Utah Colleges and Universities

I know this is a long shot, but anyone go to college in Utah? If so, which one and what did you think about it? Right now I'm really looking at Utah State University and Southern Utah University, so anyone from either of those schools, your comments are extra appreciated!
Wow, interesting response from ev1go, but no, I am not in any way shape or form racist. Actually, racism or just prejudice in general is my all time biggest pet peeve. I'm not gay or anything, but I'm all for gay rights and I think everyone is equal no matter the color of their skin or where they came from. Though I had to admitt it, I have to agree that Utah can be quite racist, due to some racist doctrine ("white and delightsome") inside the mormon church. I don't exactly want to go to college in utah, but seeing that I'm a state resident and unsure of what I will be majoring in, it seems the cheapest and best thing to do: stay in state for my ba then transfer out of state for graduate school.
oops, I meant "hate to admitt" not had to admitt, sorry!

My parents went to college in Utah both of them went to SUU, and I know people who go to Utah State. They all are good schools. Many people are worried about the Mormon influence, but it doesn't really have to affect you if you don't want it to, and they are good people so you don't have to worry about being around any weirdo's or anything.
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What are some good community and state colleges in Utah and what is it like living there? thanks!

It really just depends on what you are going into. Southern Utah University is top 10 in nation along side the University of Utah top 50. The University of Utah is known for its medical degrees. Utah Valley University (where I go because its the only program in the state that offers a paramedic BS degree) is known for the fire academy and business. Then there is Utah State University which is up in Logan, UT and there is NOTHING to do up there. So I don't have anything good to say about that school. BYU is an LDS private school that I hear is a pretty good school as well. Westminister is also a private school and is really expensive (about 15,000 a semester). As far as community colleges go salt lake community is about it. Its cheap... thats the only good thing I have to say about it.
I have lived in Utah my whole life and I love it here. Snowboarding is amazing here and there is lots of fun outdoor things you can do. But like others have said... we are conservative and there are alot of mormons. But if you can bypass that... its a great place to live.
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I'm looking to go to college in Utah, but I'm from the midwest and know nothing about colleges out there. Could you give me some good places to look at?
Here are some things I'm looking for in colleges:

- Bachelor degree Nursing
- Music program
- within an hour of Salt Lake City
- small to medium size
- scholarship opportunities
- private or public
- if private, financial aid opportunities!

Thanks!

Some smaller colleges to look at are:

Weber State University- public school in Ogden, Utah, about 1 hour north of salt lake. It's a smaller 4 year college.

Westminster college - a private 4 yr college in Salt Lake City. It's expensive but they have many scholarships

Salt Lake Community College - It's a junior college, but I've heard the classes are small and the price is very good.


These are just some ideas about the smaller colleges in the area. I hope this helps!

I'm thinking about applying to Weber or U of U and I wanted to get opinions on both of them.
(I live in Nevada right now)

Here are my questions:
Did you go to college in Utah?
Which one?
How is the social life?
Are people friendly, (easy to make friends)?
How is the education?
History Department?
Dorms?
What is there to do in Utah, besides all the outdoor stuff?

(I'm Mormon also so I do not really "party" but I do not want to be stuck in my dorm all the time)

Did you go to college in Utah? Yes.
Which one? BYU.
How is the social life? Cool. Lots of fun, and since you're Mormon, you'll very likely make lots of good friends that don't enjoy hanging out at bars and "partying".
Are people friendly, (easy to make friends)? I think so. I've lived in several parts of the country, and Provo was one of my favorite.
How is the education? Superb. Cougars and Utes aren't supposed to get along with each other, but I still respect the U as an institution of higher learning. :)
History Department? Well, I was more of a science buff--history isn't really my thing.
Dorms? Excellent.
What is there to do in Utah, besides all the outdoor stuff? Pretty much the same as anywhere else--malls, restaurants, movies, bowling, miniature golf, water parks, etc. In Salt Lake there's Temple Square, basketball, concerts, and plenty of other stuff. If you're into temples, there are lots you can visit within a few hours' drive.
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I need to find a college that offers journalism classes. I want to be a music journalist for a music magazine, and i need a college who can give me a degree for media journalism. I also need it to be in or near Ogden, Utah. Help?

You need to find something adult to study. You will not get a job as a "music journalist". The entire Journalism business is dying.
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I am planning to attend Dixie college (in Saint George, Utah) but I prefer to go to community college...but I couldn't find any community colleges nearby. I don't mind driving out of the state (only like an hour) but I have no idea where. Any suggestions?

Please give me the list of colleges, it'd be REALLY helpful!! Thank you.....
I prefer to go to community college first**

Dixie State, right there in St George, was a "community college" as recently as, I think, 2005. It only, I believe, started, in 2005 or 2006, offering a four-year degree or two. I'm guessing that it still doesn't offer all THAT many four-year degrees; and that it is still operating much like (and has the same general overall sensibilities of) a so-called "community college."

Another four-year college around 30 or so miles away is Southern Utah University in Cedar City.

There should be an official state "community college system" web site for your state, and for Nevada, and for Arizona (the two states nearest you). By consulting them, you can probably find out, quickly, if there are any "regionally" accredited community colleges in one or more of the cities/towns that I see, on the map, are within an hour's drive or so from you.

I can tell, by where you live, that you're used to driving long distances to get to things. I grew-up in the Chicago area where one would think that everything one needs would be nearby; but Chicagoans tend to drive great distances to get to things (something I learned once I got to California and started noticing everybody whining about having to drive a lousy ten miles to get to something). So I understand your willingness to drive an hour or so to get to school...

...but, trust me, it will get old after a while... especially if the drive is mountainous and curvy and requires your attention and concentration to keep from... you know... killing yourself and stuff. [grin] Such a drive will, trust me, wear you out after a while if you do it two or three times a week to go to school full-time (or even once or twice a week to go part-time).

