My daughter is looking into attending BYU-Idaho next year and I was wondering if anybody can share their experiences with this school. Did you get a quality education and did your degree help you in the job market or hurt? Is Rexburg as sheltered as I think it might be? Any negative experiences you had there? I attended ISU in Pocatello and thought the LDS atmosphere was toned down and there was some diversity in the school. Please post your thoughts. Thanks.

From stories that people have posted here, it sounds like Ricks (a.k.a. BYU-I) is a Mormon reform school: somewhere to send your kids if they aren't toeing the line and can't get into BYU. Regardless of the quality of the education, it has an ultra-Mormon conformist atmosphere.

Aren't there better schools in Idaho where she can go?

From another state, kid wants to go to BYU because it has been pushed on her from a very young age. My kid is a little immature and may not handle a really large university setting like Provo. At this point, I just want to make sure she gets a college education that benefits her in the real world and I want to make sure Rexsburg is safe.

If she's a little immature, a community college close to home is probably a better option until she's ready for a regular university. Of course, any university will be full of immature freshmen.

Can you tell us the specifics of your worries about her, without revealing too much?

When I went to Ricks in the 1960's there were 3000 students and it felt big and a little intimidating to me.

Yeah, what I read here is that they take TBM to new levels there (to prove they measure up in comparison to the mothership in Provo).

A friend of mine in the Army had attended Ricks, and the Army denied roughly half of his credits (when evaluating his transcript for an ROTC release). But, that's going back a few years.

I'm a female and went there in 1980 when it was Ricks College. It was a horrible experience for me. I was a good TBM, always 100% trusted by my parents to do the right thing without supervision. At Ricks college I was treated like a criminal on probation. I lived in an apartment near campus. The manager patrolled the apartment complex till 2 AM to be sure no one snuck out beyond the curfew time - yes, we had a curfew. On a Friday night we were bored out of our minds and tried to climb the fence to escape. We were caught and put on probation with a bed check (had to be in our apartment by 10 PM) every night for a week. I was so insulted!

In my geology class, when learning about volcanoes, the teacher joked that they couldn't find a virgin in California to throw in the volcano. I'm a female from California and I was insulted.

In Art History, the teacher covered up the private parts on naked works of art in his slide show presentation. God forbid we should see Michelangelo's David's penis.

One of my male teachers, who was married with several children, befriended me. He took me out (alone) for a hamburger, and when he dropped me off at my apartment, held my hand and told me how special I was. I was very naive and didn't think anything of it until my roommates teased me and called him my boyfriend.

Was not allowed to wear bluejeans on campus or at football games. Painter pants (normal pants with a little loop on the side for a paint brush - all the rage in 1980) were forbidden. Apparently the little loop on the side was evil. We were also not allowed to wear our own sweats in the gym, we had to wear a gym uniform.

Saying a prayer at the beginning of each class. Why???

The only fun thing to do was dance at the Star Palace, where I went every chance I had.

I would have been much better off If I had attended one of the excellent junior colleges near my house. Ricks was a joke.

Okay, that was 37 years ago, surely it has changed since then. It sounds like my kid has more cultural experience (art, music, travel) than probably the majority of people attending BYU-I would have. Somebody please chime in on more recent experiences.

Do you REALLY thick the Mormon church has lightened up in 37 years? If anything, they've become more strict.

It must just be where we live. My daughter has gone to H.S. proms and dances in sleeveless dresses and I have seen kids come out of seminary class in really short shorts. That is why I am trying to get a perspective of just how different current Rexsburg is.

Me again... check out the following BYU-I dress/grooming standards to see if your teenaged daughter can handle wearing only blue jeans that go to her ankle, aren't faded and don't have holes or patches. Hopefully she doesn't have any body piercings or tattoos: http://www.byui.edu/student-honor-office/ces-honor-code/dress-and-grooming

No capris? Wth? They cover as much as a knee length skirt! Seriously, wth?

And no flip flops. Sheesh.

I went to Ricks, BYU Hawaii, and BYU Provo. Of the three, BYU Hawaii was the most laid back but inferior academically. I lived off campus, just next door to world class surfers who graced the cover of Surfer Magazine. Had a blast but wouldn't send a serious student there, unless they were only there to have fun.

I couldn't stand BYU Provo and ended up going to a University in California. I felt like I'd finally entered a REAL University. My teachers were superior to any I'd had at LDS schools. They were also kind and made time for their students.

Unless your daughter's number one goal is to marry a RM, try to talk her into attending a non-church school.

