<p>I feel like there’s gotta be at least some prestige advantage to the BS over BA. Otherwise…what is the purpose of doing a BS? If the BA just means less restrictive course requirements… why would you subject yourself to that if it doesn’t matter? Unless you just so happened to want to take whatever extra course/courses are required…in which case… you can do that with a BA as well… so essentially… if this is the true situation… and both are viewed as equally rigorous… they wouldn’t need to differentiate the two degrees and only a BS or only a BA would exist. </p>
<p>I am very familiar with several basic science departments in a research university and have interviewed grad applicants. The things we look at in selecting the applicants for interviews:
- GRE scores should be decent, do not need to be exceptional
- GPAs need to be very good (~3.5 or higher), do not need to be exceptional
- which science and math courses were taken, and grades for these courses
- must have significant previous research experience; we read reference letters very carefully for indications of an applicant’s aptitude for and commitment to research</p>
<p>We never seriously consider applicants without significant previous research experience. Applicants with less competitive GPAs (say down to ~3.2) will still be considered (i.e. invited for an interview) if they have at least one glowing recommendation letter attesting to outstanding commitment, potential, or effort in research.</p>
<p>We don’t care at all if a student has a BA or BS. We look at the courses and grades in the transcript to make sure that the applicant has suitable strength and breadth in science and math coursework, and look for “smoking guns” such as poor grades in a subset of science courses.</p>
<p>Re: Why would a student choose a B.S. instead of B.A.? Perhaps it makes a difference when applying for industrial positions - maybe some HR personnel would appreciate the BS designation more? That is just a guess. Some students welcome the greater rigor required in a BS program. Some BA students expand the rigor of their program by choosing to take additional quantitative courses beyond what is required; others done. So there are different “flavors” of a BA degree, if you like, so they need a closer look when evaluating, while BS degrees are generally more rigorous.</p>
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<p>It almost looks like the microbiology is a specialization of the biology major, is that right? I guess the answer lies in what you want to do for grad school. If you want to study microbiology, then the microbiology BS would probably work better. It sounds like you want the Biology BA and have the freedom to choose upper-level courses outside microbiology. If that’s the case, go for it.</p>