Why Westminster

Students from all over the country and around the world choose Westminster's unique environment for learning for many reasons:

• Academic excellence
• Post-graduate success
• Comprehensive merit-based and need-based financial aid programs
• An abundance of hands-on learning opportunities
• An open-minded, close-knit, laid back and welcoming campus community
• Outstanding campus facilities and resources
• Location, location, location

Academic Excellence

More than 70 academic programs, including minors and special opportunities such as the Honors program, pre-professional programs (pre-med, pre-law, pre-dental), study abroad, internships, independent study, and research.

• Westminster's student to faculty ratio is 11 to 1 and the average class size is 18, assuring that every student in every class benefits from close personal attention and mentoring from our talented professors.
• Our faculty includes 140 full-time and 214 part-time professors, 99% of whom hold the highest degree possible in their fields.
• Westminster is consistently ranked as a top-tier institution by U.S. News & World Report.
• Westminster is ranked #13 for "Quality of Life" and #15 for "Town-Gown Relations are Great" in The Princeton Review's annual college guide.
• Westminster is the Utah home for the prestigious McNair Scholars program, an elite, national graduate-school-preparation program for low-income, first generation, and underrepresented students.
• Westminster is an elected member of the New American Colleges and Universities, a national consortium of institutions dedicated to the integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement.

Post-graduate Success

• More than 90% of recent alumni report that they were either employed or attending graduate or professional school within five months of graduation.
• More Westminster graduates earn above the median starting salary than graduates of any other school in the state.
• Our Career Passages certificate program equips you with the key skills you need to compete successfully for admittance to graduate programs or for employment opportunities.

Comprehensive merit-based and need-based financial aid programs

Private colleges and universities, like Westminster, offer students more assistance in the form of scholarships and grants than public institutions. Westminster annually awards more than $40 million in financial aid to students.

• More than 97% of Westminster's entering freshmen receive some form of merit-based and/or need-based financial aid. The average award is $23,700.
• In 2011-2012, 96% of Westminster freshmen received scholarships and/or grants) with an average award amount of $14,113.

An abundance of hands-on learning opportunities

Inside and ouside of class, Westminster students add all kinds of experience-based learning credentials to their academic resumes.

• Westminster leads the state in the percentage of students who complete one or more internships before graduation. Our Salt lake City location is a huge advantage, providing our students with a wide variety of internship experiences.
• Westminster's Undergraduate Research Fair gives students an annual forum for presenting the results of their independent research and showcasing their talents.
• Westminster students log more than 45,000 volunteer service hours a year in activities sponsored by the college. In a typical year, dozens of courses incorporate a service-learning component.
• The Great Salt Lake Institute provides our students with unique opportunities for study and research at the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere.
• Westminster was one of only 350 colleges in the country named to the first-ever President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
• Free May Term courses offer wide-ranging, mind-expanding, globe-trotting opportunites that last just three weeks, but have a lasting impact. May Term tuition is free to any student who was enrolled full time for the prior spring and fall semesters.

An open-minded, close-knit, laid-back, and welcoming campus community

With a total enrollment of about 3,100 students, it's easy for residents and commuters to make friends and fit right into campus life.

• The Princeton Review ranks Westminster among the top 20 schools in the country for "Quality of Life."
• The campus calendar of events is jam-packed year round with activities and events from concerts and plays to films and lectures from renowned guest speakers. Common Ground is a campus-wide year-long theme that connects coursework with lectures, films, and other special campus events. The annual theme is inspired by our location - Desert, Mountain, Lake, or City.
• More than 50 student clubs and organizations represent all kinds of interests, from academic and professional to social and recreational.
• Most of our 13 men's and women's intercollegiate teams compete in NAIA Division I.
• The Westminster Campus Concierge desk connects students to activities and events on campus and in the area and offers special discounts on everything from lift passes to theatre and movie tickets to seats for Utah Jazz games.

Outstanding resources and facilities

Our beautiful 27-acre campus has 28 buildings including residence halls, dining areas, academic building and labs, a library, facilities for athletics and reacreation, and performance spaces.

• The New Meldrum Science Center features high-performance classrooms with integrated laboratories, research laboratories, and other facilities that support our innovative, inquiry-based science teaching methods.
• The Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory for Music and Theatre features performance venues, rehearsal studios, and practice rooms as well as gallery space.
• The Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, Aviation, and Entrepreneurship is one of the most technologically advanced facilities for business education in the country, with interactive classrooms, entrepreneurship and investment centers, a behavioral simulation and team learning lab, and an aviation simulation center.
• Westminster's Center for Financial Analysis offers technological resources that provide students with real-time access to explore and research global financial markets, economic trends, and business sector analysis, bridging the gap between classroom theory and practical experience.
• Our Flight Operations Center, located at Salt Lake City International Airport, houses our fleet of 14 planes and includes a dispatch center, briefing rooms, a classroom, and a student lounge.
• The School of Nursing and Health Sciences features a clinical skills laboratory, technology-rich classrooms, conference rooms, and state-of-the-art facilities including pediatric and adult human simulators.
• The Dolores Dore Eccles Health, Wellness and Athletic Center is a new facility with a complete assortment of workout equipment, a three-story climbing wall, running track, lap pool, spaces for dance, yoga, and fitness training and much more.
• The Information Commons in the Giovale Library serves as a one-stop resource for collaborative learning needs, and also includes a writing center, student computer lab, and a cafe.

Location, location, location

Our spectacular location brings you the best of many environments: Salt Lake City, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Salt Lake, and the Utah desert.

• We are within an hour's drive (or less!) of world-class mountain resorts like Alta, Brighton, the Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City, Snowbird, and Solitude.
• Salt Lake City offers all kinds of cultural and entertainment resources, from the symphony and the opera to music clubs and coffee houses to theatre and films, not to mention shopping and restaurants.
• Just about any outdoor activity you love is easily accessible from our campus, including skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing, backpacking, hiking, kayaking, canyoneering, spelunking, rafting -- and even more!
• Winter at Westminster attracts college students from all over the country who attend Westminster for a semester to take advatage of our great learning resources and academic programs while indulging their passion for winter sports.
• Because of our excellent academic reputation and proximity to the mountains, Westminster is the Official Provider of Educational Services for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Teams.