<p>Could choosing a BA over BS in Computer Science impede my chances of getting into a graduate school? I go to UCSD by the way.</p>
<p>ehhh, good question. I think it really depends on what type of graduate school you're applying to. But I wouldn't exactly know since I haven't gone to graduate school yet. </p>
<p>free Bump.</p>
<p>If your undergrad was like my undergrad, the BA was like 60 units of classes, the BS was like 180 units. I'd think grad admissions would see that you a BS was not the easy way out. Oh ya, grad school in engineering doesn't care that much about your art/humanities background as an undergrad (as long as you took a few classes).</p>
<p>Yeah, for UCSD it's like 112 vs 152 or something.</p>
<p>All bachelor's degrees from a given institution will require (virtually) the same total number of credits. (Note that if there is a 40 credit difference at UCSD that is quite unusual.)</p>
<p>The difference is that the BA (outside the humanities where everyone gets the BA) will often have fewer upper level classes in the major. Same total number of credits - just distributed differently. In some places, the BS makes room in the schedule by dropping language requirements or forcing electives to be in your major area.</p>
<p>In the physical sciences/math/engineering, I suspect a BA might raise an eyebrow, but you will be judged by your whole transcript (not to mention GRE/Subject GRE, LORs, SOP, research experience, etc). So as long as you have an appropriate level of preparation you'll be OK.</p>
<p>mmm, so BS still counts for points?</p>
<p>I would imagine it "counts for extra points." Usually, and I can really only speak for the sciences, there is a considerable difference between the number of upper level courses taken for a BA and BS degree. When the goal of graduate school is to pursue an upper level education in a specific field, it would be pretty ridiculous if there was no advantage to taking more upper level courses.</p>
<p>Well, let's take a look at the UCSD programs:
<a href="http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/undergrad/degreeprograms/bs-cs.html%5B/url%5D">http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/undergrad/degreeprograms/bs-cs.html</a>
<a href="http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/undergrad/degreeprograms/ba-cs.html%5B/url%5D">http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/undergrad/degreeprograms/ba-cs.html</a></p>
<p>Total credits to graduate:
BA: 112 units
BS: 135 units. </p>
<p>11 of those 23 credit differences are at the lower level in math and science preparation. The remaining are at the upper level where you have:</p>
<p>BA 36 units required + 16 elective
BS 40 units required + 24 elective</p>
<p>The 36 BA units overlap the BS exactly. The BS adds:</p>
<p>1 course in Programming Languages & Compilers (4 units)
2 technical electives (8 units)</p>
<p>I'd suggest that for the definitive answers, you should ask your undergrad advisor.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the difference would be unlikely to keep you out of most places, but it may pay to ask around with advisors and professors. Professors will know more about this than anyone else, as they're the people admitting students for grad school.</p>
<p>Wow. Thank you so much for all of your posts everyone. So basically the BA pretty much is the same as the BS then?</p>
<p>I didn't know that professors were the one's that admitted people to graduate school. </p>
<p>If I do the BA, I can graduate in 2 years, (I'm a freshman by the way) on a pretty normal schedule. Because I've taken so many AP classes, and community college classes.<br>
However, I have a feeling it will be impossible to get into graduate school.
