BYU - Things that "erk" me · 11/01/08 03:18 PM by Michael Caldwell
Ok, to preface this post, I do like BYU as a school, and as a clean campus and fun environment with nice people. I like the school, and I’ve liked most of my teachers, etc. That’s all fine and good. There are a couple of things that I view as problems with the “system” though. I just thought I would address these here for my own purposes of ranting, and also to see if anyone else agrees.
Transferring
BYU is NOT set up for accepting transferred students. They accept a lot of transferring students, such as myself and my wife, however there is no way for them to accommodate these students as far as majors are concerned. The problem is that all the majors are set up as four year structured programs for freshman which allows them to take their general education credits alongside their major classes at a controlled pace. This is great for the freshman (assuming they pick the major they want in their first semester) but it makes it difficult for us transferring students. In some cases depending on the rigidity of the major, we are left only being able to take 2 or 3 major classes and have to find something else to fill the rest of the time since we have no more general education credits to take to remain full-time students, and it may still take 4 years to graduate! This is one of the reasons I didn’t bother applying for Industrial Design; I don’t want to be stuck here for 4 years in addition to the 2 years I already spent on my associates, and 1 year I spent finding Mechanical Engineering wasn’t what I really wanted to major in…
Applying for a major
The other gripe I have here at the “Y” is the fact that one is required to apply to individual majors within the school after having been accepted into the University! This frustrates me, because some majors only accept people fall semester, and one can’t take ANY classes regarding said major until one is accepted, thus making a wasted semester or two. Aside from the potential lost time, I find it somewhat of a statement of their intentions as a school by doing it this way. Using myself as an example, I wanted to apply for the Graphic Design program. In order to apply, I had to submit a portfolio of work I had done. This was difficult since I had never taken any classes in the arts and did not know what exactly they were looking for. I even met with a teacher to discuss what I should put in this portfolio. After all that hassle I didn’t get in. So basically, they are only accepting people who are already proficient in that area of study, and turning those away who want to learn. I don’t think that is entirely fair.
Taking this a step further, some programs are even worse than that. Another reason I didn’t bother applying to the Industrial Design program is because you have to reapply after you first and second years there, which means that you could invest an entire year in the program after having been accepted, and then be cast out to find another major. This also does not seem fair. BYU Idaho handles things in a different way regarding this, and I think it makes a little more sense. BYU Idaho has an open enrollment policy where anyone can take the first year’s worth of classes without applying, and then there is a screening process to see who is doing well in the programs in order to continue to the rest of the program. I think this gives students better chance to see if they like the major and to get a feel for what it would be like to continue, and also see if they have potential in that field.
So, to recap: I do like being at BYU, I do like my teachers and the atmosphere here. I just wish that those in charge would consider making changes that could benefit us students who transfer here, or who don’t know exactly what it is that they want to do for the rest of their lives, who aren’t a particular child prodigy in any one subject.
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