<p>Being non-lds at BYU is hard. Girls have come up to me asking questions as a sign of interest; the first question is ‘where are you from?’, the next question is 'where have you served?'and that is where it goes downhill. If you’ve made it that far, the next question will most definitely be ‘why are you at BYU?’ or something along those lines. All the while, the girl’s interest level drops to the point where she just walks away. </p>
<p>A greater problem is the social cohesion. Members are very tight knit by nature. The majority of activities are announced in church, and members mostly assume that everyone knows about the activities. A lot of activities directly relate to the religion: family home evening, potlucks, fireside chats, and even the concept of Mormon dating. After all, the great majority of LDS students at BYU have chosen BYU as a lifestyle, and NOT just academics. I can’t possibly stress this point enough. </p>
<p>Everyone’s social interactions, morals, judgments correlate to LDS doctrine. Prepare to undertake assimilation. Prepare for some trial and error. By trial and error, I mean saying something or doing something that is unapproved by the majority of LDS students and getting dirty looks, being ignored, or having someone passive-aggressively smile at you. </p>
<p>I guess it’s different for someone that is playing a sport for BYU. If you’re at BYU for academics, find your own religion and your own race. Remember that any homogeneous population will have racist and derogatory behaviors. Korea and China are good examples(black and indians have a very hard time finding jobs in china and korea). BYU is more than 90% white, and there is a reason there are wards specifically for certain races(Chinese, Korean, Tongan)</p>
<p>In conclusion, you will have a far better time at BYU if you are Mormon. You will have a far better time at BYU if you’re white. You will have a far better time at BYU if BYU has significant population of your race or religion or both. If you’re not particularly outgoing and you don’t qualify as white or Mormon, don’t even think about going to BYU. Believe me, the benefits do not outweigh the costs.</p>
<p>And in response to cdcd, I do not believe BYU is culturally diverse… lol. I’m in the accounting program at BYU, and three words describe BYU: white, mormon, republican. The majority of the views portrayed by students have been from this persuasion, and upon dissenting, most of the time I have been ignored. I have personally witnessed kids from Napal get discriminated against. It’s a daily routine to hear LDS students talk about other races and religion in a condescending fashion.</p>