BYU’s Department of Communications recently celebrated its 75th year. The program offers a bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in advertising, public relations, journalism, or communications studies. Each of these individual emphases has received numerous awards nationally and is ranked among the top programs in the nation.
The Department of Dance provides a broad base for professional training both in the classroom and the studio. Our versatile undergraduate program includes: Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) in Dance; Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Dance Education; and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Music Dance Theatre. We are an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance.
The School of Music is a diverse community that consists of more than 700 majors, 52 full-time and 58 part-time faculty, and a supportive staff. Students work directly with accomplished faculty while pursuing both undergraduate and graduate degrees in performance, education, composition, conducting, jazz, musicology, and media music. We are accredited by NASM, the National Association of Schools of Music.
The study of theatre and media arts is a study of our attitudes towards ourselves through artistic expression. Since art is a mirror of human society, the specific disciplines of theatre and media arts cover our innermost attempts at comprehending our existence throughout time.
The Department of Visual Arts offers undergraduate degrees in 10 areas of emphasis: Art Education, Art History and Curatorial Studies, Animation, Ceramics, Graphic Design, Illustration, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture. All programs emphasize compliance with the Aims of a BYU education and promote the mission of Brigham Young University.
Students are required to meet minimum criteria, apply, and be admitted as a communications major for each emphasis.The Department of Communications offers a degree in Communications with emphases available in the following fields (an emphasis is like a major):
The Department of Communications is governed by certain resource realities, such as number of instructors, classroom space, computer laboratories, and class size requirements. Additionally, the professional emphases (all the above, except for Communications Studies) require hands-on learning and smaller class sizes. Students in these emphases produce media content in the form of newspapers, broadcasts, advertising, and public relations campaigns. To ensure the quality of learning and to sustain the quality of content in our public outlets, the university has allowed us to limit the number of majors admitted into the program.
Because the demand on the department's programs exceeds the available resources, the department has implemented an admission process that limits enrollment on those programs.
Preference for admission will be given to students with fewer than 75 credits. Admission committees will automatically subtract one point from the student admission scores for every credit above 75. (Credits received for passing foreign language tests will not count toward the 75 credits. You must indicate these credits on your application form. High school AP credits, and transfer credits will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.)
Transfer students applying to the Communications Program with more than 75 credits will be evaluated on their residence credits as well as their overall credits. Transfer students with more than 75 credits will have one point subtracted from their admission scores for each credit beyond 75 or beyond 36 residential credits, whichever is smaller. For example, if you transferred to BYU with 68 credits, and are applying to the Comms Program after taking 30 credits at BYU (residential credits), you would have 98 total credits. However, because the residential credits are below the 36 allowable by this new policy, you would have no points subtracted from your score. If you transferred to BYU with 38 credits and 45 residential credits, then your total would be 82 credits, or 7 credits over the 75 credit rule. However, your residence credits are 9 credits over the 36 credit rule. You would have 7 points subtracted from your admission score, because it is the smaller of the two.
Students who behave in an unprofessional manner may be removed from the program. Faculty can petition to have a student removed. The associate chair for undergraduate studies will then meet with the student and will decide if action for removal is required. Please see the department's Statement on Professionalism for more information.
Applications for Fall consideration are due the second or third Friday in January at 4 p.m. MDT. The next application deadline is January 13, 2012. Applications should be turned in to 360 BRMB before 4 p.m. that day. No late applications will be accepted.
Some of our most complicated situations arise when a student transfers to BYU, hoping to major in Communications. In most cases, they have not inquired about the requirements for entry to the emphases. Then, when they begin registering for classes, they find that they must complete 6-9 credit hours of Communications prerequisites before applying to the major of their choice. This requires almost a full semester and may put the student way beyond the number of total credits recommended for application.
If students are planning to transfer to BYU from another college or university, they should try to take equivalent courses at their current school so that they arrive at BYU prepared to apply to the major. The two key courses to take before arriving are an Introduction to Mass Communications course (BYU Comms 101) and an introductory news writing classes (BYU Comms 211). If your school offers an introductory advertising, broadcast, or public relations course, you should consider taking the one that matches up with your interests as well. Ideally, students will arrive at BYU without any prerequisite courses to take and can apply immediately after arriving in Provo.
If you have questions about whether your school's courses will meet BYU's requirements, please contact Debby Jackson in the department offices.
