A few days back, I was talking with a friend about the differences between a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree.

This took me a few years back to when I was finishing up my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Dickinson State University.

I remember the horror of finding out the big final test (Major Field Test, pretty much an exit exam) was going to cover the entire program, not just that current semester.

Eek.

When the time came to take it, I remember no notes were allowed and we were to take it under close supervision.

Eek.

Things get fuzzy.

I apparently did good enough to graduate, but couldn’t remember my score, so I contacted DSU Records earlier this month asking if they still had that information.

They replied that they usually only kept that information for 3-5 years, but I got lucky and they attached a scan of my results.

I got a 180.

180?

Was that good?

Bad?

Half a rotation?

There was also a web address on the scanned sheet to be used to compare my score with students in other schools across the nation who took the test at around the same time.

I tried it, but the address no longer worked.

So, I contacted the testing company, but they didn’t keep records that far back, plus they didn’t communicate with individual students, so I was SOL.

Drat.

But then I remembered I had a specific web address, and decided to try the Wayback Machine at archive.org.

It was hit and miss with more than a few dead ends, but eventually I unearthed a PDF with the national results for Business from September 2010 to March 2011.

15,939 students took the test during that time.

I was in the top 5%.

Nice.

I was a full-time student, and OTA, while working full-time at an ad agency, so my work-life balance was a tad… unbalanced during that time.

To those who pull this sort of thing off with kids in tow, I salute you.

But I survived.

I even survived Calculus.

And so I have something to be a little bit proud of.

Modesty is a virtue where I come from, but I figure it’s 2023 and I can have a little pride, as a snack.

Go Blue Hawks!

PS: As for the differences between a Bachelor of Arts degree and Bachelor of Science degree, the Bachelor of Arts has more arts and the Bachelor of Science has more science.

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