(At this point i'm going to just ramble about my thoughts because I don't exactly know the question I'm asking). Assuming my GPA will be above a 3.9 at the end of this year, I have to apply for graduate school next year in fall. By then (uncle is director of engineering at Qualcomm) I'll have an Internship at Qualcomm. However, I will not have taken any upper division classes. And I won't have had any research done.</p>
<p>So basically this kind of forces me to elongate my years at UCSD over 3 years, so that I can get research in. </p>
<p>Another choice though is going through the BA/MS at UCSD. I already talked to my advisor, she said that an internship with a 3.8 GPA is pretty much in. </p>
<p>But can anyone advise me on the random rambling I wrote?</p>
<p>TheOneZ,</p>
<p>I would stay for a little longer. You'll get more out of grad school at a later age.</p>
<p>Am I supposed to take 3 classes at a time then >.>;;
That's such a waste of money for me.</p>
<p>No, you're supposed to take more, challenging classes in other fields, assuming that you actually run out of CS courses to take. It actually sounds like you don't plan to take any upper division electives in your major - bad plan. If you do simply run out of CS classes to take, then go to other departments for coursework. Electrical engineering goes well with CS. And why not take upper division math? You're not...chicken, are you? <em>pok pok pok</em></p>
<p>I would advise against using relatives to get an internship. It would probably foster ill will with the people you have to work with (and who would eventually write your rec letters). I would use your mad skillz as a computer scientist to land an internship on your own merit.</p>
<p>Finally, I think it is adorable that, having not yet received your first semester's grades, you have already reckoned your GPA. ;) With grades like that, you should have no trouble landing merit scholarships, and then college won't be such a waste of money for you.</p>
<p>Well, if I can get into graduate school faster, than I don't think I would take courses that I am not exactly interested in. ECE wont' help the research that I want to be in, and upper division math... ehhh... Unless if it'll help my chances of getting to graduate school significantly, I'd rather pass.</p>
<p>Oh, and about the uncle. I'm very very Asian, which means all my close family friend's one generation up from me, all the male's I call Uncle. And plus... In San Diego >.>;; I don't think it gets much better than this lol. </p>
<p>Sorry lol. I've been taking college classes since my freshman year... college is not much different than my high school =/ but then again ^__^ . </p>
<p>Oh, for scholarships when I'm already in college, do I turn in just my first year GPA? or do I turn in my High School one also?</p>
<p>TheOneZ,</p>
<p>The point is that you are obviously very young, and you probably shouldn't be rushing off to grad school to be the only person who can't buy a drink.</p>
<p>TheOneZ,</p>
<p>The uncle thing is a new one for me. Good to know!</p>
<p>I too took college courses throughout high school at local universities. These days, that's de rigeur for admission to a top tier undergrad school. However, my school did not accept AP or community college credits. Why? Because they assumed that the entering class would have this kind of preparation. All of the freshman classes built upon AP Chemistry, AP Physics, etc. They also did not let me transfer things like neuroscience and differential equations credits - and indeed their equivalents proved much more challenging. I think grad schools would like to see that you have a more advanced background in chemistry, physics, and math than the courses you took through community college. Take abstract algebra and discrete mathematics - your school should have year-long versions (much better than the discrete math you saw in junior college, trust me!). This is typical fare for cs majors and isn't even upper division work.</p>
<p>Maybe college is not much different than high school because you're not challenging yourself? Just a thought. Also, why do you want to go to grad school in CS? Are you aware that most CS majors go straight to industry, and that getting a PhD will probably not improve your salary? Do you want to be a professor? Because if so, you really do need to study more than the absolute bare-ass minimum.</p>
<p>Being young is not a bad thing as long as you are challenging yourself. But you must recognize that other people, older than you, have also been challenging themselves all their lives and will outperform you, in academics as well as research achievements. As a twenty-year-old college senior, applying for grad school alongside twenty-three-year-old college seniors, I can tell you how it is. No one is gonna give a rat's ass that you got your diploma early. No one is going to look at your application and say, "He hasn't accomplished much yet, but he is so young and full of promise! Let's take him anyway!" That is the real problem with being young and applying to grad school. The fact that you won't be able to socialize with your bar-hopping peers is just the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>You do not turn in your high school GPA or transcripts from the community colleges you took courses at in high school.</p>
<p>grad school admission committees don't spend much time counting credits in the major. There is too much school to school variation. Most of them could care less whether you have a BA or a BS. Most could care less what your undergrad major was.</p>
