Why I'm proud to be a BYU grad.

[happyone]

The University of Oklahoma is No. 1 per capita among public universities in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled. And they have one of the most beautiful libraries in the nation. See the photo of the reading room below. I'm proud to have my dissertation on the shelves of such a gorgeous room. Interestingly enough, no one is ever reading in the reading room. I read in this room sometimes, and I rarely see many students in the library at all:

It looks like he suceeded. I've always liked OU. It has been 20 yrs since I"ve been there though

[woot]

I'm a huge BYU football fan and have a degree from BYU, but I'll be the first to point out that BYU is not a great undergraduate institution, and any ranking it may have is likely to be due to admission standards, which in BYU's case have nothing to do with academics.

Of the two rankings posted, the Forbes one is an absolute farce, should be completely ignored, and whoever put it together should be laughed at and fired immediately. The US News one is better. I'd still quibble with a lot of the specific placings, but at least you don't have podunk barely accredited colleges 100 places ahead of world-class research Universities like in the Forbes one.

[SoonerCoug]

It looks like he suceeded. I've always liked OU. It has been 20 yrs since I"ve been there though

That's me in the reading room photo, by the way.

[Surfah]

Where can we get this info? I tried google and there was nothing Any ideas? My bet would that the difference would not be negligible.

Forgive the wiki, but it produced this for BYU:

Due in part to the school's emphasis on undergraduate research, BYU is ranked #10 nationally for the number of students who go on to earn PhDs, #1 nationally for students who go on to dental school, #6 nationally for students who go on to law school, and #10 nationally for students who go on to medical school.[43]

[woot]

I can mostly agree with this concern, although BYU, being a school of 30K, is more diverse than most give it credit for. I'm not sure Utah can pile up high points for diversity in comparison. I wonder if the lack of diversity of ideas stems from the academic freedom concerns--students don't discuss different ideas because professors don't bring them up. Point still stands though.

The point of diversity is not because different colored skin makes any difference, it's because different points of view are important. Just considering political diversity alone I have to think that Utah has BYU beat on diversity.

It is true that most BYU students were at least reasonably smart and motivated, perhaps even more so than the undergrads I teach at a much, much better university. I don't think this offsets the homogeneity not only in cultural background, but in every other sort of background found at BYU.

[Mormon Red Death]

Forgive the wiki, but it produced this for BYU:

So byu has the most students who go to dental school? interesting...

[DU Ute]

Stand back! BYU is making a charge up the rankings! Make way for BYU!

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[thesaint258]

<grabs a bowl of popcorn>

While I think there are a lot of funny people on this board, I usually just smile or chuckle when I read something funny. This, however, and the endless love joke yesterday really made me laugh.

[falafel]

I agree with this - and it points to the one issue that I have with BYU: it's not diverse enough.

<Donut and falafel turn away>

And it is most obvious in the law school. I have quite a few connections at BYU law and have sat in some of the first year courses for fun. I was utterly shocked at how one-sided the debates were. People spewing out ideas with little backing because there was nobody to challenge them (even though they thought there was). I brought this up with the professor after class and he not only admitted as much, but said it was his major knock on the school as well.

Hey, I went to the U for law school! L.A. Ute can look up my photo on the wall when he's up there for his class reunion.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Forgive the wiki, but it produced this for BYU:

I wish they would expand these kind of lists to cover other topics. I'm quite sure BYU and Utah could make a few more.

Utah:

Top 10 per capita use of fake tanning creams and tanning salons

Top 10 in number of girls rocking the Kate Gosselin do.

BYU:

Top 10 in number of girls wearing overalls.

Lowest amount of consumption of female hair products and makeup in a conservative college (but can't touch schools like Vassar).

[Pheidippides]

Hey, I went to the U for law school! L.A. Ute can look up my photo on the wall when he's up there for his class reunion.

Why did I think you were a BYU law alum? I know of others on here that are, and somehow I had you pegged with them.

[smokymountainrain]

While I think there are a lot of funny people on this board, I usually just smile or chuckle when I read something funny. This, however, and the endless love joke yesterday really made me laugh.

Thanks. The initial post was one such that you just knew there were going to be some fireworks to follow.

[beelzebabette]

I wish they would expand these kind of lists to cover other topics. I'm quite sure BYU and Utah could make a few more.

Utah:

Top 10 per capita use of fake tanning creams and tanning salons

Top 10 in number of girls rocking the Kate Gosselin do.

BYU:

Top 10 in number of girls wearing overalls.

Lowest amount of consumption of female hair products and makeup in a conservative college (but can't touch schools like Vassar).

Maybe you could find your inner bi-sexual and notice women only comprise 50% of most populaces.

[WashingtonCoug]

BYU leads Utah because the legislature requires Utah to relax its standards for instate applicants. If Utah were even like UW in terms of ability to set numerical admissions standards, it would be ahead of BYU. You can't compare private and public schools, and in fact no. 71 for a private school is not so hot. I'd still like to know how BYU moved up 35+ places in one year. Everyone knows this ranking is dubious. The other thing is this only addresses undergraduate part of a university, the "colleges," not overall academic reputation including research, or reputation in any individual graduate school, etc.

Don't worry buddy, I'll hold a position here at 7/11 for ya. The Dixie grad that manned the hot dog machine couldn't figure out how to turn it on and off.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Maybe you could find your inner bi-sexual and notice women only comprise 50% of most populaces.

BYU:

Top 10 in number of guys wearing Obama jeans.