Quick Take: Creative Degree Options

One of the most common questions we hear from students and parents exploring arts colleges is deceptively simple: what's the actual difference between a BFA, a BM, and a BA in a creative field? The answer matters more than the label suggests — these degree types signal how much of your weekly schedule goes to your craft versus general education, and what kind of career path the curriculum is built to support. It's worth understanding what each degree commits you to before you fall in love with a campus, because switching from a conservatory-style BFA or BM into a broader BA mid-college is rarely simple.

BFA — Bachelor of Fine Arts

The BFA is the standard professional degree at art schools and many university art departments, built around the assumption that you already know your area of specialty — painting, illustration, graphic design, film, dance, theater, or a related discipline. Creative coursework fills two-thirds to three-quarters of your total credits. Most programs begin with a shared foundation year (drawing, design fundamentals, art history) before students move into their major, culminating in a senior thesis project or exhibition that doubles as a professional portfolio piece.

Schools like RISD, Parsons, the School of Visual Arts, and CalArts are structured this way, and admission hinges as much on a portfolio review as on grades. The tradeoff is intensity: BFA students often describe the workload as closer to a job, with critique sessions, open studio hours, and material costs to budget for. If you're certain you want to practice your art professionally and thrive on hands-on, feedback-heavy instruction, the BFA is built for that.

BM — Bachelor of Music

The BM is the conservatory equivalent of the BFA, offered at dedicated music schools like Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, and New England Conservatory, as well as university-affiliated conservatories. Two-thirds to three-quarters of coursework is devoted to music: applied lessons, ensembles, theory and ear training, and jury exams each semester. BM tracks typically include performance, composition, music education, and music therapy, and the track you choose shapes your eventual licensure or career options.

Admission is audition-driven, with repertoire requirements that vary by instrument and school, often submitted as recorded pre-screens ahead of a live or virtual final audition. Because the credit load is so front-loaded with music requirements, double majoring alongside a BM is uncommon, so it's worth asking admissions directly how much room exists for outside coursework.

BA or BS in Arts or Music Education

This path prepares you to teach K-12 vocal, instrumental, or visual arts, layering state licensure requirements on top of your creative coursework — pedagogy, classroom management, and a supervised student-teaching placement senior year. Because licensure is governed state by state, check requirements and reciprocity for the state where you plan to teach; some programs require additional coursework or exams, such as Praxis or edTPA, to teach elsewhere.

Students drawn to this path want the stability and mission of teaching combined with ongoing engagement with their art form, rather than a career as a performing or exhibiting artist. It suits students who enjoy mentoring and want a well-defined career outcome — with the understanding that classroom teaching, not performance or studio practice, will be the daily focus.

BA/BS in a Creative Major — The Flexible Path

If you want to study art, music, theater, or dance seriously but also want the flexibility to double major, add a minor, or keep other career doors open, a BA or BS — offered at liberal arts colleges like Oberlin, Skidmore, and Wesleyan — is worth considering. These programs require less weekly studio or ensemble time than a BFA or BM, freeing up credits for coursework in other departments, study abroad, or research.

This path suits students who aren't yet ready to commit to art as their sole professional identity, or who want a broader academic foundation to fall back on. The tradeoff is depth: fewer contact hours with faculty in your specialty and less intensive technical training than peers in a BFA or BM program.

Combined and Double-Degree Programs

For students who don't want to choose between conservatory-level training and a full liberal arts experience, a small but growing number of schools offer five-year combined programs awarding both a BM (or BFA) and a BA — the Oberlin Conservatory/Oberlin College double degree, the Peabody Institute/Johns Hopkins program, Bard College Conservatory's BM/BA, and Tufts' dual degree with the New England Conservatory among them. Graduates leave with two diplomas and a distinctive combination of artistic training and academic depth.

These programs are demanding by design: a heavier course load, schedule coordination across sometimes-separate campuses, and typically separate applications and auditions for each institution. Ask pointedly about commuting logistics, realistic time-to-degree (they often take 5 years), and what flexibility exists if a student later decides to drop one half of the program.

How to Decide Which Path Is Right for You

Rather than starting from the degree label, start from how you want to spend your time. Ask each program directly: how many hours per week are studio, lesson, or ensemble commitments versus general education? What are recent graduates doing three to five years out? The answers tell you more about fit than the name on the diploma.

Whenever possible, sit in on a studio critique, rehearsal, or lesson during a campus visit, and talk candidly with current students about workload. Map application logistics early, too: portfolio and audition requirements, submission platforms (like SlideRoom or Acceptd), and prescreening deadlines vary widely by degree type and often fall earlier than the general application deadline.

Choosing between a BFA, BM, BA, or a combined program is one of the first — and most consequential — decisions in the arts college search. If you'd like guidance tailored to your student's artistic goals, academic profile, and portfolio or audition timeline, Best Fit Education can help you build a college list that matches the degree path that's actually right for you.