Byu Admissions

[Daniel Peterson]

What benefits do Temple Presidents and Mission Presidents get? I feel like I am in the dark. Can someone please let me in on what is apparently common knowledge to everyone else here?

Whatever it is, it's not common knowledge to me.

Others more familar with BYU than I am will have to dish the horrifying dirt on this subject.

[The Nehor]

Well, this is a horrible place and a terrible school, and we're horribly corrupt.

So I hear about you on a regular basis you horrible, horrible man.

[kamenraider]

DCP (or anyone else here who works at or attends BYU), could you do us a favor and find out for sure if the rumors in this thread about BYU admissions are either true or false?

[Amulek]

Considering that the average age for members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy are 50 and 60, respectively, how many college age children could they possibly have in the first place? Even if it were true that their children received free tuition, itâ??s not like we would be putting the von Trapp family though the program nearly a hundred times over. It would be a couple of kids here and there â?? hardly scandalous.

[urroner]

Considering that the average age for members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy are 50 and 60, respectively, how many college age children could they possibly have in the first place? Even if it were true that their children received free tuition, itâ??s not like we would be putting the von Trapp family though the program nearly a hundred times over. It would be a couple of kids here and there â?? hardly scandalous.

I'm 54 and have five sons, ages 28, 24, 23, 12, and 10. Two of them could be in college now and the youngest two not too far in the future.

[Baurak Ale]

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[paulhadik]

my parents worked at bju (just one letter off, how different can we be?) many religious schools understand that faculty members of those schools, pastors of those denominations and missionaries etc, make both financial and social sacrifices to serve the Lord as they feel called. Often times while on the field, children's education suffers. Those parents can't afford to send their children anywhere else.

good schools sometimes bend over backwards a bit as a thank you to those who have put serving God above everything else.

I am not saying this is what BYU does as I don't know. I just think showing thanks is different than shady favoritism.

[Baurak Ale]

Edited

[USU78]

1. I have no problem at all if, as an incident of employment, BYU profs and administration (heck, even the maintenance folks) get a break on admission, tuition and fees for themselves and/or their dependants.]

2. I have no problem at all if, as an incident of service as a general authority (heck, even the administrative and maintenance folks who work for the Church full-time) get a break on admission, tuition and fees for themselves and/or their dependants.

My only gripe is that some might think that, as a result of hobnobbing with said dependants an attendee of BYU might come to think that somehow the Cosmos has so aligned itself that acceptance to BYU is the functional equivalent of a Second Annointing.

USU "Turned 'em down -- wasn't safe for me to attend -- for them or me" 78

[Daniel Peterson]

I believe Daniel Peterson is honest and is telling the truth in as much as he is unaware of this arrangement that exists between BYU and the General Authorities. I must admitt I am very surprised that someone of DCP's erudition and clout who has been a faculty member of BYU is not aware of this.

Have you ever considered the possibility that not every rumor is entirely true?

I have not ascertained if this policy extends to the extended families of general authorities as the Admissions Department of BYU has so far been unaviable for comment.

The university is in its Christmas/New Year break, and we're between terms.

[paulhadik]

Baurak

sorry that people feel that way; i wonder if they would be willing to give up 20 plus years of their lives to live far away serving the Lord at great sacrifice financially and to their family. If these GA kids could play football and get a scholarship that way would anyone complain then?

[urroner]

Paul I think you have a good point, however I would imagine many lds would argue it's simply, 'Dead Wrong!'.

And most Mormons I know would probably say "I really don't care. It's no big deal to me."

And shock of all shocks, this is one of the few times I agree with Paul. Well, on this and on the fact that he lives in Paradise.

[Baurak Ale]

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[urroner]

Paul live in the South Pacific. The only problem he has is deciding whiich pineapple tree to climb to pluck a ripe pineapple from.

[Baurak Ale]

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[mhalcrow]

Daniel Peterson wrote:

> Have you ever considered the possibility that not every rumor is

> entirely true?

That's not what *I've* heard...

[Anijen]

No.

I wouldn't be surprised (or bothered) if children of General Authorities who had been admitted to BYU received a tuition discount. After all, children of professors (and presumably of other employees) are given a 50% discount on tuition (if they're accepted), and faculty spouses can attend for free. General Authorities have been taken out of the normal job market by the University's sponsor and are often serving at considerable financial sacrifice, so I would be fine if one of the (really very limited) perks they received happened to be a discount for their children on tuition at BYU.

