Birmingham Southern College

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a medium-sized city.

Overview

Birmingham-Southern College, also known as BSC, was established in 1856. The college was formed by the merger of the Southern University with the Birmingham College. It is a private liberal arts college and is located in Birmingham, Alabama. BSC enrolls national and international students representing over 25 states in the U.S and 20 countries worldwide. The campus of the college has over 40 buildings which are spread over an area of 192 acres. The institution provides disciplinary majors, multi-disciplinary majors, and academic minors in a broad range of subjects.

Birmingham-Southern College offers several clubs and organizations for the overall development of the students. These are International Film Club, Multicultural Awareness Organization, and the Black Student Union among others. BSC hosts many Greek chapters. Some of the fraternity and sorority chapters are Alpha Lambda Delta, Beta Beta Beta, Sigma Tau Delta, and Pi Kappa Lambda.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• United Methodist religious affiliation.
• Many students concentrating in mathematics, science, music, drama and performing arts, and liberal arts.
• Number of dorm rooms for students.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• High faculty salary.
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• Unusually high availability of athletic financial aid.
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).

School characteristics:

• The school is private, not-for-profit.
• Academic calender: 4-1-4 plan.
• Carnegie classification: Baccalaureate Colleges, Liberal Arts.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students may study abroad.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Birmingham Southern:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 1,458 in 2009-2010 (1,407 full-time equivalent).

About 52% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 48% of the class.

Undergrads are 96% of enrolled students and graduate students are 4%.

Students under 25 years old represent 95% of the student body. About 1% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Birmingham Southern provides on-campus housing for 1,427 of its 1,407 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010).

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 96 male students received the aid (men were 52% of those receiving aid) and 87 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 48% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

Birmingham Southern offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Master.

The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Postbaccalaureate With Arts & Sciences (Business Dominant).

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

ART STUDIES (0 awarded)

• Art/Art Studies

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (66 awarded)

• Accounting
• Business Administration and Management
• International Business/Trade/Commerce

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (3 awarded)

• Computer Science

CONSERVATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (2 awarded)

• Environmental Studies

DRAMA AND PERFORMING ARTS (9 awarded)

• Dance
• Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (8 awarded)

• Art Teacher Education
• Education
• Music Teacher Education
• Secondary Education and Teaching
• Teacher Education, Multiple Levels

ENGINEERING (1 awarded)

• Engineering

FINE ARTS (5 awarded)

• Art History, Criticism and Conservation
• Fine Arts and Art Studies
• Fine/Studio Arts
• Painting
• Sculpture

LIBERAL ARTS (65 awarded)

• Asian Studies/Civilization
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• French Language and Literature
• German Language and Literature
• History
• Latin American Studies
• Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies
• Political Science and Government
• Sociology
• Spanish Language and Literature

MATHEMATICS (9 awarded)

• Mathematics and Computer Science
• Mathematics

MUSIC (10 awarded)

• Music Theory and Composition
• Music
• Piano and Organ
• Voice and Opera

PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL ART (3 awarded)

• Film/Video and Photographic Arts

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (11 awarded)

• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies

SCIENCE (38 awarded)

• Biochemistry
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Biopsychology
• Chemistry
• Physics

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (16 awarded)

• Psychology