BA vs. BS Degree: What Differs, What Doesn’t, and How to Choose

Getting either a BA degree or a BS degree can dramatically change your life.

A Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in the same major are usually the same degree, of the same length, with a different set of requirements outside the major. At Texas A&M University, the catalog says it outright: “The psychology course requirements for the two degrees are identical; they differ with respect to the requirements in other disciplines.” The BA side of that split typically adds a foreign language and extra humanities credits. The BS side typically adds math, natural science, and lab or research credits. Both plans of study total 120 semester credit hours.

So the letters describe how a university distributed the coursework around your major. They do not describe how hard the program was, how good the school is, or how much the degree is worth. This page shows what four universities actually require for the same major offered both ways, what stays identical (including the wording on the diploma), what employers and graduate schools do with the distinction, and how to pick.

BA vs. BS at a glance

Across the catalogs quoted below, the pattern is consistent enough to summarize, as long as you read it as a tendency rather than a rule. Requirements are set department by department, and a few universities reverse the usual pattern or award only one of the two.

Typical differences between a BA and a BS in the same major
  Bachelor of Arts (BA) Bachelor of Science (BS)
Courses in the major Usually identical, or nearly so
Language requirement Common. Texas A&M’s BA in psychology requires 14 hours of a foreign language through the intermediate level. Penn State’s BA requires proficiency to the 12th-credit level, by coursework or examination Usually none, or fewer hours
Humanities and arts Extra credits, often in a defined block outside the major Standard general-education credits only
Math and natural science General-education minimum Additional required hours in the physical and biological sciences, sometimes calculus
Lab or research Often optional Often required, covering lab courses, research methods, statistics, or a senior thesis
Credits to graduate The same university total: 120 semester credits at Texas A&M and Penn State
Time to finish The same for both, four years of full-time study
On the diploma The degree awarded and the school or college, with minors and concentrations typically not printed
On the transcript Every course, grade and credit. This is where the difference is actually visible
In federal data One category: “Bachelor’s degree”. Neither federal reporting nor federal earnings data separates the two

What the two abbreviations mean

BA is Bachelor of Arts and BS is Bachelor of Science (some institutions write B.A. and B.S., and a few use B.Sc.). Both are bachelor’s degrees, which the U.S. Department of Education’s education statistics glossary defines as one award level: “an award (baccalaureate or equivalent degree, as determined by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education) that normally requires at least 4 but not more than 5 years of full-time equivalent college-level work.” There is no separate federal category for a BA and a BS, and no ranking between them.

The label attaches to the degree plan and not to the subject. Psychology, economics, mathematics, computer science and communication are offered as a BA at some universities, a BS at others, and as both at many. Where a department offers both, you are choosing between two sets of supporting courses. Where it offers one, the label reflects that university’s curriculum rules rather than anything about the field. For how the bachelor’s sits relative to the other credentials, see our guide to degrees in order, from associate to doctorate.

What actually differs in the coursework outside your major

The clearest way to see the difference is to read a single department’s requirements for both degrees. Here are four, all for psychology, taken from the universities’ own catalogs.

Same major, two degrees, and what four catalogs require (2026–2027 editions unless noted)
University What the BA requires What the BS requires Credits to graduate
Texas A&M University
Psychology		 14 hours of a foreign language through the intermediate level, plus extra humanities hours. The catalog positions it for students heading to counseling, social work, management or law. No language requirement, and additional hours in the physical and biological sciences instead. The catalog positions it for neuroscience, medical school and health-related programs. 120 for both
Penn State
Psychology (Liberal Arts)		 47 credits in the major, plus a separate 24-credit Bachelor of Arts block made up of world language to the 12th-credit level (by coursework or exam), 9 credits of B.A. fields outside the major, and world cultures credits. 74–77 credits in the major, built around a 24–27 credit option in Life Sciences, Business or Neuroscience. The bulletin tells students planning to apply to medical school to choose the Neuroscience option and lists the biology, chemistry and physics sequences most medical schools expect. A minimum of 120 for both
University of Connecticut
Psychological Sciences		 Two courses from any of Group Three (depth), Group Four (lab) or Group Five (experience), so lab work is optional. Two lab courses, or one lab course plus undergraduate research or independent study plus a senior thesis. Lab or research work is not optional. Same university requirements for both
Grand Valley State University
Psychology (2025–2026)		 Third-semester proficiency in a foreign language. Research Methods in Psychology, Advanced Research in Psychology and Introductory Applied Statistics. Same 39-credit major for both

