The term "bachelor" stems from the Latin word "baccalaureate," which is still used to describe a test taken to graduate high school in many parts of the world. The meaning of "baccalaureate" comes from the laurel wreath that students wore during their graduation ceremony. It was later turned into the word "bachelor" as it became more popular throughout Europe. During the early years of the higher education system, the title referred to students who just began their degrees rather than those completing them. The first academic degree was actually the doctorate (the word coming from the Latin word "docere," meaning "to teach") and was awarded by the University of Bologna in Italy in the middle of the 12th century. Initially, the doctorate degree was indistinguishable from the modern-day master's degree.
Later, universities in Europe and especially in England (such as Cambridge and Oxford) began to distinguish between different levels of higher education, the graduate and the undergraduate. In 1642, the first American bachelor's degree was awarded at Harvard's commencement. Slowly, the bachelor's degree was available to a wider public, though in the United States, actual diplomas were not given to students until the early 19th century because of the high cost of ink and parchment. In 1875, Grace Annie Lockhart received the first bachelor's degree awarded to a woman in the British Empire when she graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Mount Allison University.
The tradition of wearing a gown during commencement when receiving a bachelor's degree came from the fact that most students wore gowns in class and at meals until shortly after World War I. In 1893, the American Intercollegiate Commission made the style of gowns uniform for the major degree ranks; these styles are still prevalent. The bachelor's gown is distinguished by a long, pointed sleeve, while the master's gown has a long, closed sleeve going below the knee with the wearer's arms passing through elbow slits. The doctor's gown has a bell-shaped sleeve with three velvet bars. The hood color denotes the wearer's discipline: arts, letters and humanities are white, education is light blue, business and management are pale brown, law is purple, nursing is apricot, philosophy is dark blue, science is golden yellow and social work is citron.
Currently, a bachelor's degree is given to students who complete a course of study that usually lasts four years. Requirements for the degree vary from school to school. The most common bachelor's degrees are bachelor of arts (B.A.) and bachelor of science (B.S.). The graduate's specialization is noted after the degree designation, such as B.A. in art history.
Today, bachelor's degrees are distinguished by the letters that follow the "B" in the degree abbreviation. A few examples beyond the previously mentioned B.A. and B.S. include B.Comm. (bachelor of communication), B.Arch. (bachelor of architecture) and B.F.A. (bachelor of fine arts).