<p>(posted it in the Cafe by accident, so reposting here)</p>
<p>I have a child pursuing majors in Fine Art (painting) and Psychology at a well respected university. The university has its own Art school, (as well as Business and Engineering schools). The way it is set up, the "professional" school is automatically considered to be the "primary" school if the student is pursuing majors in one of the professional schools and in the school of Arts & Sciences. In my child's case this is the school of Art, so her degree will be a BFA.</p>
<p>It is pretty clear to me from everything I've read that BFA has advantages if she will pursue a career in the arts (grad programs, etc.). But what about Psychology? Will BFA with major in Psych be considered differently than BA with major in Psych wrt to grad programs and job opportunities?</p>
<p>She could do a dual degree, and graduate with BFA in Art and BA in Psych, but it will require taking many more classes, so will entail staying at least one extra semester in school...
Is it worth it?</p>
<p>My wife has strong feelings about this because our daughter had a similar issue - she’s in the arts so … My wife believes that having the BA means you have the core classes, etc. and that is important. I don’t know if that’s true but she was quite worried about graduate school issues like you. I never got an answer because it turned out my daughter could get a BS. I hope someone knows more than my piddling bit of help.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any such thing as a “BFA with a major in Psych”. At least, I’ve never heard of it. Double-degreeing is not uncommon for kids who get BFAs at universities.</p>
<p>I have no idea whether the extra degree is worth an extra semester. You would need to see the future in a crystal ball to begin to know that. I am certain that Psychology grad schools don’t see too many BFA applicants, but that could be a point of distinction for an applicant, especially if it were clear she also had a strong background in Psychology. If you are talking about law school, I don’t think it would matter.</p>
<p>I think I know the school you’re talking about because my daughter is accepted and will do the same thing if she goes there! Art plus a major in CAS. I would ask at the college. Don’t they have great advising there? I’m sure that there are many students who have wondered the same thing there and these kids are all in there anyway because of their academic profile.</p>
<p>JHS,
there is such a thing, as weird as it sounds. In fact at that particular school (WUSTL) you can have BFA with any major (including math and sciences), as long as you complete your Art school major and fulfill the Art school graduation requirements as well.</p>
<p>Although I highly doubt this will be relevant to my daughter (she has no interest in law school what so ever), it is surprising that it apparently does not matter for Law schools (I’ve heard that they dislike “professional” degrees)…</p>
<p>SDonCC,
That’s a good idea, and I’ll tell her to talk to her Psych advisor about it.
I am pretty sure she could fulfill all the CAS degree requirements in 4 years except for the total number of credits (I believe that 90 of 120 credits required for graduation have to be from CAS courses, and there is no way she can have that many in 4 years on top of the art credits. I don’t know if AP credits can count towards the 90, but I am pretty sure they can’t.)</p>
<p>Bumping this thread in hopes to get some more input, especially from people who are hiring new college grads or are familiar with the process… Thanks!</p>
<p>Can you shed any light on what your child thinks? Why did she choose to pursue these two fields and the ways in which they are connected? Is she just beginning or well on her way? Has she had any internships which may have provided insights or opened her eyes to possibilities after undergrad? I certainly agree with SDonCC that she should be talking with advisors in both departments.</p>
<p>Other than that, a BFA with a Psych degree seems to offer the most interesting possibilities for grad schools and worth the extra semester.</p>
<p>Morandi,
Thanks for the reply. My daughter is a sophomore at WashU. She is an artist at heart, I think, but she also has a genuine interest in psychology. She did not have a chance to take many advanced psych courses yet (mostly because of current semester abroad for the art program), but she has a (paid) internship lined up for the summer that is supposed to be psych-related, and she is planning to take many more psych classes in the next two years.</p>
<p>I don’t think that her art advisors can give her any valuable advice regarding psych major, but I hope that the psych advisor will…</p>
<p>My fear is that without the extra semester she will not have time to get enough in-depth studies and research done in psych, even if she can fulfill all the requirements for the major… But I guess my question is whether psych major with BFA (as opposed to BA or BS) would be a red flag in itself, even before the record is scrutinized for specifics.</p>
<p>It’s hard to know what path your daughter will take–kids often change their minds (which, I think, is good). IMO if your D takes the extra semester, she’ll probably have more options available to her when she finishes her undergraduate program. I’d support that decision if you can handle the finances for an extra semester.</p>
<p>nngmm–it’s so hard to know, isn’t it? WashU seems to encourage cross pollination as students develop within their discipline which, in my view is a positive. I suspect the faculty are skilled in this dialogue as well and those in the art department may well have very good advice to offer your daughter. Never hurts to ask. She should never feel intimidated and just bother away with questions during their office hours – that’s why they’re there. I don’t claim to know any of them personally, but many do live in my neighborhood and strike me as approachable, bright, and pragmatic folks (many run businesses on the side). When Buzz Spector was at Cornell he had a wonderful reputation as being approachable, nice, and helpful to anyone who walked through his door. WashU is lucky to have him – and his studies were a cross between art and philosophy, if I remember correctly. Also, some of the faculty have kids your daughter’s age which always helps as they discuss options;-)</p>
<p>I know nothing about ‘red flags’ with regard to how employers or grad schools perceive an undergrad experience, nor would I worry about it. The point seems to be to develop one’s interests, find a way to make them relevant and be stubborn about it. . .A serious artist with a background in psychology is certainly relevant.</p>
<p>Just some thoughts and I apologize that they are not very practical.</p>
<p>The title of this thread “BFA vs. BA” caught my eye. My daughter is facing a similar “BFA vs. BA” choice this month. She got admitted to three fine BA schools: Kenyon, William and Mary, and Bard. She also got admitted into Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts for their BFA studio arts program. Her combined reading & Math SAT’s are about 400 higher than the average VCU student’s (about 300 higher than the average VCUArts student’s), so if she ends up not loving art as much as she thinks she will, she’d be in a school that I don’t think will challenge her enough. She’s enthralled with the amazing art classes and facilities at VCUArts, as am I. But it seems like half of their professors themselves got BA’s before getting their MFA’s. She loves Kenyon, but she thinks their art facilities pale in comparison to VCU’s, which, of course, they do. She wants to do art for a living, but who knows? College is a time of discovery; perhaps she’d get interested in other areas. Her art is fine, but her grades are stellar. She also has a great interest in literature that feeds right into Kenyon, Bard, and W&M (but not at VCU at all), but she has this pent-up desire to finally get to work with clay, metals, and fabric, something mostly lacking in her high school and not emphasized, of course, at the three liberal arts schools but very much available at VCUArts.</p>
<p>Any thoughts or experience anyone might have would be appreciated!</p>
<p>If she is ever going to consider graduate school, then maybe that would be the place for the “F” in the degree: MFA. That way she could do the double major for a less stressful BA in undergrad, and then later pursue the MFA. In order to get a job in the arts these days, it’s practically required to have the MFA anyway. It seems kind of redundant to get a BFA and then an MFA.</p>
<p>The OP’s daughter is already pursuing a BFA. Her question is whether her daughter should spend the extra time at school to add a second BA degree with psychology, or just add a second major in psychology without doing the additional requirements to get the BA.</p>