<p>My son is planning to major in Computer Science but is interested in some small liberal arts programs in addition to some Ivies. He doesn't want to attend a very large university. I am not sure if a BA in Computer Science from one of these excellent LACs will be as useful for him in applying to jobs and grad school as a BS would be. If the answer depends on the curriculum and not the degree, how can we check to see if it comprehensive enough? I am not knowledgable at all in this field and would like to have some oversight. To give a bit of context, as a senior in HS, he is doing research in CS with a prof at our local very large public university, which is ranked in the top 10 in the world in CS. He is not considering this school because, if possible, he would prefer to go out of state and to a smallish college. His safety school so far is Carleton College. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, including names of CS programs in colleges that are not too big or honors programs in CS at larger and potentially cheaper schools. Anywhere is OK except for South and Southwest. Thanks!</p>
<p>It really does not matter.</p>
<p>There is a difference, although it’s more in the school’s curriculum. When I search colleges, I typically review their academics page as well, which means course listings and “about” pages. </p>
<p>Typically, a BA will come from the School of Liberal Arts and/or Sciences. This degree will focus more on the humanities and use more writing and reasoning for computer science. You will have your typical programming and computer courses and will have more writing/history courses.</p>
<p>A BS will encompass more of the sciences and maths, and especially for computer science, there will be more calculus and deeper computer programming courses. These courses will be more intensive in higher level computer science courses such as hardware and algorithm generating.</p>
<p>The preference for which kind of degree your son wants is based primarily on how he is of a student in high school. If he leans humanities and demonstrates interest in writing, take the BA degree. If he takes AP math courses, take the BS degree.</p>
<p>Here is the list for Carleton’s course listing. <a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/cs/courses/”>http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/cs/courses/</a></p>
<p>Most of the time, you should be able to find these kinds of course listings under their academics tab, then the major. Some sites take longer to search through to find the course listing. If you have specific colleges in mind and you can’t find the course listing, PM me for help!</p>
<p>Thanks redwall1521. If I understand correctly, you’re saying that from the point of view of jobs or graduate school, the BS is not better than the BA, but it depends on which courses are offered in CS for the BA. Looked at the Carleton link you posted and the list of CS courses for the fall 2014 seems full enough. Difficult for me to evaluate, though. </p>
<p>For undergraduate CS the ideal university will have a strong graduate CS program, professors who are engaged with industry, a relatively large undergraduate department (30+ freshmen) and strong inter-department research opportunities (as for example with electrical engineering mechanical engineering, and applied math). All else being equal a degree from a university (such as the one characterized above) will lead to more opportunities than a CS degree from most LACs. The opportunities include both summer intern positions and first jobs.</p>
<p>You should be comparing specific schools. While it is true that generally a CS degree from a national university is going to be better than a CS degree from a LAC, it depends on the specific schools you’re comparing.</p>
<p>I work in the industry and my Daughter wants to go to Carleton to study CS. I would have to agree with posters that say it will be easier to find a job coming from a top 10 University program. I don’t think that LAC vs Uni, BA vs BS matters for grad school. Carleton in particular has a very well designed CS program and even has guidance for students interested in grad school:</p>
<p><a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/cs/major/requirements/”>https://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/cs/major/requirements/</a></p>
<p>“Students contemplating graduate study in computer science should consider taking additional courses in both mathematics (ideally the full Calculus sequence plus Mathematics 215 and 232) and computer science.”</p>
<p>If grad school is the plan, I don’t think you can’t go wrong with Carleton, it is well known in Academia, if less so in industry. Carleton does have a very strong alumni network that helps with internships (D met a Carl working at Twitter this summer who used the network).</p>
<p>As an aside, I would describe Carleton’s curriculum as well balanced between practical and theoretical. There is an emphasis on programming as well as practical courses such as Mobile development and Data Mining. There are plenty of theoretical courses as well.</p>
<p>For my daughter, the school’s environment is most important. She wouldn’t like the larger schools that dominate the top 20 for CS and the top 5 are probably too competitive for admission. For her, schools like Brown, Carleton, Grinnell, and Williams are more her speed, and I think this will set her up for success.</p>
<p>Other smaller schools to look at for CS: Pomona, Swarthmore, Amherst. The benefit of these schools is name recognition. Harvey Mudd is a legitimate top 10 program that does not get ranked because it doesn’t have a graduate school.</p>
<p>Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton all have great placement in CS due to name recognition and are medium sized schools. If Carleton is a safety for your son, he has a shot at these schools.</p>
<p>But I have trouble believing Carleton is a true safety for anyone.</p>
<p>Have to agree, Carleton is not a true safety for anyone. Reach out to the CS faculty at Carleton; they are great professors and mentors.</p>
<p>@Tara108
It really depends on what kind of job your son really seeks. Having a degree in computer science may sometimes be enough to land a job at Google or Microsoft, but for other jobs the difference between BA and BS could mean getting accepted. In that case it depends on what kind of guy they’re looking for - whether they look for critically thinking individuals with computer background (BA) or a totally mathematically and computer oriented individual (BS).</p>
<p>As answered in the other thread, the degree title (BS versus BA) does not matter. The course and curriculum content is what matters.</p>
<p><a href=“Difference between BS and BA in Computer Science for Grad School and Jobs - #14 by ucbalumnus - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>Difference between BS and BA in Computer Science for Grad School and Jobs - #14 by ucbalumnus - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Typically, IIRC, the name BA or BS just comes from what the regional accrediting agency accredits the school to offer. Some schools are only accredited to offer one or the other, or they may be accredited to offer a BA in CS and not a BS. The name is unimportant; the classes are what’s important. Even still, at a college with both a BS and a BA, a student could elect the BA and still take virtually the same courses (or roughly equivalent ones) to the BS curriculum, but just opted for the BA for more flexibility. I would not at all assume that a BA was more ‘critically thinking’ while a BS was more ‘mathematically and computer-oriented.’</p>
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<p>I think this would only matter at colleges at which both the BA and BS were offered (and even then, I still wouldn’t take it as blanket advice). Some students take AP math classes and still demonstrate interest in writing and the humanities. Moreover, I very much dislike the idea that there is a dichotomy between writing/critical thinking/humanities and science/math/technology, as this kind of thinking stifles creativity and produces poor science. Good scientists are good writers and good thinkers. And all of our society’s most famous scientists - by necessity - were amazing writers and critical thinkers. Some of the most famous early names in mathematics and computer science were also philosophers and artists.</p>
<p>I am very grateful for all the responses! Apologies for the repetition in the other thread–I only discovered the parents’ forum after I had posted here: any suggestions for schools with very good CS programs that are relatively small (under 5,000) and have an admit rate over 20%? Anywhere except South and Southwest, and it could be an honors program in a larger school (I am told these are smaller).</p>