I worked for BYU-I and I can tell you that there are WAY more quality women attending than men. They will let a guy in as long as he has a pulse and the women must have much higher GPA and test scores. I'm not sure if standards for women are as high these days but I'd be worried about the kind of guys your daughter will be hooking up with because marriage and family is pushed really hard there. The females are made to feel inferior if they aren't married, or at least engaged, by their sophomore year. If your daughter is immature it might be a bit scary for you to find she is being heartily encouraged to make decisions about life partners far more powerfully than getting her education and learning some important life skills first.

This also speaks to the problem the church is having church wide with regard to women out numbering men. The young men are leaving the church even faster than the more mature men. This is leaving the clueless, immature, and less desirable guys still TBM (or pretending to be TBM) because they are either totally dependent on their parents or they just don't know any better.

Without anything but intramural sports at BYU-I even the athletic guys stay away from that school. In a nutshell, BYU-I is where the pathetic guys go and the desperate-to-find-a-mate women go. The teachers are adequate and the educational aspect is fine but the atmosphere is quite rarified. Ultra TBM's will probably think it is heaven on earth.

Winters there are really harsh. My sister got so depressed by the weather she almost eloped with a guy from Alabama who was also sick of winter and heading back to the South. She left BYU-I just for that reason alone. Outside the college there is little or nothing to do nor places to go except Jackson Hole. And even Jackson is a long drive and dangerous drive in winter.

Send your daughter somewhere else. You will be doing her a favor. If she is immature I doubt she will gain much maturity at BYU-I. Send her someplace where there are real world experiences and men who have more than half a chance of being mature and normal.

So, if she is dead set on attending a BYU school, would you say Provo is better, if she can get in?

BYU Provo will have a higher quality male population plus more to do than just campus/church activities. It is getting more strict about attending required church meetings. Stronger punishment for minor infractions. It is bigger and less personal. It's not as bad as BYU-I because they just cannot control the students to the same degree they can control them in Idaho. She can feel safe in the sense that she can stay within the confines of the LDS environment and I think I'm correct in believing that the crime rate is well below the national average. Theft, however, is more rampant because the kids tend to be naive and to think Mormons never steal. Students are bad about locking doors. Warn her to ALWAYS lock her dorm or apartment door and if roommates lose keys they should NOT repeat NOT leave the door unlocked until they get a new key. This was a problem at all the BYU's and even other non-religious schools.

Certain academic fields are more respected at BYU than others but the facilities have always been well maintained. If she's only going to attend for her undergrad she'll be fine in Provo but religion classes are a waste if she ever wants to transfer out, especially if she doesn't leave with a degree. Those will put her behind. If she is academically strong enough, you might encourage her to take some extra credits beyond a normal load in math, science, literature, etc. to off-set the hollow religion credits.

Any chance you could persuade her to look at Boise State or another school with a big LDS institute to make-up for not being a BYU? Boise has a nice mix of LDS to non-LDS and is not huge. Washington State U. has a really nice campus, academics are high and yet a small town feel with quite a large LDS presence. It's more real world yet still safe and protected.

I hope you plan on touring campuses before she makes a final decision. Sometimes just seeing a place with the parents can take some of the fear away. And the campus will not be so intimidating if she's seen it before she is shipped out.

Good luck. Wish you the best with this decision.

With few exceptions, such as the service academies, female students tend to outnumber men on U.S. college campuses as a whole, and require higher test scores/GPAs than do male admits. Because the schools want to preserve some near-equivalent gender balance, and the admissions pool is predominately female, boys can in most cases get in less competitively.

I went to BYU in Provo for summer term in 2015, then transferred to BYU-I because I couldn't stand Provo. I only stayed one semester at BYU-I before transferring again because I was having a horrible time. My classmates went out hunting every weekend, the local cafes all had bible quotes on the walls, and there wasn't much to do besides go to a nature park or eat sweet potato fries. Not my scene.

I have a friend that was gang raped at BYU-I.

Sexual assault is far more common at the church schools than they would like to admit. The victim is often blamed for minor infractions of the "honor code", which could get her kicked out of school, so these assaults are massively under reported.

Until recently (and maybe still), the campus police would report all such reported incidents to the honor code office for investigation. It's sick.

My daughter went to Ricks, in 2000, right after she'd graduated high school. They changed the name during the first year she was there IIRC.

She got her education degree and is just finishing her 11th year of teaching junior high English in the same school, and will be changing districts and locations this fall.

