Hey guys! I’m planning to do Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science in a liberal arts college. I wanted to know about the opportunites after completing my BA in CS degree. Will I get wider opportunities like BS in CS or not?
Also, if I wanna join Masters, will I have a chance to attend top universities like MIT, Harvard, etc ?
CS degrees are employable out of college so it really won’t matter much where you go. The only difference is how much you want to pay for the same degree.
If your school offers a BA versus BS option for CS, then the differences associated with the degree titles are specific to your school.
Otherwise, when comparing BA versus BS for CS across different schools, the degree title is not important. You have to consider the actual curriculum and the quality of the offerings contained therein.
Both are Bachelor’s degrees and the name typically depends on the college, although typically a BA has more flexibility, which means you could take as many CS classes as a BS would at another college, or may take more math, or double major, etc.
It really doesn’t matter to employers, what they want to see is what you can do.
Can I do Masters of Science in Computer Science after completing Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science ?
Yes.
The differences really are school specific between the BA and BS. You can do the same things after you graduate with either one.
As an example, I’m a double major in Math and CS. At my university, basically everyone with this combo gets a BS instead of a BA, since they require the same amount of coursework. That’s because the extra courses needed for a BS in Math (as opposed to a BA) can be fulfilled with courses required for the CS major and the extra courses needed for the BS in CS (as opposed to a BA) can also be fulfilled with courses that are required for the math major.
I’ve applied to liberal arts colleges such as Denison University, Skidmore College, Swarthmore College, Grinnell College. These colleges provide only Bachelor of Arts for CS and not Bachelor of Science.
My previous comment probably didn’t answer the question, did it? As long as you come out with some proficiency in a good mainstream programming language, you should be fine. I’m not sure what the difference is with a B.A. vs a B.S. in CS. Just research the degree very carefully. If you don’t feel good about the quality of the degree, there are plenty of other schools to choose from.
From the broad view, it’s really not a big difference, mostly just individual school specific.