on your prospective schools? This might help us respond to your questions. Welcome aboard. Janko

 

I asked the same question, to a very senior administrator of my udergrad alama mater.

His response, which was clearly an opinion, was that a B.A. focused more on "liberal arts" or "general education". A B.S., in his opinion, focused more on the major subject matter.

Is there an advantage? In my experiences, a B.A. is looked opon more favorably in academia than a B.S. Your mileage may vary.

 

My wife has been instructed, when recruiting for certain tech jobs, to screen resumes for BA/BS. The BA's get put in the "never to be looked at again folder" and the BS's are considered for the position. Should it be so cut-and-dry? I don't think so, but they have to have something to narrow the hundreds of resumes down.

 

I could have qualified for either a BS or BA from Regents. I originally planned depth areas (not majors, 2 depth areas for BSL or BAL from Regents/Excelsior) in sociology and business which would have equaled BS. I settled for sociology and psychology instead, and could have switched registration from the BS to the BA, but declined due to the fee.

It is silly to skip the designation when reviewing transcripts/resumes. the distinction is not standardized from school to school.

For careers that do not require licensure: Those that think a BA is less qualified than some BS degree holders are probably confusing education with training.

For example: Donald Regan, former war hero, Wall Street mogul, Secretary of the Treasury and White House Chief of Staff, had an AB (BA) in English Lit from Harvard. So a smart, hard working kid with a BA in English can't get hired at a bank?

for officer accesssions, the military is very flixible with degree majors. Colin Powell has a degree in Geology, yet he made a very good General.

 

With rare exception, in most places, a degree is a degree is a degree. Sometimes where you get it matters, but even then in most situations BS versus BA does not matter. The degree is the permission slip to the next level, work or graduate school. I would choose which degree most interests you and which degree can be completed earliest.

 

I was told that for our local area, a BA has a language requirement, while a BS does not.

I did not have to take a language and I got a BS. A friend of mine at a different school (St. Leo) got a BA. When I asked him if he had taken a language, he said that St. Leo counts "computer language" as a "language" - so he got a BA.

 

As to the foreign language requirement, my BA from 1975 required two years of foreign language (computer languages did not count) but, IIRC, BS candidates did not have a language requirement.

The local State university, New Mexico State University now requires two years of foreign language for ALL bachelor degrees in the arts and sciences. Criminal justice just adopted a similar requirement for its BCJ.

The way it seems to work here is, you have the option of a BA or a BS in the hard and life sciences; the BS is the "purer" program; the BA requires a supplemental major. In the humanities, you don't usually have a choice. It's BA or nothing. In the social sciences there seems to be the "wider" vs. "Narrower" distinction.

So, if you are in a hard science for a career, go for the BS. Otherwise, I doubt it makes much difference.

My two cents.

 

My decision to get a BA vs BS was derived from trying to round out my skills. I work in a technical field that requires extensive technical efforts. I figured that the BA complemented other training. It provided me with the communication skills (written and oral) that are needed in management. It required a foreign language. I would recommend that regardless of which path, get math through calculus and a statistics course in case you pursue additional education.

Happy Holidays

 

At UC Berkeley I got a BA in Computer Science from the CS department. I could have gotten a BS in Computer Science from the EE department for one less math class and one more EE class. They both required 2 years of foreign language.

In other words, I believe that the distinction is rather arbitrary.

 

What is someone has a BA in General Studies, but after their BA the went on to getting an MBA or an LLB. Are the still going to be put in the "never to be looked at again folder"?

 

Here is the why I understand the BA vs BS degree. The BA degree is less technical and the BS has more of the technical details of area of study. Typically with a BA (at least at the college I went too) you have more electives to possibly integrate another area of study. But typically once you are in the work force your degree will become less significant the more work experience you gain.

 

PLEASE READ!!!

I think that the issue here seems to be what area is going to work the best for me. I would like to know if anyone has information about a person who graduates with a major in Business and minor in Philosophy. Which would come under the umbrella of the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies or if people have any information about a person who graduates with a Communications degree. It looks like from the information that I have researched that there is not much difference between these areas but is there anyone who has graduated with a Business/Philosophy (dual major) or with one major like Communications?

 

West Point BS

I was looking at a West Point diploma from 1958 at my doctor's office on his wall and it reads "Bachelor of Science" on it.

 

Where I am from the degree granted is usually obvious from the major.

Major in a the sciences, you get a BSc. Major in social sciences or humanities, you get a BA. Major in math or psychology and you can choose.

 

As I said, "...when recruiting for certain tech jobs...," the MBA and the LLB are not considered "tech" and I assume she would toss them. In fact, it is worse then I previously thought. She says that when a manager asks her to recruit someone for a position they will often say, "They must have a BSEE from USC." I suppose a BSEE from MIT would not be good enough!

 

I believe that companies have a tendency to go after new graduates from RA schools in their area that they've had good luck in the past.

 

Were those 120 credit programs? Engineering programs, and some CS programs, are generally more than 120 credits or have prerequisites to make them effectively more than 120 credits.

 

It was many years ago so I can't say for sure (class of '75). I believe that it was a class or two over 180 quarter credits. Also I must explain that I had probably at least 20 credits over the minimum so there may have been slightly more difference between the BS and the BA. The one class difference was just the difference for me personally when I transferred into Berkeley after my AA.