Graduation Requirements

To receive a BYU bachelor's degree a student must complete, in addition to all requirements for a specific major, the following university requirements:

• The university core, consisting of requirements in general and religious education. (See the University Core section of this catalog for details. For a complete listing of courses that meet university core requirements, see the current class schedule.)
  
• A minimum of 30 credit hours in residence
  
• A minimum of 120 credit hours
  
• A cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
  

Undergraduate Programs and Degrees

BS    Geography

BS    Geography Teaching

Minors    Geographic Information Systems

Students should see their college advisement center for help or information concerning the undergraduate programs.

Graduate Programs and Degrees

MS    Geography

For more information, see the BYU 2007–2008 Graduate Catalog.

General Information

1. The Department of Geography offers one major with seven emphases. The emphases are designed to enable students to gain an appreciation of our world as well as prepare them for either a career or graduate school. All students are required to take a set of core courses that emphasize basic geographic concepts and ways of knowing that are common to all seven emphases. These courses prepare students for specialization in upper-division courses. Required core courses include Geog 100, 101, 120, 130, 211, 212, 222, and Stat 221.
   Geography at Brigham Young University focuses on our interdependent world: the spatial relationships between the physical landscape, diverse societies, and current events. The geography major at Brigham Young University nourishes a sense of curiosity about the world around us, a desire to serve our local and global communities, and the skills necessary to solve significant problems that are inherently spatial.
   Hundreds of students major in geography to prepare for a professional career or graduate study, or just because of an interest in exploring and understanding the world around them. We emphasize both technical and critical thinking skills, including geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, statistics, data collection, interpretation, and communication using the written and spoken word and visual data display (maps, charts, and graphs).

   Prerequisite: all students admitted to one of the geography majors listed above must complete the following courses within one year of declaring a major:

   Geog 100, 101, 120, 130, 211.

   Exit assessment and exit interview: Students must complete an exit assessment and exit interview during their final semester no later than one month before graduating. Both are offered online. The assessment is meant to evaluate the department's program goals and student learning outcome. The interview is a set of qualitative questions about the student's experience in the department. Although both the interview and assessment are formal requirements, the results are anonymous and will not be part of the student's academic records.