Brigham Young University - Provo

Date: Mar 17 2004
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
BYU offers an adequate education, given that the costs are relatively low. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is stifling, given the lack of student diversity (ethnic, political, economic/class, religious) and the overwhelmingly ultra-conservative homogeneity among professors, which greatly restricts the range of perspectives and ideas to which the student will be exposed. Yes, there are exceptions to this statement(for professors), but those tend to be temporary adjuncts, or too maverick for the Church leadership's liking, so these bright professors often fail to gain tenure for political reasons.

Relative to my grad school (Masters, PhD) experiences at 2 elite universities in the Washington DC region, I found my fellow students at

BYU (those who continued through to upper-division classes) to be comparable in intellectual potential, and perhaps even above-average in motivation & drive. Unfortunately, the quality of the professors at BYU compared poorly to the professors I had at my 2 grad schools; I believe such poor quality instruction leaves the capable & driven BYU students woefully understimulated and underdeveloped, and their intellectual capacities unfulfilled.

If you wish to be a good conforming obedient robot or cog in whatever field you choose to go into, with a narrowly circumscribed perspective on the world and humanity, then BYU is the place for you.

I, however, will spend the extra money to send my children almost anywhere else, so as not to risk their becoming indoctrinated into a narrow-minded worldview.

Admittedly, I did very much enjoy my time there. The facilities and grounds are well maintained and attractive; recreational opportunities are excellent if you like outdoors activities; social life can be great *IF* you "fit the mold" (i.e., white, upper-middle-class, politically ultrarightwing, Mormon); the sporting programs tend to be quite good.