"…or even that being a Democrat is evil! "
And yet, BYU does have a College Democrats organization.
@JustOneDad I would know. I’m a part of it.
Moving on…
I think it would be a great opportunity to gain some expertise in the Conservative viewpoint.
@JustOneDad - I’m sure the OP has had ample exposure to the conservative viewpoint to gain all of the expertise he needs.
@JustOneDad, it sucks to be a non-Mormon at BYU. My BIL and his family lived in a fairly rural Utah town for a long time for his job, and his kids were blatantly discriminated against in a regular basis because they were not LDS. There is no tolerance at BYU if you aren’t LDS.
Can you try to stick it out through the first semester? Try to rise above and get a semester’s worth of credits at a high academic standard? Then your time will not have been wasted and you can derive some value out of what is currently an unhappy situation. Good luck to you!
Okay. And I know two very liberal people who did it and said it was no big deal. I thought people liked to be ‘unique’.
@pittsburghscribe LOL What’s “ample” for you? A smart student would take notes and hire out to the DNC after 4 years as a consultant.
@JustOneDad would you encourage a person to stay at a job they absolutely hated for “just four years” even though they had the potential to get much better offers elsewhere?
The OP is actually in a more uncomfortable position given that she cannot escape what she considers to be a toxic culture by going home. She is surrounded by it 24/7. Transferring in her case seems like the obvious option.
Get outta there as fast as you can.
Being miserable will only bring you down.
I believe your heart has to be in it. Contact (talk to them) some of the schools that originally accepted you and ask if you can still make it work. Your finances will take a hit.
I know that you were extremely excited about getting into your schools, only to be told that you couldn’t accept any of them. So, mentally, that might be some of your feelings, but it didn’t help that you were, more or less, forced to attend (a school you knew in your core, you couldn’t attend).
Now, you also need to understand that wherever you go, may not be an easy transition and it may be difficult for you, but that’s a risk you have to be willing to make.
Part of the problem is that when you’re a member of the majority, it’s very difficult to understand how miserable it can be to be a minority. In many areas of Utah, if you’re not LDS, people will cross to the other side of the street when walking by your house. They won’t invite your kids to birthday parties, or hire you for jobs. We can’t just minimize the discomfort, as in, “it’s not that big a deal” or “suck it up” or “maybe you’ll learn something about the other point of view.”
Do you think a conservative who loved BYU would feel happy being plunked into a liberal environment like Smith or Vassar? Probably not. The icky thing is that most conservative people would say it’s because the conservative person didn’t want to compromise her morals. Actually, that’s also what’s going on with the OP. I can only imagine how disturbing it is to be surrounded by intolerant people. This isn’t about political parties, the NRA, and people feeling clever by saying “Thanks, Obama.” It’s about human issues like marriage, subservient women, etc. She’s not happy. It’s not a good fit. There are TONS of good schools where she would be happy and fit in. Why should she suffer and miss out on a happy college experience, if transferring is a possibility?