<p>Actually, by far the big difference has to do with when you get admitted. </p>
<p>The BS program in computer science is basically options 3 (Computer Systems) or 4 (Computer Science and Engineering) in the EECS department. Every EECS student gets to choose which of the 5 EECS options to do, and most do either 3 or 4. The BA program in computer science is run by Letters and Science. </p>
<p>The key difference is when you get admitted. Doing a BS in EECS means that you must be a fully admitted EECS student, as either a freshman or a transfer. If you are a fully-admitted EECS student, then to earn the BS in computer science, all you have to do is pass your courses (i.e., get at least a 2.0 in your overall and your technical GPA). Passing Berkeley computer science courses is certainly no cakewalk, but all you have to do is pass them.</p>
<p>Contrast that with the BA computer science program. You can’t just decide one fine day that you are going to major in the BA computer science program. It’s not that simple. You actually have to complete many of the requirements of the major, and then apply to get in - with the significant risk that you won’t get in. Hence, the point is, it is far far riskier to try to get a BA in computer science, because you might complete a whole bunch of CS work, and then be denied admission to the major. As you can see from the below statistics, there were some people who presented quite good GPA’s and who were still denied admission to the CS BA major. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html#legend[/url]”>http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html#legend</a>
<a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/index.html[/url]”>http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/index.html</a></p>
<p>Clearly that’s a far riskier position than the EECS guy who just has to pass his courses. If you don’t end up getting into the BA CS major, then you will wind up either transferring to a different school, or majoring in something you don’t really want to major in. Either way, it’s not an ideal situation. </p>
<p>Now of course, it should be said that getting admitted into EECS in the first place is substantially more difficult than getting admitted into L&S. Hence, there is no free lunch. If you apply to EECS, and you get in, then you are clearly better off than the guys who want to do the CS BA major, because those guys run the substantial risk of not getting into that major. On the other hand, by applying to EECS, you run the risk of not being admitted into Berkeley at all (because you can only apply to either EECS or to L&S, but not both). </p>
<p>One relatively minor other distinction is that the BS program in EECS is an accredited engineering program, whereas the BA program is not accredited. This may be important if you ever want to attain Professional Engineer (PE) status. I don’t think that PE status is hugely important for computer-science people, but I think you should be aware of it.</p>