Three things are worth pulling out of that table. First, the requirement that most often separates the two is language. It is the BA’s signature, and demonstrating proficiency by examination can shrink it to zero credits at Penn State. Second, what the BS adds is usually science, quantitative work, and evidence that you can run a study, which means statistics, research methods, a lab sequence and sometimes a thesis. Third, the department frequently states which degree suits which next step, and those statements are the most useful sentences in the catalog. Texas A&M’s BS page names medical school, pharmacy and physical therapy. Its BA page names counseling, social work, management and law.

The same logic applies in other fields. In economics, the BS commonly requires calculus and econometrics where the BA accepts a lighter math sequence. In computer science, a BS often carries more math and science hours while a BA leaves room for a second field. Read your own department’s catalog rather than a general article, because the two letters mean whatever that faculty voted for them to mean.

What does not differ

The credit total and the time. Texas A&M’s plans of study for both the BA and the BS in psychology total 120 semester credit hours. Penn State requires a minimum of 120 degree credits for a baccalaureate degree, and the requirement is identical on the BA and BS pages. Neither degree is the shorter one, and neither is the four-and-a-half-year one. What full-time and part-time study actually take is covered in our how long a degree takes hub.

The major itself. At Texas A&M the psychology courses are identical across the two degrees. At Grand Valley State both degrees share the same 39-credit psychology major. Where the two plans differ, the difference is almost always outside your subject.

The diploma. A diploma names the degree conferred and the institution. It is not an itemized record. The University of Connecticut’s registrar lists what its diplomas contain: the university seal, the school or college, the graduate’s name, honors earned, and the signatures of the president, the dean and the president of the board of trustees, and adds that “minors and/or concentrations are not included on the diploma.” A BA diploma and a BS diploma from the same university are the same document with a different degree line. If you want to see the anatomy of one, we have a walkthrough of what a college diploma looks like.

The transcript is where the difference shows. Everything the two plans did differently appears course by course on the transcript, from the language sequence to the chemistry, the lab and the thesis. That is why graduate admissions offices ask for one and rarely ask which letters are on the diploma. See diploma vs. transcript for what each document proves.

Federal statistics and federal earnings data. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which every U.S. college reports to, records completions by award level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral) and by field of study. There is no BA/BS split. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does the same in its Education pays series, with one “Bachelor’s degree” row, which showed median usual weekly earnings of $1,578 and a 2.8 percent unemployment rate in 2025. Any pay difference between BA and BS holders is therefore a difference between majors and occupations, and not between the two letters. Our pay by education level hub lays out the underlying figures.

How employers treat a BA and a BS

In federal hiring, which publishes its rules, the distinction does not appear. The Office of Personnel Management’s qualification standard for the GS-0180 Psychology series requires a “major or equivalent in psychology” for most specializations. The standard is written in terms of the field and the coursework instead of the degree title. The Occupational Outlook Handbook follows the same convention, assigning occupations a typical entry-level education of “bachelor’s degree” without qualifying it further.

Where a licensed profession is involved, what matters is the accreditation of the program, and accreditation is granted below the degree level. ABET states it plainly: “We offer accreditation to programs only, not to degrees, departments, colleges, institutions, or individuals.” If your state’s engineering board requires an ABET-accredited program, the question to ask an admissions office is whether that specific program is accredited, and not whether it awards a BA or a BS.

Verification works the same way for both. When an employer checks a degree, the registrar or the National Student Clearinghouse confirms the degree awarded, the major and the dates, and does not rank one degree type against another. Our guide to how employers verify degrees covers what comes back.

