BA or BS for STEM, or does it matter?

I have a BA in Chem. My college did not offer BS, but the coursework was the same. My degree is ACS certified. I got into every grad school with heaps of fellowship and assistantship offers. I don't think the degree mattered for me. My coursework, gpa, GRE, my honors designation, and probably most importantly, all my independent research, mattered. For my essays, I described all my research experiences and papers. That is what they really cared about. Nothing about hardships, etc. Just straight research description.

Would a BS without all that be better compared to a BA? Maybe. But my BA emphasized research and good writing. And it made no difference that it was a BA for grad school. I suspect it might make a difference in the private sector. Your daughter can contact grad schools she is interested in attending and ask.

I have a BS in International Relations.  It was previously a BA program, which meant 4 required semesters of foreign language.  But the PoliSci Department thought the Language Department was lacking in quality and so changed the PoliSci degrees to BS degrees, which meant 2 classes with lab components.  So I took basic biology and botany, which I'm sure you can imagine really increased my diplomatic skills.

But the PoliSci professors thought the change was important because they thought the students would have a better educational foundation with the science classes than the (based on my experience) pretty useless language coursework.  Occasionally, someone thought it was curious that the degree was BS rather than a BA, but I think that was mostly just curiosity-- I am sure it mattered very little.  Grades, the actual courses, and the other stuff (internship, papers, etc.) were more important, and they stand on their own, whatever initials you group them under.

What does your brother do?  My daughter is a freshman in college, and is thinking of switching from biology to biochemistry.  She did really well in Chemistry, and is in Organic Chemistry this semester.  I don't know much about that field and what jobs biochemistry majors go into.  She may also switch to biomedical engineering (but that was my idea, not hers ).

oddly he is a stay at home dad who writes articles on the side.

Before that he worked in the IT field. Before he graduated he started working with an IT firm in the mid-late 90s. He made really good money, so he never went into his field.

My dh has a BA in chemistry because he ended up minoring in a language. It didn't matter one bit when he applied to grad school. Although he only applied to one school because he was focused on the advisor and not the program. The fact that he was that professor's grad student has carried more weight in his industry than anything else.