Tuesday, April 24, 2012

U is for University. Brigham Young University.

It looks cool until you try to hike it.
My parents attended BYU. My mom told stories of them finally allowing the women to wear pants. (I can imagine the letters to the editor from all the scandalized young men who now had positive proof that their female classmates had legs that went all the way up!)

My big sister Denise attended BYU. She fell victim to the RM's-and-freshmen-are-makin'-connections curse. (Ten points if you can name the artist and the song.) I was a year behind her, so by the time I started my own freshman year at BYU, I visited her in married student housing and she set me up with her husband's uncle (who was younger than he was, and a football player to boot). It didn't work out.

I was so sure I was going to BYU, I didn't even apply anywhere else. Back-up schools? I don't need no stinkin' back-up schools! My phenomenal ACT score (I got a 31. *breathes on fingernails* *polishes fingernails*) earned me an invite to Y-Weekend, where they recruit phenomenal high school students. Yeah, they could have saved their money and I still would have attended.

I started out thinking I would do psychology, but my Psych 111 class was deadly dull (though my roommate, Susan Kennedy [Jensen] was in that class with me... along with her future husband, so at least some good came out of it). I ended up declaring a Theatre Arts major because I needed a major... and then didn't ever find a decent reason to change it. Theatre Arts is fun, yo?

Theatre Arts majors hang out in the Harris Fine Arts Center (known as the H-Fack), which is the coolest building on campus.

Oh, the Theatre Slab. How I miss thee.
Not only did we have a big hung of rock to sit on / leave notes on / congregate on / etc... in the nice, echoey lobby, but we had three floors above ground and two below ground to get lost play in. There was a huge concert hall, a decent-sized theater, a theater-in-the-round, and an "experimental" theater just for us students to afflict our fledgling directing efforts on our classmates in.

So. Much. Fun. And, I now know several famous actors, including Erin Chambers. You're jealous, right?

Of course, after having that much fun in my undergrad, it was time to buckle down and do something serious for my post-grad. Again, I only applied to BYU's law school. Why waste the money to apply somewhere else? My oldest son was a week old when I went to the BYU-Law recruitment lunch. Hey, it was free food! A few months later, I started and, again, had a blast. It was a more studious, less gleeful kind of fun, but fun nonetheless.

Fortunately my law school took about half as long as my undergrad, and I topped out my higher education exactly a decade after my high school education. (I took an 18-month break in the middle, too.)

All in all, BYU rocks. I have so many fond memories of the campus, the classes, the teachers, and my classmates. I worked early morning custodial until I got pregnant and I speed-walked daily through the amazing, art-filled campus. I can't imagine attending anywhere else.

So where did you go to college?

17 comments:

  1. Funny how that Psych prof killed both of our interests in Psychology! I was going to major in it too, but I settled on English instead (which was a much better choice, BTW). The thing I still remember about that class, though, is the childless prof teaching us how to be good parents using all the knowledge she'd gleaned from mothering her cats. LOL

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  2. I went to Cleveland State University for my bachelors in Computer Science because my dad was a Chemistry Professor their (I even saw that someone write a disparaging comment about him on the bathroom wall once). For Graduate school I applied to several places and choose BYU over Michigan State because it would give me a chance to interact and become friends with cousins and family that I used to only see once a year at most. It also turned out that BYU’s Computer Science department was exactly the right place for me to go for my professional career. But I still rank getting to know some of my cousins better as the most important thing about going to BYU.

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    1. Proximity to family is an excellent reason to choose a school. :)

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  3. Funny that a visiting professor, in a class on international politics, made me change my major, too. It was in poli sci. I was going to be a lawyer! lol

    My first year at the Y we met for church in the HFC. One of our branch members (they were called branches back then) was studying organ and got permission to play that awesome pipe organ in there.

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    1. I never got to have church in a fun building. *pouts*

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  4. LOVE the Y! I went to Ricks and LDS Business College, but never made it as far south as the Y. If I could go back in time I would have applied there. I've already told my kids that is where they will be going, so get studying.

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    1. It's harder to get in now than when I went there. Not sure I'd be accepted now. It's totally worth it, though.

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  5. I went to BYU (English/editing), and my TA for Psych 111 was out to get me. Though the class was interesting. ;)

    I also had a traumatic experience with the law school. Walking in there with an "I'm with Stupid" shirt was not the best decision I ever made in my life. ;)

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    1. Some lawyers really have no sense of humor. Sorry they were so dumb. I promise, we're not all like that.

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  6. I have a ton of family who went to BYU. I loved their musical theater program. My cousin just graduated from their law program. Did you practice?


    Laura Barnes @laurabwriter.blogspot.com

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    1. LOL. Guess you missed my post on April 4th. :)

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  7. I met this awesome director named Robin there :) I have many fond memories of my time spent there. I told myself I would never go to BYU and I had to eat those words but it was so delicious I wouldn't trade it for the world.

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    1. Yay, DIALOGUES OF IL AND ELLE! You were the best Elle ever. And I'm not just saying that because you were probably the only Elle ever. ;) So glad you saw the light.

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  8. Oh and I forgot to guess your song!!! Wilkenson Center by John Bytheway. I've been singing it ever since I read it earlier

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  9. I graduated from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. It was and is a beautiful campus . . . the best time I could've ever had really:) I had a different college experience than most since I got married at 18 and had my first kid at 20, but I was never the one for partying anyways. Hubby and I were very involved in XA, a campus ministry, so all our activities were kid friendly, thank God:) My bff's are still the girls I connected with through XA and among 5 of us we have our Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, sending a journal around the snail mail & a necklace (since we won't magically all fit into the same pair of pants--though we tried in faith, lol) & meet once a year for a total girls weekend even though we're all spread out now:):) Great post, Robin!

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