<p>What they care about is your ability to do the work. If the best way for YOU to show that is with a BS, then do it. But you don't need to. </p>
<p>How do they know if you can do the work (or more properly, what your future promise is?) From grades, courses taken and recs mostly. It would mean far more to have scored an A along with a great rec from the prof in a tough course directly related to your grad program than to have a bunch of easy courses on your transcript.</p>
<p>uhmm... I guess, you guys are thinking that I'd be taking only easy classes. Basically, I already covered all of the easy classes that are for the major. So basically, I'm just taking only upper division courses starting next quarter. </p>
<p>If it was a regular person, he would be taking the same classes as me, just that I skipped all of the weeder classes. At least this, I'm pretty sure Graduate School officers are much more crazed about Upper Division, thant he lower division classes that I Aced at a community college.<br>
I know for a fact that people who are on a four year schedule don't take classes like advanced mathematics or advanced chemistry or what not, and stay on for a fifth year just for it. (Which is basically what you are advising me right?) What exactly is the purpose of this? </p>
<p>I think taking 2 or 3 CSE Upper Divisions at a time is plenty challenging while doing research. </p>
<p>And also, the reason why I want to go to Graduate school is because the average salary coming from stanford Master's is 15k higher than the Bachelor's. Which would make an even bigger gap since I'm getting my bachelor's at UCSD. So yes I am aware that most people do this. However, most people graduate in 4 years. And since I still want to stay in school for at least years 3 or 4 years, I plan on getting a Masters. </p>
<p>I realize that there will be people there that will have much more experience than I do. Yes, maybe research wise, but I wouldn't go so far as to say Academically. Those same people would have gone through the same curriculum as I have but me just faster. And I'm also assuming you think I'm trying to finish early as a plus for getting into graduate school. On the contrary, I actually think it could be negative. All I'll have by the time I submit will be 1 internship with Qualcomm. Hopefully I can still make it up with my GRE's (which I have to take soon), Letter of Recs, Statement of Purpose, and the little Research that I'll have. </p>
<p>newmassdad:
Thanks for responding, yes, almost all of my classes that are being taken are all upper division courses. Thanks for the tip though.</p>
<p>Here is the problem, TheOneZ. You are comparing yourself to people who just want their BS so that they can go to industry. In industry, no one cares which courses you took, and they barely care what your overall GPA was. Instead of looking around you and asking what your classmates (most of whom will not continue to grad school) are doing, you should talk to some master's students and see what their undergrad preparation was like. Admittedly, the expectations of master's programs are lower/different than for PhD programs, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about when I say, "Yes, they're that competitive!" or "Yes, you need that much coursework!" For God's sake ask your faculty adviser what he thinks.</p>
<p>The CS majors at my school are required to take the math courses I recommended to you. (And advanced chemistry and physics were required of every single major. I sat next to them in quantum and in thermodynamics, I swear.) Yes, they do graduate in just four years even with all that work. They take five upper division courses per term for their last three years in order to get it all done. That's challenging oneself academically. I have never met a CS master's student, so I don't know for sure, but I have a hunch that you'll have to do it if you want to go to Stanford. (Even though you will likely have to pay them for the privilege of attending...)</p>
<p>I take some offense at the fact that you consider the undergrad coursework at top universities to be equivalent to that of community colleges. I took forty units' worth of community college courses before I was old enough to drive (with perfect grades, too), so I feel comfortable saying that the two kinds of courses are incomparable. If you don't notice a difference, then my opinion of UCSD will be greatly diminished! How can you say that you will have gone through the same curriculum as other UCSD CS majors? Well, I should just let it lie.</p>
<p>I think I can just make a recommendation here towards the OP. Although you may think that all those other kids at your school are just nuckleheads, there are some pretty smart ones out there.. Do not take your classes lightly and definitely do not overestimate yourself in comparing yourself to your colleages. I went to another midtier UC for engineering undergrad and I distinctly remember that competition was pretty fierce. The valedictorians/salutatorians from highschool plaqued the campus grounds and no one cared. Many folks took a some community college classes in highschool. They are willing to work as hard as you and longer. So slow down, think about what you are trying to accomplish in your short time in college and keep those grades up. Plus, live a little, college life happens once. Graduate school is more like work.</p>