Can anyone tell me if a Bachelor of [u]Applied [/u]Science degree carries as much weight on a resume as a traditional Bachelor’s degree? I can’t seem to find any information on this type of degree. I have even asked a few HR recruiters and they have not heard of them.
Worth updating, since the BAS has moved from obscurity to mainstream. A Bachelor of Applied Science is an accredited bachelor’s like any other, built for people coming up the applied route, and it’s become the standard ladder from an AAS (applied associate) into a bachelor’s without losing technical credits. Employers stopped blinking at it as it got common; what they check is the same as for any degree: the school’s accreditation and what you can do.
The real difference is where it points next. The BAS is career-facing. If a traditional master’s or a licensure program might be in your future, email one target graduate program and ask how they treat BAS applicants — most accept them, some want specific prerequisite courses, and the answer costs nothing. For someone moving from applied tech into management — this thread’s exact situation — the BAS is usually the right tool, not a lesser one.
A bachelor of science applied science (BAS) is usually awarded in a technical or applied professional area — such as engineering, electronics, management, IT, vet tech, heating and air conditioning, bookkeeping, forensics, weather forecasting, sound engineering, and so on.
This type of online bachelors degree is designed to help older adults with applied career and technical experience gain college credit in the vocational area that best parallels their major area.
Members of the military often earn “applied science degrees” in majors like electronics and nuclear engineering but so to do many hands-on specialists who work on the applied rather than theory level of a discipline.
Career, vocational, community, and technical colleges often award applied science degrees.
This type of bachelors degree is designed to meet the needs of managers and leaders inside any highly technical professional workplace.
The “applied” degree is very popular with experienced professional adults and is a contrast to the traditional bachelor of science or bachelor of arts degree which
focuses more on liberal arts theory courses.
Applied degrees have become very popular — especially at community colleges and with older professionals in the trades – so I am surprised that your HR friend has not heard of them.
Do they carry as much weight? In some circles they carry more weight than a traditional liberal arts degree. BUT it is also true that in some career areas — such as engineering – you will need a traditional BS in Engineering to earn the highest career certification. In that sense “applied” degrees are sometimes seen as “career or voc/tech” degrees.
What is your back ground?
What are your career goals?
Tell us more and maybe we can detail how an “applied” degree might help you (or not).
Vicky Phillips
[b]almiter wrote:[/b]
[quote]Can anyone tell me if a Bachelor of [u]Applied [/u]Science degree carries as much weight on a resume as a traditional Bachelor’s degree? I can’t seem to find any information on this type of degree. I have even asked a few HR recruiters and they have not heard of them.[/quote]