I was looking through a Course book for the University of Chicago and I noticed some strange things. For example, you can get a B.S. or a B.A. in Chemistry. The only difference -and it says it plain in the book- is the number of courses required. A B.A. requires 8 or more Chemistry-related courses; B.S. requires 12 or more. I first thought that the difference would be in the types of courses; ie a B.S. requires more Math and Math-based classes, a B.A. theory or something like that. This is not so. The only thing is you may not have to take a FULL sequence (ie you take 2 classes of a 3-class sequence) for some sequences. You can also get a B.S. or B.A. in Mathematics, but it is not so strictly by number of courses. There are some provisions, but it is basically the same as Chemistry in that you aren’t taking as many classes.
Also, you can only get a B.A. for Biology and Physics, and only a B.S. in Biochemistry. Why do they give a B.A. in science subjects? My impression that if there was any difference, it was that a B.S. is for science courses.
The whole thing confuses me. Is U of C just on some bizarro program, or does their policy correlate with other schools? Is there some method for differentiating between a B.A. and B.S.?
Whether a BS or a BA (or another bachelors) is awarded for a particular program or subject can vary significantly by university. The short answer is that across schools there is really no difference, though some schools, like U of C, may award different degrees for different programs in the hard or social sciences, with the BS degree being awarded for the more rigorous or scientific variant of the program.
The University of Pennsylvania, where I was an undergraduate, awarded only BA degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences, including for all of their hard science degrees. The engineering school awarded BS Engineering degrees and Bachelor of Applied Science degrees for a program that had fewer technical and other requirements than the BSE degree. Wharton, the business school, awarded BS Economics degrees (though regular economics majors in the arts and sciences school would get BAs), a degree that at most other universities would be a Bachelors of Business Administration or a BSBA.
To summarize:
There is no universally recognized distinction between a BA and a BS. They are simply different ways of designating a baccalaureate. Individual institutions may use the two names to distinguish between differing programs (or not) at their whim or convenience.
Some institutions offer only BAs or only BSs, regardless of subject.
Some institutions offer BAs in some subjects (usually humanities) and BSs in others (usually sciences).
Some universities offer BAs from certain schools or colleges and BSs from other schools or colleges, often without regard to subject.
Some institutions use the terms to distinguish between programs within the same subject, often granting a BA for the more generalized track and a BS for the more rigorous or specialized track (especially in the sciences).
My college offered both a BA and a BS in psychology. The only difference was that for the BS, a certain number of credits in addition to the requirements for the majpr had to be in science courses ( I think it was 30).
I think my BA in computer science lists the major on it. My school had the same kind of deal, you could get either a BA or a BS in computer science, the main difference being that the BS required some hard-science electives, (biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry) while the BA required humanities, social science, and english.
I’ve heard some people say that the BA for computer science is less impressive… but I’m doing okay at the moment.
To reiterate what has already been said several times, there’s no specific, universal distinction between a B.A. and a B.S. in terms of requirements.
In many schools, a B.S. tends to have a higher math-and-sciences set of requirements, while a B.A. tends to have philosophical/theory and/or foreign language requirements not called for by a B.S. (And this is irrespective of major. A B.A. in Sociology might require you to take two years of a foregin language and a course in Social Philosophy, while a B.S. might require a course in human biology or courses in basic statistics and social statistics.)
In the 1960s it seemed to me that a B.A. was socially deemed slightly more prestigious than a B.S., but I have no idea whether that impression was valid or whether if so it has persisted until today.
Splanky, since you have the U of Chicago course book, I’ll list what Swarthmore College’s requirements are for a chemistry major. Note that all degrees awarded at Swarthmore are BAs, save for in engineering, which gives out BSs. And yes, my major (and minor) were listed on my diploma.
For chem at Swat, I had to take
Intro to Chem.
Orgo 1
Orgo 2
Biochem
Pchem1
Pchem2
Instrumental Methods
Inorganic
One Advanced Seminar.
So 9 classes in all, plus all the prerequisites (multivariable calc and 2 semesters of intro physics)
In order to graduate w/Honors at Swat, things are a little different than most schools. I won’t go into details, but I had to take an extra seminar and do a two-semester+1 summer research thesis (counts as two classes credit-wise), so 12 classes in all.
I hope that gives you something to compare the U of Chicago program to.
I think there probably was a time when a BA in humanities was considered more impressive than a BS in applied or theoretical science, because the former implied that the student was rich enough not to have to worry about not having an immediately marketable degree. As Paul Fussell put it in his book Class, he didn’t know what Sebastian Flyte was studying at Oxford, but it wasn’t chemistry, surely.
However, these days I’m much more impressed by a BSEE or BSCS than by a BA.
My experience at Cal Berkeley was similar to Billdo’s at UPenn; the majority of majors were offered by the College of Letters and Science, which only offered the BA (a bizarre state of affairs for a biophysicist). This caused some trouble for a microbiologist I worked with, whose credentials were questioned because of her Berkeley BA. I explained to our boss that that’s just how Berkeley does things, and that it’s a degree from Berkeley, and that ought to be good enough. She was unimpressed, so I mocked her Ph.D. from “Chicken State University” (she went to Purdue, and yes, I know that they have nothing to do with Purdue chickens).
Berkeley’s other colleges do offer BS degrees: the College of Chemistry, the College of Conservation and Resource Studies (which normal people would call “ecology”), and Engineering, I guess. And, FWIW, I know a guy who went to U of Oregon who has a BS in Political Science (earned by taking more math than the BA requires).
When my wife graduated (Math, Michigan State), she had the choice between BA and BS, and chose BA because there were more requirements for the BA, so it was a ‘better’ degree. I was surprised, because I would have expected the BS to have higher requirements. Based on the replies here, it usually does.
Hey there, fellow Triton! I went to Revelle myself, but never knew they only gave BAs. I never even gave the degree title a thought; I merely thought about the major. What year were you, if you don’t mind my asking?
I was a rare bird, majoring in German Literature. But I’ve spent most of my career in computer programming, so I guess that makes me a true son of Revelle.
I’ll be damned, we’d probably know each other by sight. I arrived in 1975 and was supposed to graduate in 1979, but ended up having to come back for two more terms because I changed my major a couple of times.
My wife and I briefly stopped by the campus last year, driving back from Ensenada. It was a Sunday…it turns out that even with all the expansion, the central campus area is still locked tighter than a drum on Sundays!
Email me if you want to discuss, reminisce further, reveal your identity, whatever.
The University of Wisconsin also has a similar program - you can get either a B.S. or a B.A. in Chemistry. And in at least one of the humanities, you can get a B.S. or a B.A. in English (I went for the B.S. option!). My B.S. in English required more science in more varied categories (classes in both natural and physical sciences, for example) and more math than the B.A. The B.S. may or may not have given you a pass on foreign languages as well (as I already had taken them, it didn’t matter to me and I don’t remember).
It still tickles me that my father has a B.A. in Chemistry and I have a B.S. in English.
Snicks
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the original meanings of “science” and “art” were broader than they are today. “Science” was any type of advanced knowledge or learning. “Art” was a way or method of doing something, like in industrial arts. With that in mind, a BA in engineering or a BS in literature doesn’t sound so strange.
Though some responses above indicate the expected difference for institutions that offer both, I think the older definitions help explain the case of schools that only issue one type or the other.
