Getting into BYU, if not apart of LDS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brigham Young University
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<p>It’s true that a person creates his/her own social circle. However, remember how you created your own social circle. Think about the things you may have in common and the things you don’t have in common with your friends. It’s great to have such a great attitude. However, I do think there is a better chance of someone that is a) mormon b) white to create a lively social network than someone that isn’t. </p>

<p>I’m not Mormon, I’m not white, and I don’t have a specific race. Let’s take the example of studying for tests. People can choose to study with whomever they want. But then… why oh why do Korean students congregate to one spot. Why do I see a group of kids from Nepal walking in a pack down the hall. Why is it that athletes typically congregate together? Will you find it easy to create rapport and comfort easily with a group of individuals who cannot be more different than yourself?</p>

<p>How about being ignored? Or how about being stereotyped? Have I encountered stereotypes about Muslims, Blacks, Asians, and Latinos? Of course. Does it happen out in the open? Overt discrimination hardly happens, but discrimination definitely exists. Why is it that when I tell people I’m an American, they smirk or laugh and perhaps disagree? Why is it that you’ll find very little interracial mingling even between Mormons? </p>

<p>Can you overcome these things? You should ask yourself these questions. I made the mistake of coming to BYU solely based on academics and cost. My decision shouldn’t have been that simple, and I’m just giving you what I perceive as reality. </p>

<p>I’ve visited my friends university before a few times, and I’ve stayed over a few times as well. I had a great time hanging with friends of friends. Now that I think about it… it was super fun. We played handball, and played video games. We tried habanero chili peppers…lol that was crazy. All in all, it was normal. I wasn’t an inferior being. </p>

<p>Also, I’m an American, and I can honestly say that I fair very well compared to most international students excluding those from Europe and Australia.</p>

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<p>As far as academics goes, it depends what you’re coming here for. BYU is one of the best schools for accounting. I believe it was ranked first for both undergrad and graduate programs. BYU MBA program is decent and so is BYU Law. BYU engineering is okay. Look at a few rankings. I was just looking over a few MBA rankings. One ranking had BYU at number 4 (lol?) and another ranking at 92. </p>

<p>It also depends what you want to do with your degree. If you want to become an investment banker or something of that nature, investment banks hire more students from the ivies than BYU. I’ve heard that a few kids do land jobs with investment banks each year. If you just want to work for one of the Big 4 accounting firms, then it’s pretty easy landing an internship or job with them from the accounting program at BYU. The big 4 are here recruiting pretty much every week. </p>

<p>I’m assuming you want to go to a good school to find a good job. The best way to do that is to network. Knowing people and attending activities will land you a job far more consistently then just going to a good school.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much zbenjii. :slight_smile: your posts are really helpful.</p>

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<p>They are right. your chances maybe enlightend since you are not a memeber of the church. use that to your advantage. as for the environment mormons arent as wierd as they sound. ( i am one) but wasn’t always and my extended family is far from it. they are some of the happiest ppl i have ever meant. they have a whole diff light to them. you shouldnt have trouble at all don’t stress. Do what is best for yourself. disregaurd what everyone thinks its your future not thrs.</p>

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<p>I must disagree with your view. I’m a brazilian student at BYU for my 3rd semester already, and I had no problems attending either brazilian or american wards. What I enjoyed from having a ward that reflects my culture is that services were in portuguese, not because of any racial problem. The reason for Korean, Chinese and Tongan wards are just that, so that people who don’t speak English - the principal language of the United States - can get more out of church meetings.</p>

<p>It has not been part of my experience to have americans talk in a negative way about me, my culture or my skin color. It appears your opinion came from either an isolated event or hear say from others.</p>

<p>To anyone interested in pursuing an education at BYU, I would recomend it because you get close interactions with faculty. It is very easy to obtain research experience already as an undergraduate, and I’ve had several friends who were juniors who had already co-authored a paper.</p>

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<p>That is definitely a plus. The professors are extremely considerate. They will more than likely go out of their way to help you with any issues that you might have. </p>

<p>just know that social interaction is heavily based on church attendance and church activities such as family home evening or holiday activities. </p>

<p>If you don’t plan on going to church then you are banking on your roommates/classmates being cool. It basically comes down to chance. </p>

