<p>My school offers both a BA and a BS in computer science. I would much rather take the BA. The main difference is that instead of biology/physics/chemistry in the BS the BA has a foreign language requirement and more liberal arts classes. If I went the BA route, I would continue to learn Spanish and study abroad in Spain a semester (to hopefully gain fluency). </p>
<p>After searching the internet, I am genuinely confused on how employers view the BA vs BS. Some say that it really dosent matter, both will get you an interview and its that's what really matters. Others say that employers question why one would get a BA in computer science. </p>
<p>I have no interest into going into research or any super advanced computer science work. I love technology and computers, and I intend to use my CS degree as a gateway to allow me to do what I want in life (Travel, live abroad, etc). </p>
<p>Do you guys think I should go with the BA or BS? If you think I should go with the BS, please don't hesitate to say so. As much as I would rather go the BA, I'm a realist and if the BS would lead to substantial better job prospects then Ill do it if i have to.</p>
<p>Get a BA if you want. Really, honestly think about it. A title on a degree means absolutely nothing. You live only once and experiencing the world should be on your list of things to do young.</p>
<p>If the CS and math courses are the same, then it should not make any difference.</p>
<p>Try to include the CS courses in operating systems, algorithms and complexity, networks, software engineering, databases, and security in your course selection for best applicability to typical industry software jobs. Additional courses may be relevant to specific applications (e.g. graphics and artificial intelligence for computer games).</p>
<p>Foreign language can be helpful if you are internationalizing software to that language speaking countries or working with teams speaking that language. If you plan to travel or live abroad in countries speaking the foreign language you are taking, then that can help. Additional science can help if the application involves scientific applications. Physics (mechanics) can help if you develop games.</p>
<p>It is possible that the one of the degree programs may be ABET accredited while the other is not. But ABET accreditation is rarely (or never?) an issue in employment or people with CS degrees (although a student selecting schools can use the presence of an ABET accredited CS degree program as an indication of meeting a minimum standard of quality if the school is not well known in CS).</p>
<p>The only thing that is holding me back is that I want to make sure I can get a job out of college, especially with the economy the way it is. And I am pretty sure that if I applied for an entry level software position with a BA, and it came to down to me and another person. Me with the BA and the other person had a BS, the entry level job will probably go to them.</p>
<p>Unless your school is known among employers for graduating weak BA CS graduates (due to significantly fewer CS and math courses required, which is true at some schools but not others), I would not expect that to be a significant problem. It does not seem to be a problem for Berkeley BA CS graduates, based on the career survey.</p>
<p>On a different note, and this is probably brought up a bunch, but what about outsourcing/offshoring? </p>
<p>I understand that being a software developer requires more than writing basic code, but do you think that that will eventually become automated enough that workers in china/india have no problem doing it? </p>
<p>Also, the way the world is becoming globalized and one can conduct meetings from all over the world, that could allow a person to lead a design team in India from California. This personally makes me nervous and I don’t know what field is safe anymore.</p>
<p>"what about outsourcing/offshoring? " I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If you know what you are doing, you should pretty much always have a job. A lot of the offshore jobs are basically code monkeys and not “real” software development. There are also some jobs (government & government contracts) which are not able to be outsourced. Even with the economy the way it is, I received a full time software development job offer at the end of this summer (before I started my Sophomore year) with a very large, well known company upon my graduation. All of that said, no job is completely safe. There will be risk in whatever field you enter. I’m sure some people will tell you that field X is risk free (as many people have told me that), but that is simply not true. Find something you like to do and have an interest in and do that, whether it is CS or something else.</p>
<p>If you have any doubt in your mind that you’ll be at a disadvantage with a BA, go with a BS. I mean… why not? You just want to go the easy route and skip science classes? All students have to take general ed, which includes liberal arts. I’m sure you can squeeze language classes too with your BS. How do you know that you don’t want to do research? You might find a topic interesting enough. I’m not trying to sound mean, but I don’t see how a BA applicant will have an advantage over a BS applicant if both applicants are identical except for the name of the degree.</p>
<p>On the other hand… if you get good grades, work experience, and connections before you graduate, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a job with a BA.</p>
<p>As another poster has pointed out, the big question is what are <em>all</em> the differences between the BA and the BS? If the only difference is that the BA lets you take a foreign language instead of an extra science course, do the BA. However, if the BA also gets you out of taking some math or CS courses, or related engineering courses, think carefully. If it comes down to doing one major and using electives to making up the deficiencies of the other, all things being equal, get the BS on the piece of paper.</p>
<p>Well…I cannot add much to what was already said. As long as you take the CS core coursework that is common to all CS programs, you will be OK. </p>
<p>Come to think of it, there is something I would like to add that I think would help.</p>
<p>Just to be safe, make sure you take calculus-based Physics I & II and Linear Algebra (if not required for the B.A.). That will help with admissions if you ever decide to do a graduate CS program.</p>