<p>Hello all! Recently, I was accepted to the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. My first choice was College of Science and Engineering, but I am sure that i will still attend the UMN regardless. I have a large interest in comp. science and was relived to find that the UMN offers a B.A. in comp. science in the college of liberal arts. However, I have found that most employers want a B.S. which makes me reluctant to pursue it. On the other hand, a Bachelors in arts allows for much more breadth in different disciplines and not strictly CS. But the feeling of not getting a job because of having a bachelors of arts instead of bachelors of science makes me shiver. My question to all of you is should I go for the BS or the BA?</p>
<p><a href=“Department of Computer Science and Engineering | College of Science and Engineering”>Department of Computer Science and Engineering | College of Science and Engineering; shows the two majors.</p>
<p>The differences in CS courses are that the BS program adds CS 2041 (Advanced Programming Principles) and requires 20 credits of advanced CS electives with a specific track instead of 12 credits of advanced CS electives.</p>
<p>In other words, it is certainly possible for a BA student to take all of the same CS courses that a BS student would take by adding CS 2041 and additional advanced CS electives in a specific track (although with the BA, you need not follow a track at all, if you want to choose a more general set of advanced CS courses).</p>
<p>As far as employment goes, the degree title BA vs. BS should not really matter. What matters is what you actually know (which can certainly be influenced by what courses you choose).</p>
<p>I agree. Just take your B.A. program like the B.S. program. Any credible employer will see your coursework and hire you based on that. If an employer skips you solely on your degree does not say B.S. (without checking your coursework), I really don’t think you would want to work for someone like that anyway.</p>
<p>One more thing, and this is more of a humble opinion coming from a long-time software engineer. Sometimes, those CS programs through Arts/Sciences and Math programs that allow CS concentrations can really be beneficial because one can stack up on the “most used CS courses in the industry” while skipping some of the courses that have very few jobs associated with them. Include the following:</p>
<p>Data Structures
Operating Systems
Database Systems
Computer Networks
Software Engineering</p>
<p>…and those courses will give you a foundation of what is used the most in industry.</p>
<p>…and one more thing…your diploma will still read U-Minnesota and Computer Science.</p>
<p><a href=“Department of Computer Science and Engineering | College of Science and Engineering”>Department of Computer Science and Engineering | College of Science and Engineering; lists the tracks, if you choose to follow one (or are required to follow one for the BS degree).</p>
<p>The useful-looking courses for industry software jobs generally include:</p>
<p>CSCI 4041 - Algorithms and Data Structures (4) (required for both BA and BS degrees)
CSCI 4061 - Introduction to Operating Systems (4) (required for both BA and BS degrees)
CSCI 4211 - Intro. to Computer Networks (3)
CSCI 4707 - Practice of Database Systems (3)
CSCI 4950 - Senior Software Project (3-6) (or other course with a large software project)
CSCI 5271 - Introduction to Computer Security (3) </p>