<p>My first year at BYU, I shared an apartment with a older korean dude, a UVU student and two BYU students that played for the lacrosse club team. I didn’t know I was paying the utilities for the whole apartment so at the end of the year I posted a spreadsheet in the common area detailing the money that each suite mate owed to me. It came out to be about a hundred dollars per person. I had posted this spreadsheet about 3 weeks before the end of the semester. I also reminded each roommate about the owed balance. It turned out that the only roommates that didn’t pay were the BYU students. It was initially the UVU student that had alerted me that i was paying all the utilities. The last night that we were there, I told the BYU students that I needed the money before they left. They both agreed respectfully. The next morning, I found their rooms completely empty. I tried calling the two byu students that bailed on me but they didn’t answer so I met with BYU conflict resolution. Immediately after that, I got a call from one of them saying that he would send me a check. I received one check but never received anything from the other BYU student. </p>

<p>I can understand that there is a possibility that my experience here has been a outlier in the negative direction. </p>

<p>fast forward two years and I’ve found friends and roommates that are really cool and easy going. Since i’ve lived with them, it’s been pretty great. </p>

<p>Depending on who you are, the classes you’re attending, your roommates, and whether you attend church or not, BYU can range from awesome to absolutely horrible. I am not trying to embellish or exaggerate the truth. I am a real person and this really was a part of my experience.</p>

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<p>Don’t go to BYU unless you’re mormon! I live very close to Provo and they do not welcome non-LDS people very well, especially UT mormons. The other ones are a bit more open minded, but you can get expelled from BYU for the silliest things! Think twice if you wanna go there without being a member of the LDS church.</p>

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<p>@zbenjii PM sent.</p>

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<p>I graduated from the Masters of Accountancy program a few days ago. The BYU accounting program recruits based solely on the grades you get in a few prereq classes. Once you get into the accounting program and you get through what is called the Junior Core(probably the hardest year out of any) you can apply for the Master of Accountancy program. To get into the MAcc, you just have to get good grades in the Junior Core. </p>

<p>I didn’t get an offer from the Big 4, my intention was never really to go into accounting and I guess that came through in my interviews. I’m actually kind of glad because I hear that the pay isn’t that great for the amount of hours that they require. I work on campus and one day this old guy came up to me and told me that his son graduated with a MAcc. He then told me to not work for the Big 4, and to work for a smaller firm. </p>

<p>I did a small internship in NY in auditing. I went back to NY every summer. </p>

<p>Here’s the caveat about going into accounting at BYU. It’s a good program if you want to do ACCOUNTING. The Accounting administration loves to sell the accounting program as if you can do everything and anything with this degree. While it may be true that a few kids in the MAcc may get consulting/finance jobs, the very large majority of MAcc students go to work for the Big 4 as auditors or tax accountants. That is what is marketed to us. The Big 4 has a huge presence at BYU. If you want to do anything else with your degree, you WILL have to do extra work and networking. An additional caveat is that BYU is only known in certain parts of the country. For example, if you ask any non-accounting related person east of the Mississippi about BYU they will likely have not a clue about what BYU is(unless they watch college football or basketball of course)</p>

<p>The transition from community college to an academically-inclined university wasn’t too hard. I got a 4.0 my first semester at BYU. Just know it’s a totally different ballgame. At my local community college I could study for an hour before a final and absolutely ace it. At BYU, you’re going to have to put 4 or 5 times that amount at least to get the same grades. </p>

<p>The school of accountancy tends to attract the most conservative students at BYU. I had a roommate that was doing a PhD in Psychology at BYU, and he said his program has quite a few non-LDS students. He also said that they would sometimes talk about the faults of Mormonism. This is absolutely not the case with BYU accounting. I only knew of 2 other non-LDS individuals from my entire experience in the accounting program. These are mostly straight laced guys with the occasional crazy dudes mixed in there. </p>

<p>During my last semester at BYU, I made the stupid decision to smoke cigarettes on my way to school. …what a stupid decision. A guy I sat next to in class, a guy I knew for probably over 2 years(I met his wife and kid), smelled it on me and warned me that if he smelled it again he would report me to the Honor Code Office. Of course he smelled it on me a second time, and I was subsequently reported. </p>

<p>If I could do anything differently I would have thought about my end goal before choosing BYU. My end goal was to end up in NY. With that goal in mind, I probably should have went to a good NY state school instead of BYU which has no presence in NY. Had I wanted to end up in California, then BYU is probably a great place to isolate yourself and focus on school.</p>