At most if not all of the LACs I visited with my kids, including the one my daughter attended, the curriculum was advertised as 1/3 general education requirements (incl. humanities, sciences, social sciences, fine arts), 1/3 major requirements, and 1/3 other, which could be various electives, a minor, or a second major. There’s plenty of room in your academic schedule at an LAC to get the coursework to prepare you well for grad school, whether the degree is a BA or a BS. As others have said, you need to look in more detail at what types of courses are offered in the psychology department as well as other departments at each school, as well as opportunities for research and other experiences that will help prepare you for grad school.
you are incorrect. Grad schools will not care one iota about the differences between a BA/BS. At some top colleges, only a BA is available.
Think about it: if you want to take Organic Chem and Advanced Physics under a BA degree, you certainly can.
(I also disagree that you don’t need those pesky Hume/Lit courses. Grad school requires lotsa writing and those lit/hume courses will serve you well. But if you want the ultimate self-selection, aim for Amherst.)
Don’t waste another second based on the premise that there is a significant long-term difference between BA & BS degrees. No grad school cares, & if you want more psych classes than a BA will require, then take them as electives.
I also agree with those who say the humanities classes won’t be a waste. Those are typically the classes where you learn to notice tiny details while reading, learn to explain the significance of differences others won’t even notice, and learn how to logically construct a case supporting a point of view. These skills are at least as important in grad school as the depth of your knowledge of psychology.
Lafayette College offers both a BA and a BS in psychology. The BS involves more science and upper level psych coursework.
I do agree that the coursework you take is more important than if your degree is a BS or BA.
Not a LAC, but Rowan U also offers both a BA and BS in Psych. I believe you can see both of the course requirements on their website if you want to compare the actual class differences, but the general description does say the BS includes more science and research courses.
You’re barking up the wrong tree. As someone with a psychology degree and married to a clinical psychologist, I can tell you it makes not one iota of difference whether your undergrad degree is a BS in Psychology or a BA in Psychology. In researching colleges, investigate the distribution requirements and the specific requirements for the major. If the psych major does not require the specific science courses you want, you can take those science courses to fulfill distribution requirements or take them as electives. You can also talk to psych faculty about the flexibility of their programs and the possibility of designing your own program. If you are headed to psych grad school, research the prerequisites and make sure you fulfill them—regardless of whether those prerequisites (coursework or experiences) are requirements for the undergrad major.
In general, I think you are getting too much into the weeds for an undergrad psych program. The grad program will be where you need to carefully examine the focus of the program to be sure it matches your goals.
Which schools’ curricula did you compare? Our SIL got a BA and then a PhD in Physics. BA or BS doesn’t seem to matter.
Clinical Psychologist here who agrees that it doesn’t matter if it’s a BA or a BS. Just do well. And get research experience. And I was the student rep to the admissions committee for my grad program (T20 school) - don’t say in your grad school application: “I’m the go to person for all my friends and their problems. I’m considered the therapist of our group.” EVERYONE writes that.