<p>BS generally because biology, chemistry, and almost all the sciences are BS majors. but that's not a rule. you can apply to medical school with some BA majors (i.e. english major, philosophy major, or anything else) as long as you take some elective science classes to help prep yourself a bit for the MCAT.</p>
<p>there is an incredible amount of disinformation here...
if B.S. is so necessary, how come harvard, for example, only offers a BA in physics, bio, chem, astro, geo, etc.?</p>
<p>as I said before... BA/BS distinction is relevant ONLY for engineering degrees.</p>
<p>No its not jab</p>
<p>for Econ, a BA requires like 4 semesteres less math than a BS.</p>
<p>At least at the colleges I checked up on</p>
<p>thoughtprocess... </p>
<p>gee, harvard, princeton, and yale must suck then because they only offer BA in econ...</p>
<p>of course some schools individually make a distinction between BA and BS in sciences or social sciences... but these have no real meaning in the real world...</p>
<p>in the real world, only in engineering does BA/BS matter because programs must conform to national standards set by ABET.</p>
<p>well like I said, the colleges I checked on</p>
<p>BS is more for finance/business, BA is more for political science etc., thats the distinction made at Duke (which is where I'm going)</p>
<p>I never implied anything except BS requires more quantitative classes compared to BA, when a distinction is actually made. don't worry too much...</p>
<p>I've also read that <em>generally,</em> the BS degree requires more quantitative classes, but again, this is only general and likely makes little difference outside college.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>The BA/BS distinction matters ONLY, ONLY, ONLY for engineering degrees... <<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Not true. It matters at least a little in my field - biotech research and development. It's not a deal breaker, but when a job candidate shows up with a BA instead of a BS in say chemistry or genetics, hiring managers sometimes try to look more closely to see if there is some good reason why the student chose the BA course of study instead of the more scientific BS. Are they weak in math? Why would someone pursuing a scientific career avoid a scientific degree?</p>
<p>Like I said, it's not a deal breaker. BA people do get hired. But it can raise questions.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school. For example, I'll be attending Cornell University in the fall. I'll be entering the School of Arts and Sciences for Biology. </p>
<p>At the school of arts and sciences, they only award a B.A. degree because there are distribution requirements including a language.</p>
<p>However, the requirments for the biology major are identical for students at Cornell that are in the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and they get a B.S. degree. </p>
<p>I have heard that students that apply to medical school with a B.A. in biology from CAS, do slightly better than those with a B.S from CALS. </p>
<p>In this instance, B.S and B.A are identical. . .except the curriculum must satisfy distribution requirements for the B.A.</p>
<p>At cornell the advantage to taking the B.A degree is the flexibility to pursue interests in areas outside of life sciences. Therefore, grad schools, and med schools look favorably upon the B.A because they know students are interested in learning, and are multidimensional.</p>
<p>"Therefore, grad schools, and med schools look favorably upon the B.A because they know students are interested in learning, and are multidimensional."</p>
<p>If you mean they look more favorably upon the BA from Cornell than the BS, then OK. But I hope you don't mean this for the BA degree in general.</p>
<p>Xtreme, maybe it could be that kids with BA's at Cornell have higher GPA's? Since the BS requires calc and stuff, which are hard classes. Thats how it is at Duke too, I think.</p>
<p>Okay, when it comes to grad school, it won't matter whether you have a BA or BS, but the effects will matter.</p>
<p>Grad schools don't really look at your major or your degree, besides to be sure that you have one, they look at what classes you've taken and what grades you've got in them. If somehow you were an English major but loaded up on the math to an insane degree and had tons of relevant math courses, you could still get into grad school for it. Extreme example, but still.</p>
<p>Actually, calc is still a requirement for the bio major in either B.A or B.S. </p>
<p>I think the only reason Cornell B.As do slightly better is they take most of the same classes B.S candidates take, but then take different types of classes on top of that.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school. Please do not generalize this info to other colleges. My main point is that you really need to look at the school on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>Yeah, megastud (Wow, I feel weird addressing you that way), I agree. . .this probably does not apply in most cases. Every school is different.</p>