BSc or BA

goldenmaknae

8

What is the difference between BSc and BA? I have a rough understanding can someone tell me in detail thanks.

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post

by goldenmaknae

What is the difference between BSc and BA? I have a rough understanding can someone tell me in detail thanks.

Well, traditionally BSc was used for science subjects and BA was used for arts / humanities subjects. That's still generally the case, although these days you also have other types of bachelor's degree like BEng (engineering) and BEcon (economics). It just indicates the type of subject involved, and nothing more.

Reply 2

McGinger

20

Meaningless. Some Unis call social science subjects etc BA others call them BSc - employers don't care.

Reply 3

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post

by goldenmaknae

What is the difference between BSc and BA? I have a rough understanding can someone tell me in detail thanks.

In most cases - it doesn't indicate ANYTHING about the content of the degree (it reflects the decision of a university committee years, sometimes decades, ago who made a decision when creating the course).
Some universities offer BAs in subjects that are heavily STEM based and some BSc subjects have very little quantitative content.

The only exceptions to this are where a university offers both a BA and BSc in the same subject (most commonly Geography but occasionally other subjects like Economics too) where the different degrees will reflect an emphasis on certain topics (for example where universities offer a BA and BSc in Geography then a BA will usually reflect a graduate who focused on Human Geog modules and a BSc Physical Geog).

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post

by PQ

The only exceptions to this are where a university offers both a BA and BSc in the same subject (most commonly Geography but occasionally other subjects like Economics too) where the different degrees will reflect an emphasis on certain topics (for example where universities offer a BA and BSc in Geography then a BA will usually reflect a graduate who focused on Human Geog modules and a BSc Physical Geog).

Of course there are even exceptions to the exceptions! For example LSE social anthropology where students can choose to graduate with a BSc or BA but the course is identical in all cases :confused:

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 5

goldenmaknae

OP

8

Original post

by PQ

In most cases - it doesn't indicate ANYTHING about the content of the degree (it reflects the decision of a university committee years, sometimes decades, ago who made a decision when creating the course).
Some universities offer BAs in subjects that are heavily STEM based and some BSc subjects have very little quantitative content.

The only exceptions to this are where a university offers both a BA and BSc in the same subject (most commonly Geography but occasionally other subjects like Economics too) where the different degrees will reflect an emphasis on certain topics (for example where universities offer a BA and BSc in Geography then a BA will usually reflect a graduate who focused on Human Geog modules and a BSc Physical Geog).