<p>I'm planning on majoring in Geophysics but when I checked my schools site, it appears that they only offer a B.A. not a B.S. in the field. Will this matter for grad school/job prospects? I'm a little worried since I've heard that B.A.'s are looked down upon in the science field because they tend to require less rigorous classes, but if I don't have a choice...</p>
<p>General</a> Catalog - Undergraduate Education - Undergraduate Majors and Degrees</p>
<p>There is the course catalog, the Earth and Planetary Science degree with a specialization in Geophysics is only a B.A.</p>
<p>It looks like UC Berkeley used to have a Department of Geology and Geophysics, which probably offered the BS and BA in those subjects but have combined that department with a number of other disciplines such as Astronomy, Meteorology, Oceanography, Environmental Studies, Geography and even Social Sciences and created a new department called Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) in which Geophysics is one area that you can specialize in. It may be that EPS covers such a large range of disciplines and issues that they believe the BA is the most appropriate designation for Bachelors degrees earned in EPS.</p>
<p>It looks like the basic requirements for Geophysics is the standard lower division Calculus and Physics sequences taken by physical science and engineering majors at UC Berkeley. After that it looks like you will be taking a number of required and elective courses in Geophysics and related subjects.</p>
<p>I do not think you have to worry. Whether you are awarded a BA or a BS is not nearly as important as taking, in addition to courses designated as Geophysics, a wide range of upper division courses in Geology, Physics and Mathematics to best prepare you for a job in the mining and resource extraction industries upon graduation or further study at the graduate level.</p>
<p>For bachelor’s degrees, UC Berkeley grants only Bachelor of Arts (as opposed to Science) degrees in a lot of subjects, including Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, and Astronomy, as well as Earth and Planetary Science (and its predecessor majors Geology, Geophysics, and Earth Science). In Computer Science, those graduating with Bachelor of Arts degrees appear to have roughly comparable job and career prospects as those graduating with Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.</p>
<p>So the Bachelor of Arts versus Bachelor of Science degree title difference is unlikely to be a significant factor for employment or graduate school purposes when it comes to bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley’s career survey is here: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm</a></p>