Brigham Young University - Idaho

As a stay-at-home mom, it was so wonderful to be able to attend school and take care of my kids. It wasn't easy, but I was so glad to have the opportunity. I had varied experiences across my courses. Some teachers got to know the students, gave feedback, and actually taught lectures. Others were barely there. So, if you go the online route, be prepared to have no idea what to expect from class to class. That being said, I never felt like there was a class that expected so much that I couldn't fulfill... Read More the requirements.

A lot of the tests were open book, which helped me with my test-taking anxiety. We still had to do group projects for some courses, which really stunk since we were all living in various places. Additionally, BYU-I has their young students do a semester of online courses every year (or something like that), so I had a mix of late teens/early twenties and other older folks. The young kids were far less dedicated, so it stunk to be grouped with them.

Overall, I feel like I got a really good education and I feel like I accomplished something HUGE. I am grateful for an online option that allowed me to get my degree and be home full-time with my kids at the same time.

Do not participate in the Pathways program online which awards you a degree through BYU Idaho. If you take this program you will here from counselors that the system is "broken" and they know it. If you call BYU Idaho for help, they can not help you and admit that Pathways is a mess. I have finished all my class work over 3 months ago and they still can't figure out how to award my degree! The mentors, counselors, phone support and grievance center are all "nice" but know one can tell you the appropriate... Read More classes or help you get a degree. There is so much incompetence in the system they all call "broken". I just got my third certificate finally last month and it says I am competent in using social media to market and I never took a class in that area. My degree year did not require that class, but they can't even figure out what classes you took for your certificate for your program year. They are making so many changes and have so many software issues that the classes, certificates, etc. are not really valid. I feel duped taking this program. I relied on the churches name and the universities name to trust. I have a 4.0 gpa and I would say the classes levels are high school level. Just trying to warn others so they are not duped like myself!!

First off, Pathway was a waste of a year of schooling and the credits from it are useless anywhere but BYUI. BYUI online was a disappointment. While the instructors are generally good, support for online students is non-existant - you're on your own. It's nearly impossible to talk to a human and when you do, it's some fresh faced, clueless kid who is neither trained nor compensated but has been duped into volunteering. They lack real world experience and knowledge adequate to answer the most basic... Read More questions or help students make informed choices about course planning. What they will do is defer to automated software, it was grad planner when I was attending, which is difficult to understand and interface with. I quickly grew weary of the requisite "group work" every course I took assigned. No one took those busy work assignments seriously, I saw this both as a student and a TA. As a 40 year old who has been working in a career for over 20 years, I don't need practice learning to collaborate with others on projects just so BYUI advertising can perpetuate the propagandist lie that "just because its online, you're not alone." I'm LDS, grew up LDS, went to LDS seminary in high school, and served a two year mission, was married in the temple and have 5 kids so I could do without the requirement to take religion courses that teach primary school level doctrine. I neither need nor wish to be proslitized at school, I want a degree as quickly as I can get it while working full time. Being forced to take courses about the restoration, the family or whatever does little more than make a long process longer and cost more money. If I could do it over again...I wouldn't. I earned a certificate and couldn't bring myself to go any further as it was using up every minute of time outside work I had to spare while only getting 3 credits/semester.

The campus is very pretty. The professors are excellent and helpful, and I don't have a problem with the rules or honor code. That being said their lack of communication with students is appalling. They spam their student's emails with daily announcements. Some of the information is important, but most are things like dances, spiritual thoughts, and events on campus. Glitches and technical issues are RAMPANT. Situation 1: Recently, I had to drop a second block class. While I was trying to drop the... Read More course, a message kept popping up saying that I was going to drop all my courses. I thought something was wrong. Because of the yearly required training at my office, I've been going to work early. BYUI opens after I leave and closes before I get off, so I couldn't call them to get help. On top of this, I didn't know when the drop deadline was because my "important dates" calendar has been down for the past two semesters, but it was early so I assumed I was safe. Well, I finally had time to call them before work. Not only did I find out that the "drop all courses" message was normal, but they have two deadlines, and I missed the first one. Mind you, I tried to drop the class before the deadline. I just didn't want to lose all of my classes. The first deadline was to get a tuition refund so I asked if I could file a petition to get my tuition back because of tight finances and technical issues with my calendar. I was told that my circumstances don't qualify for a petition. Situation 2: I don't qualify to live in student-approved housing because of my marital status. I go to school alone. My partner doesn't live with me at school because they have a job in our hometown, but I still can't live on campus in "single student" housing. We cannot afford to have two apartments on one income. When I go to Rexburg I cannot find an affordable place to live. To this school and the people that run it, a rule is a rule. They will not make exceptions, revisions, or compromises. They don't care about your circumstances, no matter what.

