I’m currently a junior in high school and I’ve been very interested about the BXA program at Carnegie Mellon recently. I’m seriously considering ED to BSA. I’m very devoted in visual arts but I’m also taking many AP sciences and considering a science major. my questions:
what are the advantages of the BSA degree vs. a normal BA/BS degree or double majoring? I know it is a single degree so i don’t know what differences it will make in the future when applying for jobs vs. a normal degree.
if I don’t get in the program, is double majoring at a science + art doable in CMU or other universities?
is it possible to also pursue in one or more minors while in the BXA program?
if I ED for BXA and don’t get into both colleges but only one, am I still bond by the decision?
thank you for reading and apologies in advance if my questions were repetitive.
I don’t know the answers to the questions, but one thing I discovered when we toured CMU with D a couple years ago is that less than 1% of the undergraduate student body participates in the BXA program. I would check to see if the numbers have gone up in the last couple of years. It was really surprising given the top billing that CMU gives the program on their website, and made us question their actual support.
@shortnuke yeah CMU’s class of 2022 profile shows that they accepted 72 students in the BXA program this year and only 9 of them chose to enroll. I guess it’s because not many people are interested in pursuing both fields together since the arts and sciences are very different paths. Maybe a lot of the accepted went to colleges with either a better science or art program.
Hi! Im currently in BHA and I can tell you first hand that everyone I’ve spoken to here says that BCSA is 75% computer science and 25% art. You’re better off doing a BFA with minors in CS stuff if you want to actually go into art. Double majoring isn’t really a thing for programs that already have a BXA alternative (to my knowledge), so I wouldn’t push that route.You can definitely pursue minors while in BXA! Most of the minors have classes that double count with your BXA majors, and regardless BXA is set up to not overload you to the point of not being able to do minors. With the way the application is set up, you’re automatically considered for BXA if you put more than one college on your application, so your ED would only apply to the first one you list.
Your post brings back memories. My daughter also found the BXA program, as described on the website, to sound perfect for her interests. The possibility of an ED application did come up. We visited for two full days and met with a number of faculty, students, and program administrators. The vibe was nothing like she or I had expected. The design and visual arts folks were not encouraging about BXA - they seemed to regard this as a watering down of their curriculum and therefore not a good use of their limited studio space. The social sciences folks we talked to were extremely focused on business applications rather than theory or research (though I’m sure this varies by department). The university-wide info sessions placed heavy emphasis on corporate connections and job placement. (Don’t get me wrong - employment opportunities for graduates are good. But they even went as far as to diss the percentage of their own graduates who were not gainfully employed at the six month mark and as much as call them deadwood. It wasn’t a good look.)
While there was much to like about CMU, we came away with the impression that most of what we had we had read about BXA was a marketing spin, and not something that a majority of the faculty and staff really buy into. The portrayal of interdisciplinary learning as a community value at CMU did not bear out in real life.
It’s an excellent school in a great location/city, with some top-notch programs. I still suggest CMU to students who are looking for the strengths that it offers. But all I can say about BXA is, definitely do not apply ED without an in-depth visit to see whether it really lives up to what you are hoping for. It didn’t for my daughter (she ended up not applying) - but YMMV!
@parkinglots thank you for your reply! as of now I’m not entirely sure what paths I want to pursue in depth with yet. I’m interested in BXA mainly because I thought having a degree in the sciences gives you more job opportunities versus just a fine arts degree, and I’ve been scared into looking into the STEM field with the horror stories about starving artists on the streets haha. your answer was very helpful
@aquapt thank you for your reply! I did visit CMU this summer and that was how I learned about BXA. they mentioned it briefly both during the info session and the campus tour. I only began to look more into it a couple months after the visit. I actually wasn’t as impressed when I visited compared to the vision of CMU I had in my mind… mainly because the campus architecture was bland compared to other colleges I visited, so I guess I really expected more since this is the college Warhol went to and is known for its fine arts ? they did talk highly of their graduate outcomes, but now I guess it’s just the CS people bringing the averages up. I feel like CMU itself doesn’t fit me perfectly but the BXA program still interests me very much.