What is not verified: no public dataset compares hiring rates, callbacks or pay for BA and BS holders in the same major, and no employer survey we could find asks the question. Claims that employers “prefer” a BS are common in forum threads and in the People Also Ask box, and they rest on anecdote. The defensible statement is narrower. A job that requires specific coursework, such as a set number of science or accounting credits, will be easier to qualify for from whichever plan contains that coursework.

How graduate and professional schools treat them

Professional schools generally specify a bachelor’s degree plus prerequisite courses, and leave the degree type alone. The American Bar Association’s guidance for prospective law students is explicit: “The ABA does not recommend any undergraduate majors or group of courses to prepare for a legal education. Students are admitted to law school from almost every academic discipline.” Medical, pharmacy and physical therapy programs go the other way and list required courses in biology, chemistry through organic, physics and math. That is exactly why Penn State’s psychology bulletin routes premed students into a specific BS option instead of telling them to pick the BS in general.

For academic graduate programs, the operative question is whether your transcript shows the preparation the department expects, typically statistics, research methods and any lab sequence in the field. A BS plan usually contains those by default. A BA plan can contain them too if you choose the electives deliberately. What admissions committees actually read is covered in our guide to degree transcripts in graduate school applications.

What is not verified: whether an individual department gives weight to the BA/BS label is program-specific and generally undocumented. If it matters to you, ask that department’s graduate coordinator directly and ask about prerequisite coursework at the same time, because that is the part they will actually answer in writing.

How to choose between them

  1. Open both catalog pages for your intended major and put them side by side. The requirements are public, and the difference is usually visible in one screen. That comparison, and not a general article, is the answer for your university.
  2. Work backward from the next step. If a graduate program, a licensing board or a professional school publishes prerequisite courses, list them, then check which plan gets you those credits without extra semesters.
  3. Price the language requirement honestly. Fourteen credits of a language is most of a semester. If you already have proficiency, many universities let an examination clear the requirement. If you do not and have no interest, the BS plan may cost you less time.
  4. Ask whether you want a lab or research line on your transcript. Research methods, statistics and a supervised project are the most portable things a BS plan tends to require, and they matter for research-oriented graduate admissions.
  5. Check what is offered where. Some options run at one campus only, and Penn State’s Neuroscience option is available at University Park. An online version of a major is sometimes offered under one degree title but not the other.

Frequently asked questions

What does a BS degree mean?

It means Bachelor of Science: an undergraduate degree, normally four years of full-time study, whose plan of study carries more math, natural science and lab or research credits than the Bachelor of Arts version of the same major. It is not a statement about the difficulty of the program or the standing of the institution.

Who gets paid more, a BA or a BS?

Federal earnings data cannot answer this, because it reports one “Bachelor’s degree” category. Earnings track the major and the occupation. A BS in nursing and a BS in general studies do not pay alike, and neither do a BA in economics and a BA in drama. Compare programs by field and not by degree letters.

Is a BA or a BS harder?

Neither, as a rule. They carry the same credit total and the same time to completion, and at most universities the same courses in the major. They are harder in different places. The BA asks for a language sequence and the BS for a chemistry-and-calculus sequence, so the honest answer depends on which of those you find harder.

Do employers prefer a BS over a BA?

There is no evidence that they do as a general matter. Federal hiring standards and the Occupational Outlook Handbook specify a bachelor’s degree and a field of study, not a degree type. What can matter is specific coursework a role requires, and what the program’s accreditation permits in licensed professions.

Can you switch from a BA to a BS?

Usually, and often without losing time, because the major requirements overlap. What changes is the supporting block. You take on the science sequence or drop the language one. Switching gets expensive once you are partway through either sequence, so ask an advisor before the second year if you are unsure.

Replica bachelor’s degrees, for display

ValidGrad makes replica bachelor’s degree documents as novelty items for display, such as a framed copy for a wall, a prop, a keepsake, or a stand-in while an institution processes a genuine replacement. The degree line reads however you specify it, Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science, and the documents are not issued by, affiliated with or endorsed by any school. A replica must never be used to claim a credential you did not earn or to answer a verification request from an employer, a licensing board or a school. That is set out in our terms of service. If you need a document with legal standing, the registrar that issued the original is the only source.

Sources

Reviewed September 13, 2026.