will care about how hard BYU is to get into or its high academic standards. The school's values dont mesh with many of their philosophies.

Also i feel having a larger Alumni base creates more donors and love for the school down the road. We lose many instate families who would probably be BYU fans to other instate schools as their kids (who are usually achievers) are turned away.

I recently took my less active family from South Carolina on a tour of campus and my cousin fell in love with the school. She is super smart (high ACT and GPA) and will likely graduate high school with her associates. However when they met with the academic advisers they were informed that since she isnt a seminary graduate she will likely be denied admission as the school is full of academically excellent people and she is lacking on the "spiritual side". Suffice it to say she was crushed and i hope that she and her family doesn't come away resenting the university.

I know that her being on campus would be good for her both academically (she wants to study in a program BYU is well known for) and spiritually. If BYU admissions were like they were in the 80's or if they had a broader enrollment there is no doubt she would be in and would be all the better for it. I dont know how her story will play out, im sure she could complete seminary online if she chooses or do a semester or 2 at SC and then transfer but i feel she would be better off if BYU wasn't so bent on becoming like Stanford which given the nature of academia it will never be.

We need more BYU grads in the world not less.