BA or BS for PhD

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Does it matter really? My cousin is on the admissions board for a big 10 school( does not means anything) and he says it really does not matter when the are looking. I was wondering from your experience what you know

It doesn't matter because so many schools award their undergrad psychology degrees so differently.

I don't think it matters much, though having a BS probably wouldn't hurt if your applying to research oriented programs. I know in the Insider's Guide it says they like for applicants to have taken a lot of science and with a BS it means you wouldn't have to take science classes in addition to BA classes. Its probably just better to go with whatever you think you can get higher grades in (if that's why you are asking).

I am sure that there are some POIs out there that may care about this, but I haven't ever heard anyone say that they do. I have a BA and it never came up for me.

Now, if your program has both options and the POI is familiar with your program, I could see it being a good interview question as to why you didn't go for the BS. But really, I think undergraduate institutions sometimes overstate the importance of these degree types. That being said, if you have a choice and know you want to go for a PhD later, it would be dumb not to take the more rigorous coursework.

Originally Posted by Pragma

I am sure that there are some POIs out there that may care about this, but I haven't ever heard anyone say that they do. I have a BA and it never came up for me.

Now, if your program has both options and the POI is familiar with your program, I could see it being a good interview question as to why you didn't go for the BS. But really, I think undergraduate institutions sometimes overstate the importance of these degree types. That being said, if you have a choice and know you want to go for a PhD later, it would be dumb not to take the more rigorous coursework.

I'd agree--if you have the option, might as well go for the BS, assuming it requires the more rigorous science courses. Then again, often times universities can be entirely whimsical in terms of whether they decide to go with the BS or BA. Heck, my grad school changed from a BS to BA halfway through my program (didn't affect me, of course) without adjusting any of the coursework requirements; they just did it to be more "in line" with the remainder of the arts & sciences college.

There are a ton of threads about this. The courses you take and research you do matter a lot more than the technicality of the term "BA" or "BS". I have a BA that involved a lot more stats and research than many BS programs.