Difference between B.S. and B.A.?

Food? · November 2006

Right now I'm set up to get a B.A. in film and video, but I have to have to take 3 semesters of French to meet the requirements, and I don't really want to. If I switch to a B.S., I can take other classes instead. Is there any reason I shouldn't switch?

bsjezz · November 2006

If you switch to B.S. you'll be ruining your future career options with McDonalds?

Food? · November 2006

So in other words, employers don't give a shit? Because that'd be awesome.

Comahawk · November 2006

As far as I know, B.S. is much more applicable... Though it doens't truely matter until you obtain your Masters in a certain field.

kaliyama · November 2006

It's hard to see a post production company or something caring if you have a B.S. or a B.A., but the reason to care is if employers do distinguish, or for getting an MFA later on or something. Having some french isn't a bad thing, either. You don't like Godard?

Kewop Decam · November 2006

I don't much about BS and BA, but I know my teacher couldn't get a job with the FBI decoding sounds and such because she had a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) instead of a regular BA. They felt she didn't have the background in the math and sciences that were essential to the job... even though everything about the job she knew how to do.

So, I guess things like that matter, but it seems like a rare occurance when it does.

rockmonkey · November 2006

so basically you want to know whether to go bachelor of arts or bachelor of science. Talk to your advisor and tell them what you want to do once out of college and they should be able to point you in the right direction or at least clearify the differences. That is what advisors are there for.

I used to be a comp sci major before I changed and my school offers one from the school of science and the school of business. Basically if you wanted t o be a REAL computer science major you need to do the school of science route where is all about the math. If you wanted to be a business man with a technology focus then business was where you needed to be.

I'm getting my BBA in accounting decemeber 15th, YAY!
BBA stands for Bachelor of Business Administration.

Jimmy King · November 2006

It's going to vary from college to college, so talk to your advisors there. My experience at University of Iowa is slightly different from what rockmonkey just said about his experience.

At U of I, Computer Science was a B.A. and what you picked if you wanted to be developing software. MIS was also a B.A. which filled the role of Networking/System Administration type major and "business guy with a tech degree" depending on exactly which classes you took. Then there was Computer Engineering, which was a B.S. and covered most of the same programming skills as Computer Science but went further into hardware and is what you would go with if you wanted to do cool stuff like design ICs or whatnot.

Food? · November 2006

Yeah, my advisor said there wasn't a difference as far as he knew, I was just seeing if anyone had any advice before I changed.

SatanIsMyMotor · November 2006

bsjezz wrote:

If you switch to B.S. you'll be ruining your future career options with McDonalds?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Are you harping on people with a BA?
I have a BA and I have a very good job. It's all about how you apply yourself, not what two letters come after your name.

vonPoonBurGer · November 2006

SatanIsMyMotor wrote:

It's all about how you apply yourself, not what two letters come after your name.

For true. It's hard to make people who are in school understand this, but most people who've graduated will tell you that for the vast majority of careers your exact grades don't matter, and your exact degree doesn't matter. Most employers just prefer candidates who have a bachelor's degree of any sort, as it's strongly correllated with good work ethic and capability to learn new things. For example, I'm an Oracle DBA, and I have a BA in Psych. Go figure. If anything, I would see a BS as being slightly better than a BA, provided you weren't planning on getting an MFA somewhere down the road.

Heir · November 2006

At my school, at lot of majors offer both a BA and a BS.

The BA usually has more foreign language, history, liberal arts classes for electives.

The BS has more math/science/technical stuff.

Our business school is different than Jimmy's it seems. Our college of Business offers BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) instead of BA's or BS's.

It really depends on the field you're going into, but I had always been told that (all things considered equal) a BS had a slight advantage over a BA.

Thanatos · November 2006

The awarding of a BA over a BS or vice-versa is pretty much arbitrarily determined by the college.

There are differences, but they vary between different colleges. If you like the BS probram better, get the BS.

bsjezz · November 2006

SatanIsMyMotor wrote:

bsjezz wrote:

If you switch to B.S. you'll be ruining your future career options with McDonalds?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Are you harping on people with a BA?
I have a BA and I have a very good job. It's all about how you apply yourself, not what two letters come after your name.

Yeah, sorry, it's just a tired old joke. I also have a B.A. and I get it all the time. I thought, for Food?, it would probably be the better route to choose B.S. as BA's have a bit of a stigma ("Bachelor of Attendance").

If there were some nice humanities programs or something that you're interested in at your uni then I'd say go for the BA, but it sounds like the BS is more suited to you so go for that. And although you won't really be working at McDonalds, you may avoid the occassional joke about it.

Penny Arcade

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