Possibly moving to Orem for college but I'm not Mormon. Will I have any problems? (Provo: apartments, student loans)

[Hbrichman]

I'm considering transferring to Orem for college next year to attend Utah Valley University for aviation. I'm currently living in Southern California attending a 2yr college. UVU has some very good options for the major I have chosen and career I plan to pursue. I've been to Utah once before last year for about a week, and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing much more of it if I end up transferring.

Although I'm excited about this, I have some worries as well. The main one being that I'm not Mormon. I saw online that almost 90% of the population in Orem are LDS. I've also heard of some pretty bad stories of people who aren't Mormon being treated much differently.. I'm kind of torn and don't know what to do. I don't want this one thing to hold me back from attending but I am a little fearful of what the experience will be like. Also, I want to add that I have nothing against Mormons at all and I respect their beliefs. I just want to know if I'll be able to make a living there while I attend college or if it may be a better idea to to keep looking at colleges elsewhere.

Thanks in advance

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Hbrichman

I'm considering transferring to Orem for college next year to attend Utah Valley University for aviation. I'm currently living in Southern California attending a 2yr college. UVU has some very good options for the major I have chosen and career I plan to pursue. I've been to Utah once before last year for about a week, and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing much more of it if I end up transferring.

Although I'm excited about this, I have some worries as well. The main one being that I'm not Mormon. I saw online that almost 90% of the population in Orem are LDS. I've also heard of some pretty bad stories of people who aren't Mormon being treated much differently.. I'm kind of torn and don't know what to do. I don't want this one thing to hold me back from attending but I am a little fearful of what the experience will be like. Also, I want to add that I have nothing against Mormons at all and I respect their beliefs. I just want to know if I'll be able to make a living there while I attend college or if it may be a better idea to to keep looking at colleges elsewhere.

Thanks in advance

There have been many, many threads on City-Data on this subject. In general, most of us (Mormon and non-Mormon alike) agree that anywhere in Utah County is not the best place for a single, non-LDS man to live. Salt Lake County is an entirely different matter. It's much more diverse, and there would be more opportunities for you to get to know people whose company you'd enjoy. Any possibility of living in Salt Lake County and commuting?

[Hbrichman]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

There have been many, many threads on City-Data on this subject. In general, most of us (Mormon and non-Mormon alike) agree that anywhere in Utah County is not the best place for a single, non-LDS man to live. Salt Lake County is an entirely different matter. It's much more diverse, and there would be more opportunities for you to get to know people whose company you'd enjoy. Any possibility of living in Salt Lake County and commuting?

Hi Katzpur, thanks for your reply. I have looked into movintg to SLC instead, but the daily commute wouldn't work well for me. While studying aviation at UVU, I would be attending their flight school at the airport in Provo probably daily. Which says it's a 45min drive.. Looks like I will have to seriously give this some more thought before taking the plunge. Thanks again for your reply.

[Geo-Aggie]

I'm going to give you unrequested advice, feel welcome to completely ignore me as I don't know your situation and I don't know who you are but...

Utah State University, in Logan, also has an aviation program. I can promise you that you'll have a better college experience there.

Aviation Technology - aviation.usu.edu

I don't mean to insult UVU as it is a good school in its own right, but think of Utah Valley as just that default "next step" that all the Mormon kids who couldn't get into BYU enroll in, because college is just "what you do after high school." Chances are most of your classmates will still live at home and the school has a 16% 6-year graduation rate.
Meanwhile at Utah State you have a lot of Salt Lake kids who wanted to "move away" for the traditional college experience, but don't really want to take out tons of student loans to afford school so they moved to Logan, which is only 100 miles away and still allows them in-state tuition. But USU is a also an established A&M university, so there are students from not only Utah, but everywhere. There is a lot of diversity.. eh.. when compared to the Utah Valley schools (in reality it's still not that diverse). Most of your classmates will live in dorms or apartments and the school has a 60% 6-year graduation rate. They accept 97% of applicants and a non-resident is only going to pay about 20% more in tuition to attend here.

Then you have the whole Orem vs. Logan thing.

Orem is a big huge suburban sprawl. It's nice, it's pretty and it's not a bad town, but I wouldn't want to live there as a college student. It's not the center of anything, it has proximity to Provo which does have a couple fun hang-outs and you can get to SLC easily (and SLC is a great city), but it's still just a big suburb built for families.
Logan is a quaint little college town with agricultural roots. It has overgrown its farmtown feel and has a nice downtown area that is basically geared 100% toward the college atmosphere. Put it this way, the population of Logan City decreases by about 20% during the summer, when the students leave. Logan is a college town. All the public transit is free.

If I had to compare the two to California equivalents I would say this:

Utah Valley is like Antelope Valley College in Lancaster. Orem is also a lot like Lancaster... but with like 1000x more Mormons.
Utah State is like UC-Davis and Logan is a lot like Davis, but colder.. and also more Mormons.

Again, ignore me, but if you want to move to Utah consider that before you make the decision to enroll at UVU. It's seriously only 20% more to get into USU and they also accept just about everyone.

[CCSLC]

Westminster College in SLC also has an aviation program.

[Coffeequeen]

Have you done due diligence on aviation courses? It kind of gives me the willies that these programs might not be value for money, run the ROIs and look up college confidential reviews and aviation forums for real recommendations before worrying about moving to somewhere as extreme as Utah country. I read that civil pilots get paid really badly, and that you can learn to fly in your off time and do a degree that gives you a real return on your $$. What does Utah especially offer avaitiers? Is the the mountains and the weather variations that creates a better technical environment?

[manyroads]

Originally Posted by Coffeequeen

Have you done due diligence on aviation courses? It kind of gives me the willies that these programs might not be value for money, run the ROIs and look up college confidential reviews and aviation forums for real recommendations before worrying about moving to somewhere as extreme as Utah country. I read that civil pilots get paid really badly, and that you can learn to fly in your off time and do a degree that gives you a real return on your $$. What does Utah especially offer avaitiers? Is the the mountains and the weather variations that creates a better technical environment?

I was once considering becoming a commercial airline pilot myself, and from my own research, they get paid very well, once they have achieved a certain amount of hours flying various types of equipment. Like most jobs, you don't just walk into a fantastic salary right away, and you'll have to pay your dues by working the less desirable schedules and doing short flights in smaller planes until you've gained experience, But this is definitely a career path where one can earn a solid six-figure income. If you want to discourage the OP from attending college in Orem because he isn't Mormon, I can understand that, but you shouldn't discourage him from pursuing a career as a pilot by telling him he's not going to get a good return on his investment in training for this field.

[Wata-Z]

UVU has many that come from all over for the aviation program...You don't want to go to another school in Utah for aviation, lol. My friend who got a 36 on the ACT and has many potential scholarships to other schools is planning on pursuing UVU's aviation program. They also are a rapidly growing school. I don't think you will have problems.

I have tons of non-LDS friends who are going to UVU and love it. I don't think it will be a problem for you. There is NO reason to commute huge distances rather than just living near or around campus.

[Coffeequeen]

I just read UVUs 4 yr grad rate is 5% for the field. Run the common data set if they even have one? grad time and rates are a bit of a thing in Utah though, but 5%? Utah Valley University | Utah Valley | Best College | US News

[irman]

Originally Posted by Coffeequeen

I just read UVUs 4 yr grad rate is 5% for the field. Utah Valley University | Utah Valley | Best College | US News

CoffeeQueen, where exactly is that number found ?
Can you take a screen shot so I can find it also ?
Thank you.