BYU Electronic Brochure

Getting Acquainted with BYU

BYU is located in Provo, Utah, a city of approximately 115,000 people. It sits about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City and 4,560 feet above sea level at the western base of the Wasatch Mountains.
The university’s approximately 560-acre campus includes 311 buildings: 95 for academic programs, 59 for administrative and physical plant services, and 157 for housing.
BYU boasts five state-of-the-art concert halls and theatres in the Harris Fine Arts Building.
The Harold B. Lee Library has about 98 miles of shelving and more than 6 million items in various collections. In size, the library is the equivalent of 2.5 football fields from north to south. Over 15,000 patrons enter the library each day.
The library contains over 8 million items including 3.3 million books; 27,000 journal titles; 250,000 maps; 3 million microfilms; and more than 1 million photographs and prints. An extensive selection of manuscripts, diaries, photographs, family histories, scholarly publications, books, art images, and religious education materials have been digitized and are available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
BYU also has its own bowling alley, food court, bookstore, post office, police station, and power plant.
The university makes up the entire 84602 zip code.

BYU awarded 8,177 degrees in 2007–2008.
BYU offers courses in 11 colleges as well as in Continuing Education and graduate level courses.
Many academic and professional programs are augmented by internships and career-related summer jobs.
During the Fall 2008 semester, bachelor's degrees were offered in 186 academic programs, master's degrees in 64, doctorates in 25, and juris doctorates in one.
In the 2007–2008 school year, BYU awarded 8,177 undergraduate and graduate degrees.
BYU regularly teaches more than 55 languages on campus, and at least 30 more are available if enough students express interest.
Each semester at BYU, the number of enrollment in language classes is equal to approximately 31 percent of the student body. The national average is about 9 percent.
There is a student-to-faculty ratio of 21:1.
The average course load is 12 credit hours.
The Harold B. Lee Library is the 3rd ranked college library by the Princeton Review.

BYU offers an institution-wide emphasis on undergraduate research projects.
BYU undergraduates routinely win awards for their research while often competing against graduate students.
In 2007–2008, the university's Office of Research and Creative Activities awarded $543,600 to 302 undergraduates whose research proposals merited grants.
BYU also awarded over $1.6 million to 95 faculty members specifically for projects involving undergraduates.

BYU has 12 computer labs and over 800 computers available for student use.
BYU has several supercomputers that make it possible for students to model languages, compare long sequences of DNA, study the gravitational collapse of the stars, create animated short films, and more.

There are 18 various music and dance theatre groups.
Since 1971, BYU performing groups have performed more than 12,000 shows throughout the world. These performances have been in all 50 states and in 100 countries, before audiences totaling more than 7 million people.
In 2008, nine BYU performance groups performed in over 108 cities through 12 countries.

BYU’s intercollegiate program has 10 men’s teams and 11 women’s teams.
In 2005–2006, BYU had 234 athletes on the Academic All-Mountain West Conference team, which requires athletes to maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher while being a starter or significant contributor on their team.
Among the many sports facilities available at BYU, a new Student Athlete Building was completed in 2004. The 116,000 square-foot Student Athlete Building includes a nutrition center, a strength and conditioning complex, the Student Athlete Academic Center, and an athletic training center.
BYU has one of the largest intramural sports programs in America, fielding teams with rosters topping 25,000 participants in more than 30 sports. There are over 30 intramural and extramural activities offered at BYU, including such sports as lacrosse, soccer, rugby, and racquetball.
Lavell Edwards Stadium is home to the BYU Cougar football team.