BYU transfers prefer U diversity, classes, social life

The Daily Utah Chronicle/September 26, 2006
By Lauren Mangleson

Most students who transferred from Brigham Young University said they are happy with their decision to come to the U, according to statistics from the Office of Budget and Institutional Analysis.

The 2005 study found that 8 percent of 35 BYU transfer students surveyed said they planned to transfer to the U when they began college, and 85 percent said they would make the decision to transfer again. A total of 84 students transferred from BYU last year.

Cristina Bean, senior in music, is a transfer student who made the move to the U in Fall Semester 2004. Though she transferred after being accepted into the U's music program, she said she has reaped academic and social benefits as a result.

"Socially, everyone is more laid back; people here know how to be friends," Bean said. "There is not the dating and marriage pressure that there is at BYU."

Bean said there are no real academic differences between the two universities besides the absence of mandatory religion classes at the U.

"I like that there is an (LDS) Institute of Religion instead of religion classes that affect my GPA," she said.

Bean's perception of diversity at the U coincided with answers from the other BYU transfer students.

According to the OBIA, BYU transfers gave the U the highest rating of any transfer groups in past years, with 71 percent of them classifying the U as a "heterogeneous" campus.

Bean said she has no regrets about her decision to transfer.

"I definitely made the right decision," she said. "I came up for purely academic reasons, but the whole package turned out better."

Despite the fact that there are few BYU students who transfer to the U, many BYU students don't have qualms about the U.

"Personally, I think the U is a good school," said BYU student Jannifer Hemingway, senior in broadcast journalism. "I have many friends who go to school there," she said.

Lauren Anderson, junior in elementary education at the U, said "BYU is a little conservative for (her) tastes" and that she wouldn't want to attend the school.

"Both sides of my family would disown me if I went to BYU," she said.