I could not more strongly recommend, then, that you just stick with Dixie, for now. Knock-out an associates degree, maybe while you work; then, after that, think about moving to a much larger city/town and transfer your associates into a four-year bachelors program (entering same as a junior), and then just complete the junior and senior years, and then be done with it! Just a suggestion.

There's also distance learning. Don't forget that. Distance (usually "online") college/university has a bad name because "online" is the only way that degree mills can operate. It's easier, after all, to build an impressive-looking web site to fool people than it is to build an impressive-looking physical college campus... hence the reason that all diploma/degree mills operate "online". But just because all degree/diploma mills operate online does not mean that all online schools are degree/diploma mills. It's a classic logical fallacy of the type about which you'd learn in a college philosophy/logic course.

Even Harvard and Yale now offer entirely distance learning (primarily online) degree programs. As long as the school offering the distance learning degree is accredited by an agency approved by the US Department of Education (USDE), and/or the USDE-sanctioned Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), then it cannot possibly be a degree/diploma mill. Before signing-up for any online degree program, simply verify that the school's accredited by looking it up in either (preferably both) of the following onlilne databases:

USDE DATABASE - http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation
CHEA DATABASE - http://www.chea.org/search

As long as the school in question is listed in either or both of those databases, then it is, at least, accredited; and so could not possibly be a "degree mill" or "diploma mill." If you, further, make sure that whatever agency DOES accredit it is one of the six big "regional" accreditors...

http://chea.org/Directories/regional.asp

...then that's even better... best, in fact. One should always try to make sure that one's school is "regionally" (and not "nationally") accredited to ensure the best chance of the school's credits being transferable to other accredited schools; and also the school's being both accepted by most employers, as well as accepted as requisite for higher-level degrees at accredited schools.

People geo-located in places where their educational opportunities are limited should ALWAYS consider accredited (and that's the key word) distance learning. Yes, it's more lonely, and requires more self-discipline; but it's also the most convenient and, sometimes, least expensive. And as long as it's "regionally" accredited (and never trust the school's claim that it is; always look it up in the two databases linked-to above), it's just as credible and acceptable as any in-classroom degree.

Good luck!

Hope that helps.

As of right now I want to go for Criminal Justice. I LOVE to ski and I like Utah alot (though I've never been there, I have a friend there). But it doens't have to be in Utah. Thank you!

I would like to know that if there are International Exchanges to Asia...specifically in Japan.

Try these links:
http://www.sa.utah.edu/inter/sap/semyear/default.asp
http://www.cumulusassociation.org/index.php?option=com_members&task=view&memid=120&Itemid=93
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/iegps/scholarship-in-service.html

University of Utah, Salt Lake City-

Utah State University, Logan-

Dixie State College of Utah, St. George-

Southern Utah University, Cedar City
Utah Valley University, Orem
Weber State University, Ogden
USU-College of Eastern Utah, Price
Snow College, Ephraim
Salt Lake Community College, various locations in Salt Lake County and Tooele County
Regional Campuses of the Utah College of Applied Technology
Bridgerland Applied Technology College, Logan
Dixie Applied Technology College, St. George
Mountainland Applied Technology College, Orem
Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, Ogden
Tooele Applied Technology College, Salt Lake City
Southwest Applied Technology College, Cedar City
Uintah Basin Applied Technology College, Roosevelt
Davis Applied Technology College, Kaysville
Brigham Young University, Provo
George Wythe University, Cedar City
Western Governors University, Salt Lake City (online education)
Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City (liberal arts college)
Webster University Utah, Murray
LDS Business College, Salt Lake City
Eagle Gate College, Murray, Layton, Salt Lake City
Neumont University, South Jordan
Provo College, Provo
Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, Provo
Stevens-Henager College, Ogden
University of Phoenix, Salt Lake City
Broadview University, Layton, West Jordan, Orem, Salt Lake City
ITT Technical Institute, Murray


All the addresses for these...


The first one to have all the answers gets triple points!

You don't know how to use Google? Do you really think someone here is going to look up the addresses for all those places for you?
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Thank you so much, CoachT. I did like reading about their method of teaching but I just wanted to make sure it is as credible for employers as the brick and mortar schools. I appreciate your time and good information!

The model Western Governor's uses is the typical model used in the rest of the world. The US is one of the few places that you can fail an exam and still pass a class because you did enough "extra credit"; the WGU model simply demands that you pass the exam - nothing else matters so much.

There are a few other places in the US that use that model but it's not very popular here. The main reason is that most Americans can't move from our public school system and successfully complete a competency based model. We're accustomed to an assignment based, teacher directed model here.

People who like that learning method like it a lot. Folks that don't - hate it. There's not much middle ground there. The people who need constant direction and "hand-holding" through a degree program won't do well at the likes of WGU (or Excelsior College, which also uses an exam based model for many degrees).

Employers generally treat them just like every other private, non-profit, regionally accredited university. Some employers (school systems) are known to recruit from them heavily. For the most part they're in the group of "where? I better look that one up." in HR circles.

Some very well-placed corporations are on their donor list. Bill Gates is among them.

As online/distance programs go, they are very well respected and are a model many others attempt to follow. Applicants shouldn't be misled into thinking it's an "easy way" to a degree though. I've known people with bachelor's degrees from good schools to go into WGU's teacher prep program and not pass some of the material they should have learned (and thought they did) in their bachelor's degree. Those folks are serious about "competency." It's also not a good option for people who lack the ability to self-motivate (they have no deadlines, you test when you think you're ready) or people that don't test well.

If you're one of those people that "got an A on all of the tests but didn't do his homework so he failed..." - the competency based model is what you'd like.