Difference Between Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

Bachelor of Arts (BA) vs Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), both almost sound same. If you are trying to get admission in a college at undergraduate level and have made up your mind to study arts, there are confusing terms such as BA and BFA. BA stands for Bachelor of Arts while BFA stands for Bachelor of Fine Arts. To simplify the confusion, here is the difference between the two.

BFA

According to a web definition, Fine Art is a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specially painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, and architecture. This makes the difference between simple art and fine art crystal clear. The main focus in BFA is on any one of these creative fields than on other subjects. It simply means that a student perusing a BFA in painting will concentrate all the time on various aspects of painting rather than studying theories of other art subjects. The student will be submerged in his chosen fine art discipline and get a lot of time to hone his practical skills in the discipline.

BA

BA on the other hand is a course that is designed to give you an all-round education so that you can have various career options. It provides a broader base of knowledge that you can draw upon in any job that you take up later in your life. A strong background in liberal arts that are taught in BA gives you exposure in many areas of creativity making you aware and knowledgeable in various humanities.

Difference between BA and BFA

One major difference between BA and BFA is that in BFA approximately two thirds of the course is devoted to focus on creation and study of visual art, while the ratio is reversed in BA and two thirds of time is devoted to study of liberal arts.

For those who want to become a professional artist, it is better to go for BFA as they can hone their skills while doing the degree course. As such, the biggest difference between a BA and a BFA is that while BA is a general degree, BFA is a professional degree.