I am a online student that studies that has taken the pathways program. The cost per credit is cheap(Under $100 per credit) that I do not need financial aid. The online courses are must easier than my high school class(1991 grad). Now hearing this, this college is for students who know what they want and are willing to work with the advisors. The students must plan for their classes themselves and are responsible for their work. If you can not plan and do the work then do not apply. The tech classes... Read More online are very easy since most of them are computer based training videos and online questions. Several of the classes I completed after a few weeks so I can focus on other classes. The only issue I have is working fellow students who ignore their team work or does not speaking English enough to understand the classes. The online professors are expecting you ask for their help if needed. Do not assume the professor to give you all the answers. Otherwise than that, I am overall happy with the classes.

If you want a good bang for your buck, then this is the university to go to. If you look at it, you get the best ROI (Return on Investment) from this school as compared to others on this list. I personally studied CM with a minor in Business Management and got the same job out of school as other graduates from universities on this list. I felt that my program prepped me for the industry enough to give me a good foundation to build on. If you can deal with the religious requirements of the university,... Read More it could serve you well to probably graduate debt free and be making $70k a year out of school. Piece of advice? Building your professional network, doing internships and competing in construction competitions are more important than GPA. GPA is important, don't get me wrong, but nowhere near as important as strategic relationships, hard skills and experience.

BYU-Idaho has a fair social scene and instructors, but they have a horrific counseling center and graduation advisors. Working with the BYU-Idaho counseling department, especially for online students is the bane of my existence. BYU-Idaho is good preparation for some things, but please do your research. Making simple adjustments and correcting I-Plan errors (which happen frequently) is worse than pulling teeth. DO NOT come to school here or at least DO NOT rely on I-Plan to fulfill your requirements.... Read More It is an unreliable system. It takes about a week to get a response (phone call) from a student staff member and then another week to get an email response from an actual advisor. If you are on campus it is a bit easier but not by much. CES schools are not as compatible as they claim to be. If you ever decided you'd like to transfer from here to BYU Hawaii or BYU Provo you are looking at at LEAST a full semester of unaccepted credits if not more. This is because states have different educational requirements. If you choose a non-CES school, all of the religion credits you taken often count for nothing- or if you're lucky and your major has electives then maybe; maybe, your school will accept them there. Even with a completed Associate's this remains true. I am living in Provo now and see this time and time again. You will be lucky if you have an entire semester of retake classes. If you are truly planning to live in Idaho for 5 years (yes, being a full-time student you will actually graduate in 5, not 4 years) and you will 100% NEVER transfer to another major or university then go for it. Study at BYU-Idaho. Otherwise- Do your research! DO NOT study here. I have spent hours, days, weeks, months, and years working with unhelpful academic advisors that are primarily made up of underpaid students. Student counsellors are happy to pick up the phone, but do not know much about anything at all. It is a huge headache to work with this school, if you want to have a spiritual experience go to EFY and then go to school somewhere else.

The elementary education program at BYU-I is one that is continually learning and growing itself. I had some really great professors. I also had some not so great ones. I loved how a majority of the professors really did care about the things they were teaching about and wanted their students to succeed. They had a strong content knowledge and I felt that they were qualified. There were- however- several instructors who I felt were not qualified to teach the classes they were teaching. Some had just... Read More been placed randomly, without any former experience in their content areas. The program administrators were overall helpful. It was difficult at times to find answers to questions and multiple times there was many errors when technology came into place (signing up for classes or student teaching for example). My student teaching experience was not the best. I did not have much support and I felt that none of the work I did for the collegiate course was ever reviewed. However, I did learn how to become a very self-sufficient teacher. I know since I have graduated there have been a great deal of changes so I know that the program is continuing to better itself. Overall, I was satisfied with my time in the elementary education program at BYU-I

My first semester at BYUI was the best semester of school ever but then after that everything collapsed. Very unwelcoming environment. Teachers and staff only care about money and being right. I was given an F when I had a B+ on Canvas. I did everything I could to get it fixed and absolutely nobody helped me. I filed a grievance and the staff didnt care that Canvas was wrong the entire semester and saw it as okay to be wrong. About half my class had the same problem and they still didnt care. The... Read More school says they love to help their students and makes it seem like the students are most important as their top priority but that has been proven to be an absolute lie. Its disgusting how little help is given and how uncaring the people are. Education should be fair and at this school it wont be. Ive talked to my other friends about their views of the school, too. One says they care too much about the rules and make them more strict than our Church commandments actually are. She also had some issues she was also trying to resolve with the school too and nobody helped her either. My other friend said that the on campus apartments are charging her to cancel her contract even though she dropped out of the school and wont be allowed to live there anyways since she wont be a student. This same friend also had to withdrawal from all of her classes one week before finals because she was in the hospital and had to go home early because of a mistake that the health center made. Ive seen too many terrible things happening at BYUI. I dont recommend going here.