I would, however, be surprised if their children were guaranteed admission to BYU Provo no matter what their grades and test scores might be. For one thing (as Thomas Sowell has documented with regard to preferential admissions for ethnic minorities to elite schools), admitting underprepared or incapable students very frequently serves merely to set them up for failure, and does them no favor at all. No matter how admitted, a student who has once matriculated receives no preferential treatment as regards grading. A "D" student in high school will probably not survive undergraduate courses at any reasonably selective university or college.

If, on the other hand, the Church guaranteed that college-interested children of General Authorities could enroll at one of the Church schools -- including not merely BYU Provo, but also BYU Hawaii, BYU Idaho, and LDS Business College, that would be fine with me for the reasons mentioned above. (They tend to be much less selective than is the Provo campus.)

Exactly. My companion whose father was a mission president, while his father served in that calling he was tuition free at any of the church schools as long as he was qualified. I too do not find this at all wrong. We ask men and their wives to accept certain callings within the church and most have to quit their jobs up to three years or life (ie mission presidents). As a parent I want my my children to go on and receive a college education and we started saving for them a long time ago I would find it a relief if Pres Hinckley asked me to serve as a GA or MP (hey, it could happen, but probably not). that my children would have that opportunity.

I think perhaps Bishops and Stake Presidents should get a break too. I mean think about all the time they spend in their callings and they still have to keep a full time job.

Though BYU has a high academic standard to be admitted it is not as difficult with BYU Idaho, Hawaii, LDSBS. I would like to see BYU Jerusalem get reopened.

[Daniel Peterson]

I would like to see BYU Jerusalem get reopened.

Good news: The BYU Jerusalem Center has been re-opened, and has been operating at partial capacity for about a year. In fact -- I haven't been keeping close tabs -- it may now be up to full capacity.

[urroner]

BYU's Jerusalem Center: 'A mysterious place'

By Jessica Ravitz

The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 12/28/2007 08:22:18 PM MST

center

LDS Church's Jerusalem Center. (Mark A. Philbrick)

JERUSALEM - For many in Israel, the building and its inhabitants are shrouded in mystery. Some even call it "the secret place."

"What is it, these Mormons?" a man with a thick Hebrew accent asks. "Do you know what they believe?" asks a woman in a downtown restaurant. "Why are they here?" a Palestinian taxi driver wonders aloud.

Nestled atop Mount Scopus, with sweeping views of the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives and the Old City of Jerusalem, Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies sits on real estate that would make any Middle Eastern Donald Trump drool. Here, students who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend from two to four months immersed in study of the new and old, the ancient and the modern - whether that be the testaments of the Bible or near eastern history.

But what the students and couples doing volunteer service at the center don't do is talk about their faith with others. That's right: They are Latter-day Saints who keep their beliefs quiet and lips sealed.

[Anijen]

BYU's Jerusalem Center: 'A mysterious place'

DP I thought I heard that but wasn't sure... Urroner they cant express or proselytize LDS beliefs (they even sign a paper that they wont). I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to go there.

[juliann]

The lastest BYU Studies was an eye opener. I would be terrified to send my children to the universities in the contrast study. I am so glad BYU maintains a Mormon student body.

Volume 46, no. 3,

[Anijen]

I will pick up my son on the 5th and he will start on the 7th. So I will be down to Provo in a week. I cant wait to see the ol place again.

[Calm]

I like to think you are correct and my suspicion is you are, regarding the lack of response from the BYU Admissions Department.

No need to think that perhaps the good Doctor is uninformed or lying to you. Just check the calendar for yourself and you can see the school is closed for the week between Christmas and New Years: http://saas.byu.edu/calendar/

[juliann]

Paul I think you have a good point, however I would imagine many lds would argue it's simply, 'Dead Wrong!'.

Many LDS would imagine you are 'Dead Wrong!'

[Calm]

Many LDS would imagine you are 'Dead Wrong!'

Indeed. I can think of few LDS, understanding the sacrifices being made by the families, that would feel it was inappropriate for the children of GAs and others to be allowed free tuition.