By Angel Martinez
Hello there my fellow CLA majors. It’s already week 4, crazy! Can you feel those midterms creeping up on you?
When coming to college there were some new concepts and terms that I wasn’t familiar with. One of the big things was that before my sophomore year of college I never knew the difference between a bachelor of arts, and a bachelor of science, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in this confusion. So for your benefit I would like to clear up a couple things.
First, there is no such thing as “just getting a bachelor’s degree”. It doesn’t exist. When you graduate, regardless of your major in the College of Liberal Arts, you will either walk away with a bachelor of science or a bachelor of arts.
Second, neither one will affect your major requirements. There are some majors in CLA that make the choice for you based on the desired outcomes of the degree. If you are majoring in English, History, Art History, French, German, or Spanish, you are required to do a BA. The rest of you get to choose which option suits you best. Picking one over the other won’t make some of your required major classes magically disappear.
Third is that neither one is “better” than the other. Sometimes I’ve caught myself thinking that since I opted to go with a bachelor of arts instead of science, somehow I was taking an, “easier route” that wouldn’t be viewed with value or respect. But that isn’t the case at all! I want to go into social work, and I am confident that having another language as part of my skills will make me more effective in my future career. It is important for you to choose what makes the most sense between these two options. You should pick what fits your interests, your career goals, and what you want to get out of your college experience.
Finally, let me break down the difference between the BS and BA. With a bachelor of science, you are required to take 3-4 credits in computer science, 3-4 credits in any course from the College of Science, and 8-12 credits in in math or statistics. With a bachelor of arts you have to either take two years of a foreign language or demonstrate proficiency at the second level in a language. If you have any questions about which of these options works best for you, call 541-737-0561 and schedule an appointment to talk with a CLA advisor.
