<p>I am a prefrosh who will attend Cornell College of Arts and Science next year and I was wondering why the college only offers a BA degree. I plan on majoring in either Physics or Chemistry and, while I am not questioning Cornell's rigor in either of those two fields (in fact I know Cornell is among the strongest schools in both), I am wondering if a BA would simply look bad or imply to potential employers/grad schools in the future that my education was not as rigorous as it would have been with a BS. I know that Engineering offers BS, but certainly a Chem Engineering major couldn't be "more rigorous" than a Chemistry major, they simply follow different concentrations (ie practical v theoretical). I chose CAS over Engineering (and subsequently chem/physics over chemE/mechE) because I believe am a more theory oriented person. </p>
<p>Now, I see myself applying to grad school in 4 years and would definitely like to aim for the top. Should I worry that for example Harvard grad school (lets say in chem) would look at my degree and say "oh BA...not as good as BS"? My main source of worry comes from this article (which, I will admit, reeks of "BS" lol):</p>
<p>Bachelor</a> Degree - BA Vs. BS</p>
<p>Forgive me for perhaps naively trying to plan my life so early and getting into that same prep mentality again but I really would like to get into a top grad school. Am I correct in saying that a BA in chem is just as respected as a BS in chemE or should I perhaps consider transferring to engineering (I would prefer staying in CAS)?</p>
<p>You’re getting a science degree from Cornell. No one is going to doubt the adequacy of your coursework or the rigor of your education.</p>
<p>Ezine is not a source for any sort of reputable information. If you apply for a job and your resume says “BA Physics, Cornell University” that will only look good on a resume. As far as I can tell, whether a college offers a BA or BS has nothing to do with the curriculum; just with how the college awards its degrees.</p>
<p>@mikeyc traditionally a science degree is supposed to mean its more hands on while arts is more theoretical, schools have really gone away from that now in the last couple of decades but at some places they still keep to that mold. That being said “Cornell University” is a large plus next to a potentially small minus of a “BA <em>major</em>” on a resume.</p>
<p>It depends more on what grades you get, then on what courses you take while you are in school. The difference in BA and BS is then really insignificant because you can take really hard courses and get a BA. If your employers care about the difficulty of your courses, they’ll look to see your course record - BA v BS becomes meaningless. If anything, BA would look better because it would show you to be a more well-rounded individual (able to connect to others and communicate) when you have a science degree (assuming that you take the harder, more in depth courses to show your interest in your major field too). This belief may stem from the idea that that well-roundedness is central to lifelong success. Of course, some employers would like the BS degree too for specialization as the article would suggest, but then it really depends on the employer and this difference definitely depends more on course load than BS v BA.</p>