Instead of driving 14 miles to work, she'll be going 1.5 miles and she is thrilled. (Oddly enough, the school she will be at is the same one where I went to junior high, although they tore down the old school and built a new one 2 years ago).

She seemed to be OK with Rexburg except I know she hated the cold weather. She had some roommates that she is still friendly with all these years later but isn't particularly nostalgic about it. I never heard of any bad experiences she had (except that she got married and that didn't exactly work out).

BYUI is by far the most conservative of the BYU campuses. It is a highly controlling environment. If your daughter is used to wearing sleeveless dresses my guess is that she would not be happy there. BYU Provo is the better school academically, but it may be difficult for her to get in.

My advice would be to look for a public college or university, perhaps with a significant LDS population as Anonandon suggests.

BYU I is like Mormon community college. You know for those Mormons who don't quite make the BYU cut.
BYU H is for "special" Mormons.

Amen that it's the most conservative LDS campus. Your daughter will be obeying rules that she wouldn't have to obey in provo.

As far as the education goes... If you are used to having the Restoration sprinkled into everything, then she'll be fine. Scoop out the religion as much as possible and the education is ok, depending on your major.

I majored in English. We read literature and a lot of the discussions always, always, devolved into some discussion that brought up Jesus and the restored gospel brought back to the world through Joseph Smith. But, whatever, if it's the world you live in...

As far as job prospects... I don't know if i chose a great major to be able to say. English majors just aren't in high demand. So I don't know. I"m killing bugs for a living right now. I'm dreaming of graduate school, but I don't know the way forward yet.

The time I spent in Rexburg was consumed with anxiety about whether or not I would be able to graduate before anyone caught on to my unbelief. It's cheap, but is it worth it? I spent 4 years of my life living beneath the privileges and rights I should have enjoyed. The culture in Rexburg is a hegemonic hell. It's possible to find people that make the time spent there worth something, but if you aren't cut from the same stone as the mainstream mormon culture there, you can expect to have a hard time. But if all you want is an education at a good price and don't mind living under the radar, then sure... it can be worth it. Just know what you are getting into.

I gather that BYU-I is for those who live and breathe Mormonism. Those who mix the Kool-Aid powder into a paste and inject it directly into their bloodstream. Those who take Boyd Packer seriously.

A BYU-I stake prez threatens to yank ecclesiastical endorsements if his students miss just five Sundays:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1676267

Old BYU-I prez Clark thinks ankles are a big deal:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1382061
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1383463

I suspect that many who don't get into BYU Provo suffer from an inferiority complex and overcompensate with TBMness to prove their worthiness.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2017 07:38AM by nomonomo.

I grew up in Rexburg, and attended BYU-I for 2 years before transferring to BYU so here is my opinion. Honestly, most people I know love attending BYU-I, as long as they like mormonism. If however they are growing out of mormonism, BYU-I will be a very difficult environment.

Rexburg is an extremly safe place, unbelievable safe. Many people don't lock their doors or cars, many women go jogging alone late at night, and as kids we were safe to round around playing games through anyone's back yard or down any street. I'm not saying she shouldn't play it smart, but it is a weirdly safe area.

I have some fiends attending right now and they absolutely love that place. And most people are very friendly and respectful (I do say most).

The big, big drawback is that it is highly mormon. She will likely meet a very TBM husband there. And transferring credits may be difficult depending on the situation. Also if she realizes that mormonism is false while attending that would be very difficult as well.

I also found the education there to be top notch, except for the mandatory religious credits one must take which are a waste of time. When I transferred to BYU, I found myself ahead of my classmates thanks to BYU-I. The professors may be TBM, but they are there to teach students and most of them love teaching.

And not everyone there is uber TBM. Many are, but many are young kids going through the motions and they are very laid back mormons. Still if your daughter gets along well in church and relief society I think she would get along well with the BYU-I environment.

A lot of kids from my area attend Byu-I. I know the quality and the devotion of these kids and they are top notch. Most are girls, and they have found very good guys to marry. I have never heard anyone (I know at least 20 people who have in past 4 yrs or are currently there) heard anything bad about it. They love it and have a great Mormon experience. I'd say for the price, it really can't be beat if she wants a church school. It is my impression that the kids who usually attend there are ones who didn't have the grades for byu or the cash flow. It is a beautiful campus and seems to provide a quality education. All graduates I know have jobs in their fields.

Missionarymommalp Wrote:
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> ...have a great Mormon experience.

That's an oxymoron if ever I've heard one...

If your daughter decides against BYU, I can offer advice on state schools in Idaho. (I'm assuming you are an Idaho resident.)

