<p>
Yes, tuition is $2040 per semester for church members, and twice that for non-members.
[BYU</a> - Financial Services - Tuition and General Fees](<a href=“http://home.byu.edu/webapp/finserve/content/page/Tuition.html]BYU”>http://home.byu.edu/webapp/finserve/content/page/Tuition.html)</p>
<p>coureur,</p>
<p>Mormons pick BYU for religious and financial reasons. These are the people who devote 2 years of their life to missionary overseas and finance it themselves. Their preference for BYU says nothing about its prestige.</p>
<p>^^I agree. I said nothing about prestige on this thread. My point is that a survey of preferences from a sizable sampling of a population is far a more accurate description of the overall trend than is a couple of isolated anecdotes drawn from your friends. This holds whether the preferences are driven by religion, or prestige, or something else entirely.</p>
<p>So BYU is a good option for some, but it has mediocre academics and almost non-existent prestige? How would you compare it to like, USC, in the most general terms?</p>
<p>I have some perspective on this.
I live in University housing at the University of Chicago. The apartments in my complex are 3 bedroom, two bath units. As a result, young people (graduate students) with growing families populate our building and the ones nearby.
A large proportion of the folks are Mormons who attended BYU or are Israeli. I’ve been told that my youngest daughter has a terrific command of Hebrew, from hanging around with her friends. Both Mormon and Israeli, these are people who believe in having kids and plenty of them. I have often wondered about the somewhat controversial recent origins of the Latter Day Saints and the “Academy”. Likewise, religious Israelis and their pre-modern ways seem discordant with the 21st century secular academic establishment. But take it from me, these folks are U of C level minds, and often then some, in swimming in seas hostile to their world-view in many ways.
As someone with a daughter at Princeton, of course the typical BYU student isn’t at the same academic level of the typical Princeton student.
But I am not about to be dismissive of people with different world views.</p>
<p>Every once in a while, I choose to stop lurking and throw in my two cents. As a Mormon I have a certain insight into BYU (as well as several friends that attend). The religious aspect of the university does not replace the standard educational aspects. However, students will receive additional religious education. I won’t claim that BYU is or isn’t on par with another university, but many people are simply turned off by the religious nature of the university. There are plenty of LDS people who wouldn’t attend BYU simply because they are not wiling to be so devout, sheltered, etc. I decided I wanted to study business as an undergrad; however, I crossed BYU off my list because I knew the atmosphere wouldn’t be my cup of tea. That being said, I still gave it serious consideration.</p>
<p>I would have agreed with everything you guys said about religious universities, but then I went from a public middle school to a Catholic high school and I learned much more and in so much more depth than I could have imagined. Learning from a religious point of view is a consistently underestimated thing - it ties in events into the greater morality of a people, so that every course becomes a sort of humanities course. I never thought I’d have fun learning, but I actually am right now.</p>
<p>I would compare BYU to Liberty or Bob Jones more than Notre Dame or Princeton. Religious schools that start with the “Answers” but dodge the questions truly are not in the field of education as much as indoctrination.</p>
<p>I know BJU is extreme with the rules, they threated to call the campus police when a gay alum tried to come back to visit the school. I know BYU has pretty strict rules, but it can’t be as bad as BJU…can it?</p>
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<p>I would not.
I think of Mormons as more like Roman Catholics than evangelical born-again Christians
(who seem to be, typically, almost as hostile toward Mormons as they are toward Liberals).</p>
<p>Ask an informed Mormon if his church has a position on the the theory of evolution, or if (s)he personally rejects it on doctrinal grounds. IMHO, attitudes on issues like this have a greater bearing on a university’s climate than the church’s position on drinking coffee or the fact that the faithful wear special underwear.
([BYU</a> professors differ with creationist on evolution and carbon-14 dating](<a href=“http://www.lds-mormon.com/evolutn1.shtml]BYU”>http://www.lds-mormon.com/evolutn1.shtml))</p>
<p>many mormons that I know believe in evolution. also many mormons claim that “intelligence is the glory of god” and they will sometimes criticize southern fundamentalist “bible pounders”. they tend to be rather liberal with science no? maybe I only know the liberal ones</p>
<p>i would say bob jones is extremely different from BYU but that’s just my impression…</p>
<p>I had a environmental Science teacher who was top of the line (in terms of being a scientist) and politically liberal. So I think while a lot of mainstream mormonism is socially conservative, not all of them are…just like any religion, really. But I think they can be really good with Sciences, yes. </p>
<p>_</p>
<p>BYU does have a good emphasis on academics…I hear they have excellent language schools for those going on mission.</p>
<p>Given the highly slanted portrayals of Mormons by much of the mainstream press, one can see that general public opinions (particularly in the Northeast) on BYU and its students are almost certain to be stereotypically negative (polygamists, false prophets, domineering church doctrines, etc.) and off the mark. </p>
<p>BYU is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea (not even among Mormons), but if you’ve ever lived with/worked with/hired folks from BYU, you likely have come to a different conclusion about the quality of these people. It’ll never have the prestige of Princeton, but there are many extremely talented BYU grads.</p>
<p>HYP are all far superior to BYU.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney 2012!</p>
<p>You would have to pay me a A LOT of money to go to BYU</p>
<p>“Is BYU on par with Princeton?”</p>
<p>No.</p>