<p>Hi, im only a sophomore in high school and the first in my family to go to a college. I want to learn more about the college system.
First, what is the diffidence between B.A and B.S?
i have been told they are the same thing except one is science related. Is that all to it?
Also, what is graduate school? is it the same thing as the college you are in?
Oh and the college i want to go to offers a B.A./B.S in engineering, but i really want a masters or PhD in engineering, how would i go about doing that?</p>
<p>Lots of questions, and good ones, because this does get a little complicated.</p>
<p>The difference between a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science is mostly meaningless. Different universities and even different colleges and schools within different universities have different policies as to which is awarded for which degrees under which circumstances, which means that it’s entirely impossible to rely upon it for any meaningful difference in education.</p>
<p>For example, I have a bachelor of science in journalism - the policy of my university’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences was that a BA would be awarded for a degree program completed with a two-year course of a single foreign language and that a BS would be awarded for a degree program with a minor. I don’t know why they made that decision, but that’s what I mean by everything being different. Effectively, you don’t need to worry about it.</p>
<p>Graduate school is not the same thing as undergraduate college. It is an extended course of higher education earned after the completion of an undergraduate degree, usually with an intense focus on one particular field and often involving elements of research designed to prepare students for a scholarly career. In general, it is preferred that one’s graduate school be a different institution than one’s undergraduate college or university.</p>
<p>You cannot enroll in graduate school until you have first earned a bachelor’s degree. So, if you want a master’s or Ph.D in engineering, you first need to pursue a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field.</p>
<p>This is unsolicited advice, but my advice is right now just concentrate on earning your BA or BS. A PhD in engineering is only necessary if you want to go into a research career, like as a professor or the head of an industry research lab. For the vast majority of practical applications in engineering, a BS or MS is sufficient.</p>
<p>Okay, the college i want to go to offers only a B.A. in engineering. So you are saying that if i want a Masters i would need to go to grad school, which is a whole different school. does that mean that grad school and undergrad could be two different universities? like a transfer?
sorry im really new to this whole college thing</p>
<p>Grad school is not a transfer, it entails another application process. You may apply to and attend grad school at the same school where you earn your undergraduate degree or at another school.</p>
<p>
In general, a B.S. (Bachelor of Science) degree is a 4-year degree with approximately 1-2 years of “general” education (like high school) and 2-3 years of “major” education (i.e., what it says on your diploma or vital supporting courses). A B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) gives more general education (usually about a year) at the expense of a similar amount of major education. Arts and humanities degrees are usually B.A.'s while science and engineering degrees are usually B.S.'s.</p>
<p>A B.A. in engineering usually indicates that the school/department is not large enough to support a B.S.'s worth of major courses, or else that it is oriented away from actual engineering jobs - perhaps towards management, sales, or patent law. A B.A. will usually be high on theory, low on practice, and it can be a bit harder to get those engineering jobs as a result.</p>
<p>
Undergraduate refers to Bachelors degrees, and graduate refers to programs awarding Masters and Doctoral degrees. A given department may offer one or all three degrees - some schools will not offer a graduate program, some schools may ONLY offer graduate degrees in a given field. You may stay at the same school for two degrees without issue, although many schools discourage getting all three at the same place. There is a separate application process for each degree, so it is quite common to move between schools. I received my B.S. at one school, my M.S. at another, and am working on my Ph.D. at yet a third, but I had the opportunity to do all three at that first school.</p>
<p>
Get the B.A. or B.S. first, in your last year of school you will apply to graduate programs for the M.S. and/or Ph.D.</p>
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<p>In most fields, though, the difference is effectively meaningless because it’s completely inconsistent. A BS at one school may have fewer major courses than a BA at another. Like I said, my BS in journalism has the exact same number of major courses as someone who earned a BA in journalism from my university - the only difference is that they took a foreign language while I took a minor.</p>
<p>A differentiating tag that means something different at every institution can’t be used as an effective and reliable differentiator.</p>
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Hence the “in general” part. There are no exact standards, and there will be exceptions, but what I have described is usually true is probably about as an effective and reliable differentiator as you will get in academics.</p>