Brigham Young University - Provo

Date: Jun 17 2012
Major: Electrical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I am just going to step right in and say that I came to BYU as a Mormon and left as an Atheist. This was 100% due to my own research and by no offense toward me by any student or faculty member. I simply learned through the course of my studies that humankind is capable of anything without God and that a belief in the supernatural begins with a belief in the superiority of others.

Now to my actual review of the university, BYU is great! My favorite part of the BYU experience was the fact that the people I worked with on a daily basis were very diligent and hardworking. There was not much unfriendly competition and the friendships I made at BYU enriched me as a person. The faculty were very approachable, many had an "open-door" policy and were willing to drop what they were doing to discuss anything, even personal problems. Oftentimes I could get to the professor easier than I could get to the TA.

The campus is beautiful. The grounds are well maintained and graffiti/gum/garbage is removed very quickly by the ground crew. I worked as a custodian for several months and the attitude is that people from all over the world see our campus and we need to make sure they see only the best. This added to the overall feeling of the campus and made me feel safe at anytime of the day or night (especially when walking home from late night project work).

The equipment is all very new and very up to date. I have gotten experience with hardware that I am now using in industry. The lab facilities were nice and well maintained. Undergraduate research is big at BYU which means that the nice equipment is not just reserved for graduate students. I was working on undergraduate research from my junior year and the experience I got was amazing.

The only problems I can see with the campus is that a small portion of the population is very "Utah Mormon". For those who haven't heard this term before, it basically means very close-minded Mormons that don't just follow Mormonism but some kind of super-Mormonism. They are extremely concerned about getting married at BYU which made dating very difficult. It was like a job interview for all eternity. The religion classes (16 credits are required) were mostly taught by these "Utah Mormons" and oftentimes the lessons were very intolerant of individualism and free thought. This is my main complaint of the university.