I would recommend that your daughter consider CSI (College of Southern Idaho) in Twin Falls.

If she gets an associates degree (AA or AS) she can transfer to one of the larger Idaho state schools, and will not have to complete any of their core requirements. In other words, because she has an associates degree, she only needs to complete her major requirements to graduate! This is an amazing benefit!

CSI has a strong faculty, a good student body, an amazing basketball program (for watching!), has dorms and apartments, and is economical. I can personally vouch for their music and business programs, and I have heard good things about geology, physics and English. Oh, I almost forgot nursing! The entire health sciences department totally rocks!

Twin Falls has a wide range of nearby outdoor activities as well as cultural opportunities. Because of the refuge center, Twin Falls is unexpectedly diverse. All larger towns or cities are two or more hours away, so Twin Falls is a true hub with a vibrant feeling of growth.

CSI has a wonderful career placement center, and they work closely with local businesses. I recently learned about their apprenticeship program which is pretty cool. I attended a local business conference last week, and one thing we discussed was the unemployment rate ranging between 2-3% for the Twin Falls area. This is bad for businesses owners, but great for anyone looking for a job!

If you want your daughter to be that perfect Mormon, continue with the indoctrination, marry an RM and push out half a dozen more Mormons, then by all means send her to Rexburg.

I would walk through fire to make sure that my daughter is given everything to insure her a happy life. Nowhere does that include anything related to the mormon church.

You, yourself, said she is immature. Why would you send an immature female to anything with BYU in the name? Answer: To continue the brainwashing.

Maybe I shouldn't comment on this thread since I'm not a TBM trolling an exmormon site looking for reviews of a BYU college.

in her field.

What is worse she met her husband there. He's a dim wit texan mormon hick and they are now living in near poverty.

I attended that (sham) supposed "school", so I can speak from first hand experience.

"Theft by deception" is a great summarized description of my experience there.

the Joke is/ was on me, I actually paid good money to hear Ricks not much of a college faculty characters like (filthy, disgusting) Glenn "I cant stop talking about masturbation regardless of the setting" R. Stubbs endlessly bloviate his utterly worthless at best MORmON opinions on what pleased MORmON Jesus.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/rexburgstandardjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=174147816


From the obit in case the link fails:
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Glen R. Stubbs, 85, died in Provo, Utah, on Feb. 10, 2015. He was born Jan. 10, 1930 in Gunnison, Utah, to Ruth C. Nelson and Glendon Kelly Stubbs. He was raised in Ephraim, Utah.
He married Kay Broadbent in 1957 in the Manti Temple.
He worked for the Church Education System in Utah, Arizona and California before beginning his 22 years at Ricks College.
After Kay's death in 1991, Glen retired from Ricks College and moved to Provo, Utah, where he taught part-time at Brigham Young University.
On May 29, 1993, Glen married Dorothy Holmes McComb in the Mesa Arizona Temple.
Glen was preceded in death by his brother, Ray; his parents and his wife, Kay.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his daughters, Diane, Julie Knudsen and son, David Glen.
Funeral services for Glen will be held Saturday, Feb. 14, at 11 a.m., at Pleasant View 6th Ward, 2445 North 650 East, Provo, Utah, where visitations will be held Friday, Feb. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., and prior to services on Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in Provo City Cemetery, 610 South State Street, Provo, Utah.
*************************************************************
Speaking of career choices, It is simply astounding to me that some one, anyone, could actually make a living being such a lurid POS so ironically done in guise of promoting purity and wholesomeness by posing as a professor of religious studies, .....what the Hell ever that is in a MORmON context. No doubt that MORmONISM was a critical aspect /component in such a disturbing and conflicted outcome.


Here is a real gem of wisdom for people as opposed to pearls of whiz DUMB so often dispensed at Ricks not much of a college
in the guise of learning. IF a person does not want to have a linger legacy of being pathologically obsessed with Masturbation that carries on well after they are dead, dying being the best thing ever done by Glenn R. Stubbs, then do not carry on as Glenn R. Stubbs did at Ricks college. Just as the MORmON religion endlessly preached to me, there will be consequences to your actions. ( thanks again for finally dying, Brother Stubbs!!! you POS!!! )

From an academic stand point, I would avoid that place like the plague.

Unfortunately my brother and his daughters have not heeded my advice about steering clear of Ricks not much of a college, but those girls are there hunting for MORmON husbands and they are likely to get just exactly what they were looking for. then some more (bitter) lessons about living MORmON centered lives will be available for learning.