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B.A. is normally out of the Arts and Science department. It is not for people who identify as Engineers but are looking to do research.
B.S. is normally out of the Engineering and Applied Science department. It is for people who want to Engineer systems and software.
I haven't really seen many B.A. in Comp Sci holders so I have no way to say if they are less employable. However, a B.S. in CS is definitely more in abundance within software companies that I have worked in.
I can only speak in general terms, for the schools I went to. There the BA, in any field, tended to be a lighter version of the BS. Essentially the same in the first two years, the difference there was mostly upper division. The ratio of liberal arts to math, science, & technical courses was the main difference. In general it seemed those who were going into hard core STEM jobs chose the BS path, while those going into teaching chose the BA route.
BA - no calculus courses, no physics, fewer science requirements
BS - yes calculus courses, some calculus-based physics, more science requirements
Both will get you employed, but consider what you want to do later in life.
Web developer, application developer, mobile app developer, game developer software tester, database administrator, and many more - all satisfied with BA or BS
Missile guidance systems software, mars rover software, medical imaging software, bioinformatics, drug discovery research software, astronomy software, embedded computing, etc... - you are not excluded with a BA, but a BS would enhance your chances
"All undergraduates in Computer Science at Harvard are candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree (A.B.)"
Sure, BA is less technical.
Harvard isn't the only place, either.
The distinction between a B.A. and a B.S. is entirely arbitrary in that a school can call their degrees whatever they want.
Usually, when a school offers both, the B.S. has more requirements within the major, though that doesn't mean the B.A. is less technical. I can't imagine an actual engineering degree that doesn't require calculus at all. Calculus is the "math for babies" course that you take before the weed-out courses, since most people going for engineering degrees get at least part of the calculus sequence out of the way in high school.
What is the difference between the two?
Would some be "less employable" with a B.A Comp Sci?
In the two schools I attended, the only difference between the BA and the BS was the BA required a foreign language while the BS required 3-6 more hours of statistics and math. The same department offered both degrees. All the other requirements were exactly identical.
(I just went back and checked, and the differences are almost the same, except one of the schools no longer requires a foreign language for the BA.)
Realistically, the difference between a BA and BS in your long term employment is negligible. The prestige of your school will easily outweigh the difference, and the difference will be gone with just a couple of months of work experience. (e.g. a BA with a 3 month internship will easily beat out a BS from the same school and major with no work experience).
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