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BS

BS

9 3.6
A first university degree in science or similar subjects usually lasting three to four years
  • noun
  • /biː ɛs/
  • US
translation icon : licenciatura en ciencias
  • Highest Level of Education: BS 243 (78.9%), MS 64 (20.8%), PhD 1 (..3). N = Total number of participants.
  • BS degree
  • received a BS
  • earned a BS

Examples

  • Most men and women in this sample (59.9%) reported earning a BS instead of a BA degree.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Draper received his BS and MS in civil engineering from KU in 2005 and 2009, respectively.

    Academic text (2016)
  • I am an educated woman with an MA, a BS, and an Associate degree.

    Blog text (15)
  • Albert received a BS and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Smartz received her BS in civil engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Throughout the semester, there were physicists with BS, MS, and PhD degrees.

    Academic text (2003)
  • By Naphtali Offen, BS; Elizabeth A. Smith, PhD; and Ruth E. Malone, RN, PhD.

    Academic text (2010)
  • She earned her BS in biology after four years of dedicated study.

  • After completing his BS, he decided to pursue a master's degree in physics.

  • Many students aim to complete a BS before entering the workforce in technical fields.

Synonyms

34 2.7

A degree you get after finishing three to four years of study at a university or college

is limited to science and related fields rather than all subjects
SB
vsBS
  • US
8 6.1

A first university degree in science or engineering subjects

is the same degree but uses the other common abbreviation
4 3.4

A first university degree in science subjects that usually takes three to five years

specifies a typical length of three to four years instead
3 8.4

A first degree given by a college or university after finishing studies

applies only to science courses and not to all undergraduate degrees

Surface Forms

BS singular
BSs plural

Morphology

BS = bachelor + science (semi-transparent) = B + S

An initialism of the phrase 'Bachelor of Science'; learners who know that phrase will readily map the abbreviation to its meaning. [Postprocessing: changed transparency from 'transparent' to 'semi-transparent' for abbreviation]

Etymology

BS is a short form of Bachelor of Science, where bachelor originally meant 'a young man or beginning student' and science means 'knowledge' or 'study' of the world, so a BS is the university degree you earn after a few years of study in science subjects.