Brigham Young University-Provo Top Questions

It is extremely competitive. It is nice because it pushes you to be a better person, but sometimes school work is very challenging.

The most frustrating thing is being a minority. BYU is in Provo, Utah and somtimes it can be difficult to be a minority. There are times when people are stuck on certain views with being LDS but there are the people who are more liberal (can still be a conservative liberal) and be more accepting of certain opinions.

Sometimes the feeling of jumping into a relationship is annoying. Most people here want to get married and it's common for people to assume you want a serious relationship with them if you act interested as a friend, which isn't true lots of the time.

How expensive on-campus housing and meal plans are.

Probably the most frustrating thing at my school is that, as a Male LDS member, we are expected to serve missions for our church at the age of 18 and those of us who haven't gone are somewhat ostracized. The constant question of when we're gonna go is always coming out of someone's lips when the answer to that question is always, I'm not going to go. There is too much of an expectation of the men having to serve a mission, when in reality it is not required.

Certain exams seem to reflect exam-taking skill more than knowledge adquired.

lack of diversity

The most frustrating thing about BYU is the incessant public display of affection. Especially during the springtime, everyone is romancing about all over campus. This is largely due to the “find your mate ASAP” attitude that prevails in the LDS culture.

The only thing that frustrated me with my school is in your first year you have to do this Freshman Mentoring program. I hated it because if forced you to take First-Year Writing and American Heritage your first year. I had already fulfilled the writing requirement with AP tests so I didn't have to take that class, but I had to take American Heritage. I absolutely HATED that class, so much so that my performance in it was horrible and now I have to retake it eventually. It's the worst class EVER.

The most frustrating thing to me was that your grade is very much based on your test scores. Classes have a lot of students in them and so the grade must be based on your test scores. I am not a very good test taker and so I consequently did not excell in my classes like I would have liked to. That was very difficult for me.

What was frustrating to me was how competative some of the students are. All they care about is getting a good grade for graduate and/or professional school. I wish they cared a little more about learning the subject. Their competative natures led them to complain about assignments and tests that the professors would give. The assignments and tests were meant to show how much we learned. The competative students wanted a good grade for the least amount of work possible.

BYU has strict policies, which are wonderful to keep standards high, but can sometimes be annoying.

Grading curves.

so many awesome opportunities you can't do them all

They take the best A students from all around, shove them in classes together, and then curve the grades giving grades A through E. So if you are not the best of the best (even though you are smart and hard-working) you only get average grades.

I would probably say the high academic stress that is present. The type of students that attend BYU are very dedicated to learning and doing their very best, so there is a lot of pressure to do extremely well academically. This is a good thing, but it can be frustrating when you feel like all you do is study and have little time to have a social life. This school is definitely a social bouncing place, however, the pressure to excell is always there.

Science tests can be intense an often last over 3 hours.

The politics of the school. The heirarchy of the school makes it so hard to get anywhere. I feel lost most of the time but I don't know where to ask for help.

The most frustrating thing at BYU is the lack of diversity. I feel that a lot of the people here are exactly the same, and it's hard to make friends sometimes or meet people who are different. A lot of the people here feel like clones of each other, all coming from sheltered Mormon homes. I myself am Mormon, but I feel the people here take our religion to an extreme level, one that even I'm not comfortable with.

The financial aid department is very unorganized. They require you apply for their financial aid, drag you out, and then after a couple of months, you ask them and they say there is no financial aid available. It's been extremely discouraging.

The religious emphasis. Religion is a huge part at this university. Mormon specific. Prayers are said at the beginning of class and religious leaders from the mormon faith present lectures constantly.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that they don't allow beards. If you aren't clean shaven, they won't let you into the testing center to take a test, which can be a little frustrating if you forget to shave that morning.

I really do love BYU, but the most frustrating thing would probally have to be the section of the Honor Code dealing with curfew and where and where not guys can go in our dorms. I understand where the Honor Code comes from and it's purpose and fully agree with it, but when it comes to studying with guys and the easiest place to do that is the desk in my room then I wish guys could go in the room to sit at the desk. Also it's an internet access issue.

The work loads come in waves. Either you have heavy assignments and tests from all of you teachers at once, or you don't have anything. A balance would be nice, though I realize, not entirely practical.

Probbl the moat frustating thing is the enormous size of the general classes- for me it is difficult to learn in tht type of environment. But nce you get to upper level classs, there is a good amount of people and great classes.

Sometimes I feel like there isn't enough diversity in race, political views, or even just opinions among the students here.

There is an intense academic competition among the students. Most feel the need to do extremely well and it causes increased anxiety in the classroom. It can prevent the enjoyment of learning.

The only thing that really frustrates me about BYU is that some of the GEs have huge classes. This makes it hard to have a one-on-one relationship with the professors and to have more in-class discussions, expanding on the topics. However, BYU does have an Honors program that has smaller GE classes for its members. Although these classes are still a little larger than one would like.

