The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees are two of the most commonly awarded and recognized degrees among U.S. colleges and universities. There are no official guidelines, but generally speaking B.S. degrees are offered in the hard sciences, technology based programs and those degrees requiring quantitative reasoning skills.
B.A. degrees are typically offered in the humanities and arts, but there are exceptions to both. At some colleges and universities some majors are offered under both the B.S. and B.A. degrees with as little as a difference of two or three courses while in other programs the difference in courses can be much greater.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication regularly reviews its curriculum and consults with industry professionals and alumni to tweak and revise its curriculum to make students highly marketable upon graduation. The B.A. degree requires a twenty-hour block that has to be met within the state mandated 120 hour total degree. These limitations made the implementation of the new curriculum nearly impossible. At the same time our curriculum has become more technology based and as such was a fine candidate for the B.S. degree.
No. Students who were enrolled at Texas State prior to fall 2012 or those students who are transfer students to Texas State through spring 2014 have until summer 2018 to complete the current B.A. degrees if they wish. However, any student can also move to the new degree if they wish.
For freshman whose initial enrollment in Texas State is fall 2012 or later, your degree choices are as follows.
B.S. Advertising and Mass Communication Electronic Media and Mass Communication Journalism and Mass Communication Public Relations and Mass Communication
Changes by component area for those who move to the B.S. from the B.A.
General Education Component
The core is the same. EXCEPT students cannot useMATH 1316 (Survey of Contemporary Mathematics) to meet their core math requirement. All other core curriculum math options are acceptable.
BA requirements
No longer exist.
Support coursework (new) (replaces B.A. degree requirements)
-SOCI 3307-Statisitcs for Behavioral Sciences
-3-4 hours of an additional course beyond the core curriculum in math (not 1316), natural science or Computer Science
-3 hours of English Literature (in addition to core curriculum)
Minor
Still required
Major Component
Increases from 33 to 40 hours.
Mass Communication core decreases from 15 to 12 hours.
B.A. degree MC coreB.S. degree MC core
MC 1301MC 1301
MC 1313MC 1313
MC Visual Literacy (multiple options) MC 4301
MC 4301MC 4382S
MC 3355 or 4302 or 4310
Major sequences increase from 18 to 28 hours.
Mass Communication-Advertising
B.A.B.S.
MC 3367MC 3367
MC 3368MC 4316G (first offering spring 2013)
MC 3372MC 4316H (first offering spring 2013)
MC 4317MC 3372
MC 4307MC 4307
1 course from: MC 3373, 3379,12 hours of advanced MC electives
4304, 4316A-Z1 course from: MC 2111, 4130, 1100A, 1100B
Mass Communication-Electronic Media
B.A.B.S.
MC 3306MC 3306
MC 3311MC 3311
MC 3312MC 3312
MC 33**/43**(was MC 3374)MC 3394
MC 33941 course from: MC 3307, 3375, 4356D, 4356I, 4315
1 course from: MC 3307, 3375, 4357,12 hours of advanced MC electives
4356I, 4315, 43301 course from: MC 2111, 4130, 1100A, 1100B
Mass Communication-Journalism
B.A.B.S.
MC 3321MC 3321
MC 4321MC 4321
MC 3383MC 3383
MC 3390 or MC 4315MC 3390 or 4315
MC 4356A-I or MC 4312MC 4386
MC 33**/43**12 hours of advanced MC electives
1 course from: MC 2111, 4130, 1100A, 1100B
Mass Communication-Public Relations
B.A.B.S.
MC 3343MC 3343
MC 3360MC 3360
MC 3383MC 3383
MC 3390 or MC 4315MC 4313
MC 4313MC 4320
MC 432012 hours of advanced MC electives
1 course from: MC 2111, 4130 1100A, 1100B
B.A. in Mass Communication (General)
Current MC coreNew MC core
MC 1301MC 1301
MC 1313MC 1313
MC Visual Literacy (multiple options) MC 4301
MC 4301MC 4382S
MC 3355 or 4302 or 4310
Old sequenceNew Sequence
MC 3355MC 3355
MC 3360MC 3360
MC 3383MC 3383
MC 4305MC 4305
MC 3 Advanced hoursMC visual competency course*
MC 3 Advanced hours6 hours of advanced MC electives
The B.S. degree doesn’t require any college-level foreign language for the degree. However, if you did not complete at least two years of the same foreign language in high school you will need to complete the 1410 and 1420 of a college level modern language or show competency through a test to meet general university requirements.
No, they will not be substituted. However, you will notice that the B.S. degree requires 12 advanced hours of MC of your choice. Courses that you may have taken such as MC 3319, MC 3355, MC 4302, etc. for the B.A. could be used to satisfy these B.S. program requirements.
Yes, as long as you meet course prerequisites. However, you should consult with your advisor and strategically select courses that will help you meet your career goals while at the same time exposing yourself to different mediums and platforms of mass communication to make yourself more marketable.
We have always encouraged involvement in student media and students attaining experience through internship experiences. These types of activities are the most common way to meet this requirement. There are also two other options noted below as well under MC 1100. In the future we may begin to offer additional MC 1100 suffix courses. If/when these are offered they could also meet this requirement.
MC 2111-Media Practicum Being hired (paid or unpaid) at one of the following working at least 60 hours total for the semester.
University Star KTSW 89.9 FM Bobcat Promotions Center for the Study of Latino Media and Markets
MC 4130-Internship Receiving credit for an (paid or unpaid) internship of at least 100 clock hours.
MC 1100A-Careers in Media Course designed for first year students and others seeking career exploration in the media professions. Next offering spring 2013.
MC 1100B-Grammar for Journalists Course designed for GSP test preparation and to assist any student to become a better writer.
An employer isn’t going to care if you earned a B.S. or B.A. degree. What an employer is going to care about is what knowledge and skills you acquired as part of your degree, what experiential experiences (i.e. student media, internships) you completed and how these can benefit the employer.
In general, our B.S. degree provides more opportunity to acquire additional knowledge and skills in the major than the B.A. degree. It also allows students the ability to cross-train across multiple media platforms and to some degree create a customized degree.
