What's the difference between...

EthelBloggs

A BA and a BSc ?

Just wondering as my degree is a BSc but I could have done the same at another uni and it was a BA.

Tsugua))

BA= Bachelor of Arts
BSc= Bachelor of science

for a lot of subjects it doesnt make any difference, but if for example your doing geography (like me! ) BSc focuses on the Physical geography like tectonics, whereas BA is human geography like settlements.

:j :j

Need_More_Money_2

Tsugua)) wrote:

BA= Bachelor of Arts
BSc= Bachelor of science

for a lot of subjects it doesnt make any difference, but if for example your doing geography (like me! ) BSc focuses on the Physical geography like tectonics, whereas BA is human geography like settlements.

:j :j

I think that originally BA (Bachelor of Arts) was used even for science degrees. I think some of the older Universites still use BA for everything

Savvy_Sue

Tsugua)) wrote:

BA= Bachelor of Arts
BSc= Bachelor of science

for a lot of subjects it doesnt make any difference, but if for example your doing geography (like me! ) BSc focuses on the Physical geography like tectonics, whereas BA is human geography like settlements.

Although at my alma mater, Geographers could choose whether to take a BA or a BSc, regardless of which bits of the course they were studying. Some made the decision on pragmatic grounds (a BSc might sound more 'serious' than a BA if you wanted to do something serious afterwards), and some on sartorial (the BA hood was much nicer, being ermine rather than blue silk ...)

Need_More_Money wrote:

I think that originally BA (Bachelor of Arts) was used even for science degrees. I think some of the older Universites still use BA for everything

Or even MA ...

studentphil

Oxbridge is a weird place all subjects even sciences are BAs for some reason . Plus you get your BA made up to MA for a small fee and no extra work after a few years, which is another cheat.

anewman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts

Heth_2

studentphil wrote:

Oxbridge is a weird place all subjects even sciences are BAs for some reason . Plus you get your BA made up to MA for a small fee and no extra work after a few years, which is another cheat.

Another cheat? What other cheats are there at Oxbridge?
I think at the end of the day it is fairly irrelevant what your degree is called, and it would be obvious from your cv whether what the MA OXON meant as opposed to someone who has done a BA followed by a higher degree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Oxbridge)

melancholly

studentphil wrote:

Oxbridge is a weird place all subjects even sciences are BAs for some reason . Plus you get your BA made up to MA for a small fee and no extra work after a few years, which is another cheat.

it's actually a completely free MA! no money changes hands.....(at cambridge anyway). you do have to wait for 4 years after graduation though, so it doesn't really jump you up in the after uni employment stakes as by then you would kind of want to have got a job already! and employers know what it is - i think it's more about getting your whole year group back to have a dinner rather than an extra qualification.... i think cheat is a slightly unfair (and probably unncessarily inflamatory) word to choose!

Rosie75

melancholly wrote:

it's actually a completely free MA! no money changes hands.....(at cambridge anyway). you do have to wait for 4 years after graduation though, so it doesn't really jump you up in the after uni employment stakes as by then you would kind of want to have got a job already! and employers know what it is - i think it's more about getting your whole year group back to have a dinner rather than an extra qualification.... i think cheat is a slightly unfair (and probably unncessarily inflamatory) word to choose!

There was some discussion about stopping this practice a few years ago, and quite right too. Postgrads put a lot of work and money into a real MA (and I'm not sure that all employers know about this bizarre system). I once came across a Cambridge graduate who was doing a "proper" MA at another uni. She dropped out of the course, but of course was still able to write MA after her name - crazy.

studentphil

It is still slightly misleading to make a BA in a MA for no reason at all and that MA looks just like an MA someone has worked for.

melancholly

studentphil wrote:

It is still slightly misleading to make a BA in a MA for no reason at all and that MA looks just like an MA someone has worked for.

you have to put OXON or CANTAB after it - so it should look very different to other masters degrees - however much people may like it to look like a 'real' masters, the reality is that it doesn't show anything more than it's a certain period of time since you graduated. employers know the difference! they do it at dublin too btw!
it was originally a qualification to give you the right to teach and pre-dates the more modern MAs which are earned degrees. apparently the pope granted the universities the right to give it..... entirely bizarre, but so much of the oxbridge history is!!