Some time in the late winter or early spring of my senior year, I started to make college plans. Many of my friends were going through the lengthy decision and application process that comes with deciding on where to go to college. For me, it was pretty simple. It was always a fore gone conclusion that, if I went to college, I would go to BYU. That's what most LDS girls living away from "Zion" did. They went off to BYU, primarily to find a good Mormon boy to marry. Plus my sister, Linda, and brother, John, were already in Provo attending BYU.
Back then, the requirements to get into BYU were pretty easy. All you needed was to have at least a "C" average, take the ACT test, have an endorsement from your Bishop and you were accepted. There wasn't even an application deadline. I'm sure that with the competitive requirements that BYU has today, I would have never gotten in. I'm smart, but was a lazy student with just average grades. I hadn't really taken college prep classes in high school. My curriculum was more secretarial/business based. But I filled out the application, took the ACT and got my Bishop's endorsement. Not long after, I got notice that I was accepted. My friend, Norene, applied to BYU as well. We made plans to be roommates on campus.
So, in the fall of 1964, at the age of seventeen and a half, I would be living far away from home as a freshman at BYU. I had no idea what I would major in, but looked forward to the new experience.
Yes, it was assumed I would go to BYU, too. I had put in a housing application, since that was harder than getting into the school. But then I learned about the advertising design program at USU. Since Dad had gone there, he deemed it okay to change plans.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the other day about how cheap tuition was then—about $300/quarter. I could pay that and my share of rent by working part time. No massive student loan debt like today.
True, Alan. And when I applied, we didn't even need to take the ACT. Tests were given after we arrived at BYU. I worked 20 hrs. a week at a magnificent 65 cents/hr. the second half of my freshman year to have money for housing and fun; and continued to work the rest of my years at BYU. What a life!
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