Most people want the most "bang for their buck." They want the best and most they can obtain for the least money. I have experienced quite the opposite in college. Many are content to not obtain as much knowledge as they can for the money being spent to put them through school. Some argue that they are paying because their scholarhips or parents are paying. My response is this: if somebody were to offer to buy you any new car would you not want the best car you could get? Put in the effort. Get the most out of college.

The most frustrating thing about my school is the size. I wish it could be bigger.

How confusing the web site is. It crashes, freezes, and leads frustrated students through unnecessary websites before arriving at its destination. However, the website is an accurate reflection of how confusing the entire Brigham Young University system is. Getting information is tedious and time consuming as students call and set up appointments to find that they are talking to the wrong person. For example, one of my roommates transferred schools and is afraid that her private scholarship money is lost forever BYU's vaults. I might see her soon when she comes down from Idaho to sort out the mess.

Finding a parking spot during busy class schedule hours is difficult. The campus is big enough that walking my not really be a good alternative, so you are almost forced into public transportation.

The most frustrating thing is that the school tends to attract the kinds of students who are not very open minded in their worldview and in their aproach fo other cultures, politics, and religions.

Probably the most frustrating thing about BYU is that you feel your best is not good enough. If you excelled enough in high school to get into BYU, then you were probably sitting pretty at the top of your class. You get to BYU, and so was everyone else. It is a real challenge to be able to truly find yourself and your real talents and how you can contribute to the society here. I promise you can, if you just look outside of yourself for a minute and look for what is needed.

When students come to Brigham Young University they sign that they are willing to live by the standards and honor code set before them. Unfortunately, many students do not follow the honor code how they should be. I feel it very frustrating that there are people here that are not following the rules the way they should be and thus destroying their integrity. If one does not like the honor code or standards they are supposed to live then they should attend another university where there are less restrictions for them.

There is not enough parking for students. If you're running late to a class, it's unwise to drive up to campus since parking spaces are scarce; it's better to just walk or take the bus. Also, it is very competitive here; it seems no matter how hard you work you're not achieving quite what you would like to.

I honestly can't think of anything frustrating about my school, but I think the most frustrating thing about school in general is learning how to balance pleasure and academics. Sometimes pleasure will take over and your academics will suffer, but if you learn how to bounce back and discipline yourself to study hard and enjoy college life, then life in general will be so much better for you.

The most frustrating thing is the lack of time. There is a lot expected of you in each class and it makes it hard to fit everything in especially if you have to work as well. There is also a lot of emphasis on dating so it can be frustrating when you don't have much time to spare for that.

I just get frustrated with how hard the classes are sometimes. Coming into college, I had a really good GPA because I worked really hard in high school. Something I had to realize was that just because you work really hard in college doesn't mean your grades will perfectly reflect that. I had to work ten times harder, going in to get help from TA's and studying way more, and my grades improved, but that doesn't mean I have straight A's. I had to learn is just to work your hardest and be content with that.

The locals (people from Utah) are really cold and judgemental sometimes and I feel like I don't measure up a lot of times because there are certain expectations and so much competition.

The lack of ethnic diversity and the pressure for everybody to get married

The focus on learning means that you actually have to do it. This means that sometimes you have tons of work to do all at once but you are learning all along the way.

You're no longer the smartest kid- everybody there is a genius.

The professors have teaching assistants who do a lot of the grading and some even make the tests. This is pretty ridiculous because you can become a TA as long as you've taken the class before. This means I could determine the grade of students in a class that I don't know much about. You can TA for any class, even if it has nothing to do with your major.

The ocassional crappy professor.

The most frustrating thing about BYU is the transportation situation. Parking is free, which sounds great, but undergraduate parking lots are far from classes. The ones that don't require a 10 minute walk just to get to the main part of campus fill up by 8 in the morning. Bus passes with the local transportation department (UTA) are available... if you want to cough out $120 a year. Since the campus is located mostly on a hill, riding bikes is not the funnest option either. Walking only workso well if you live just south of campus.

I get really cold in the winter.

I think the most frustrating thing about BYU is trying to stay optimistic. There is always someone who gets better grades than you, looks better than you, plays better than you. You may have felt pretty confident in your abilities before coming here, but that feeling quickly subsides. Competition is tough and you have to be 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} on your game, 24/7. It gets exhausting, but in the end it's worth it.

There is a lot of competition academically. Because it's a private university they can be more picky about who comes here so you have to be on top of everything. Not really frustrating, but something you should know.

The people who are accepted to come here, but who are not willing to take their schooling seriously or live/verbally honor the standards they agreed to in order to attend. There are so many who do not get accepted, and it is disappointing to have people with these attitudes come and take a place away from someone else. There aren't a whole lot with this attitude, but if you're not willing to be serious or live the standards, this school is not for you; please leave the space for someone else who would appreciate it better. Thanks. :-)