Harvard: The BYU of the East

[SeattleUte]

It's because the applicants are brainwashed.

[Surfah]

This is what I keep telling my son, but he doesn't believe me yet.

To go into any serious debt for your undergrad is absurd IMO. By the time my kids are college age I cringe at how much it will cost. I will definitely be advocating the JC route and staying in state. Unless of course, they want to go to BYU.

[CardiacCoug]

This is what I keep telling my son, but he doesn't believe me yet.

I think it depends on what your long-term goals are. If a kid is going to get a computer programming undergrad degree and go to work, it is probably worth investing in a top school.

But if you will do graduate studies, I think where you went to undergrad becomes less important.

Here's what I learned in my 11 years of post-college studies:

In med school everyone said "Nobody cares where you went to undergrad, they just care about where you went to med school."

In residency everyone said "Nobody cares where you went to med school, they just care about where you went for residency."

In fellowship everyone said "Nobody cares where you went for residency, they just care about where you went for fellowship." Same for the second fellowship.

Now I realize that nobody cares about any of it -- it's all about what you can actually do.

[byu71]

To go into any serious debt for your undergrad is absurd IMO. By the time my kids are college age I cringe at how much it will cost. I will definitely be advocating the JC route and staying in state. Unless of course, they want to go to BYU.

I wonder at what point the church will ask themselves, look at the demand to get into BYU. We no longer need to subsidize students. Plenty will come even if they have to pay the real cost of the education.

Of course I would have no problem with the subsidation at all, if students got kicked out of school for selling and making profit on their subsidized footbal tickets.

[Lost Student]

I wonder at what point the church will ask themselves, look at the demand to get into BYU. We no longer need to subsidize students. Plenty will come even if they have to pay the real cost of the education.

In Kearl's Econ 110 class, he described how he advocated to Merrill (I'm taking a page from grape's book--just the first name) that tuition should be hiked four-fold to take advantage of the "rich California Mormons" while then providing schollys to the "poor Idaho Mormons."

[SteelBlue]

I met a kid the other day that turned down a full-ride scholarship to MIT in order to enroll at BYU. I had to bite my tongue.

My Stake President did the same thing in his day. He said his HS guidance counselor was almost in tears trying to change his mind. He's doing just fine though.

[byu71]

In Kearl's Econ 110 class, he described how he advocated to Merrill (I'm taking a page from grape's book--just the first name) that tuition should be hiked four-fold to take advantage of the "rich California Mormons" while then providing schollys to the "poor Idaho Mormons."

An interesting study would be to see what the average annual income is of member households that have children attending BYU vs the average annual income of members whose kids don't attend BYU.

[UtahDan]

I met a kid the other day that turned down a full-ride scholarship to MIT in order to enroll at BYU. I had to bite my tongue.

I think I've shared before that Yale expressed interest in me as a football player and that I didn't even go visit because I was so set on BYU. I've always been a dullard it seems.

[Jeff Lebowski]

My Stake President did the same thing in his day. He said his HS guidance counselor was almost in tears trying to change his mind. He's doing just fine though.

Sure. You can end up with a fine career starting out at BYU. And anyone smart enough to be offered a full-ride at MIT is probably going to succeed no matter what.

Nevertheless, that is nuts.

[UtahDan]

Sure. You can end up with a fine career starting out at BYU. And anyone smart enough to be offered a full-ride at MIT is probably going to succeed no matter what.

Nevertheless, that is nuts.

I agree. Still, a degree from MIT opens an awful lot of doors like nothing else does.

[Clark Addison]

I think it depends on what your long-term goals are. If a kid is going to get a computer programming undergrad degree and go to work, it is probably worth investing in a top school.

But if you will do graduate studies, I think where you went to undergrad becomes less important.

That's exactly what I tell him. He isn't sure what he wants to do, but most of what he is looking at would require a grad degree (he doesn't like computers or engineering). I tell him we will pay for tuition at BYU or UNC, and they will get him anywhere he wants to go. He wants to go to Northwestern, U of Chicago, or NYU (don't ask me why). I have told him to hope for a scholarship. He finds this extremely unfair.

[il Padrino Ute]

US News agrees that BYU is the most popular university in the country

http://www.usnews.com/articles/educa...versities.html



Our Ute brethren actually fared extremely well on the list....coming in at 18.

What percentage of the kids attending BYU are there only because their parents won't pay for them to attend another school? Was that factored in as well?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I think it depends on what your long-term goals are. If a kid is going to get a computer programming undergrad degree and go to work, it is probably worth investing in a top school.

But if you will do graduate studies, I think where you went to undergrad becomes less important.

Here's what I learned in my 11 years of post-college studies:

In med school everyone said "Nobody cares where you went to undergrad, they just care about where you went to med school."

In residency everyone said "Nobody cares where you went to med school, they just care about where you went for residency."

In fellowship everyone said "Nobody cares where you went for residency, they just care about where you went for fellowship." Same for the second fellowship.

Now I realize that nobody cares about any of it -- it's all about what you can actually do.

Yes, but the problem with this is that many graduate institutions will give preference to someone that attended Stanford or MIT. And then employers/hospital residencies (I'm not sure what the term is) will then look at where you went to med school. Undoubtedly a person can rise to the top at whatever undergrad, med school, etc and do whatever they want. But it's easier at Stanford or MIT. In addition, many of these upper crust schools have huge endowments that allow many of the students to attend at a significantly discounted rate.

In some respects, BYU is one of the worst places to go if you want to go to med school. It's not because it's a bad school, I think BYU is an excellent undergrad institution. It's just that you have an extremely bright and competitive student body that have to fight like cats and dogs for an A in Organic Chemistry and the school's reputation with many med schools isn't commensurate with the effort that has to be put in to get decent grades. If I have a kid that wants to go to med school, I will not advise him or her to attend BYU.

[TripletDaddy]

What percentage of the kids attending BYU are there only because their parents won't pay for them to attend another school? Was that factored in as well?

Don't know. Admittedly, I am sure that percentage is dramatically higher than it would be for Utah, as I am unaware of any parents that would pay only for a U of U education.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes, but the problem with this is that many graduate institutions will give preference to someone that attended Stanford or MIT. And then employers/hospital residencies (I'm not sure what the term is) will then look at where you went to med school. Undoubtedly a person can rise to the top at whatever undergrad, med school, etc and do whatever they want. But it's easier at Stanford or MIT. In addition, many of these upper crust schools have huge endowments that allow many of the students to attend at a significantly discounted rate.

In some respects, BYU is one of the worst places to go if you want to go to med school. It's not because it's a bad school, I think BYU is an excellent undergrad institution. It's just that you have an extremely bright and competitive student body that have to fight like cats and dogs for an A in Organic Chemistry and the school's reputation with many med schools isn't commensurate with the effort that has to be put in to get decent grades. If I have a kid that wants to go to med school, I will not advise him or her to attend BYU.

I assume you are aware that BYU is #1 in the nation (maybe #2) in terms of # of grads admitted to med school? Similar numbers for Ph.D. programs.