Whenever I meet new people and they ask where I went to school I am always embarrassed and super annoyed that I have to say BYU. I don't like them thinking that I am a mormon when I am not and I don't like having to bring up a past that I am trying to leave behind.

I hear ya bella, and I don’t have a great answer for you. I can just commiserate that it happens to me too sometimes, and it’s awkward when you’ve had a colorful life.

“Tell me again why you don’t contact your family anymore?” … … um …
“Why is it again you stopped playing music for a living?” … … um …
“If you have a degree, why aren’t you working at some fancy job?” … … um …
“Do I seem like a real nosey, judgmental person to you?” … … um …

I hear ya bella, it gets redundant. I just sometimes say I don’t like to discuss it. But you still feel awkward after. You just have to accept and be OK with who you are. Shame is a bad thing for your head, just hold your head up high and try not to be ashamed of yourself. Life … it is what it is. Forgive yourself for your past. It was just something that happened is all, don’t carry around shame, it’s nasty stuff.

And remember; your bella, you have Edward, you’re a vampire. You’re very cool.

in the UK, someone asking where you went to school is really asking what social class you were raised in, ie state school or a fee paying one, an ordinary university for your degree or an exclusive university with higher entrance requirements and higher fees.

It happens the world over - people judge you according to the education establishment you attended. And as tortured nevermo implies, feeling the way you do just means you have had a 'more colourful life' than perhaps the person asking you the question.

You could add to your answer "only thing wrong with mormon university is, there are too many mormons". It makes light of a potentially awkward question and breaks the ice a bit better, I have found in other situations.

Better to have an embarrassing past, than an embarrassing future.

pettigrew Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Better to have an embarrassing past, than an
> embarrassing future.


Right on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you haven't got an embarrassing past you simply weren't trying hard enough.

Make up a University; like Breedum does.

For example:

Just the other day, I told a group at the Tavern that Breedum went to TIT~ Tijuana Institute of Technology

I have a Phd~ Piled High and Deep


For you:

"I went to a University in Northern Utah" or some such thingy.

Good luck w/ your past.

I think don't most non Mormons make much of you having gone to BYU. Many nevermos don't even know that it is a Mormon school. Other nevermos who know it is a Mormon school don't think much of it either way because contrary to what the cult has told you, most nevermos don't even have Mormonism on their radar. They would probably say it is a small, fairly strict religious denomination but don't see that as being either good or bad. It would be like saying you were Mennonite. Mormons are told that the rest of the world looks up to them and admires them but that is just wishful thinking. The rest of the world doesn't think much at all about mormons.

So don't worry about saying you went to BYU. It's like saying you went to Notre Dame, maybe catholic and good football teams.

You can qualify your response if you wish, i.e., "I went to BYU because it was the only school my parents would pay for," or, "BYU. I was raised Mormon but no longer practice." I think that many nevermos could relate to either statement.

I tell them my B.A. was a Bachelor of Alcoholism. Does it matter where? I was the campus drunk.

I went across the country to go to BYU. When I have to tell people in the Bible Belt that I went to Utah for school, I get to laugh at my life choices. I followed a boy out there. He dumped me. I decided to stay and make the best of it. I was in my early 20s. If that's the worst decision I made at that age, I can handle that. It also gives me a chance to say that I am not LDS anymore. I'm a lot more willing to talk to people about the church now that I'm not defending it. Lol

I had non-LDS friends at BYU. So although people may assume BYU = Mormon, it doesn't always. You just have to make it one sentence..."I graduated from BYU but I'm not a Mormon anymore. I did my graduate work at ..." That sort of thing. Fortunately, the older you get and the more work history you have to discuss, the less people care where you went to college. And you can always go back and get a MA or second BA at a college you can brag about, if that is helpful to your career.

At the very least, you may have a chance to follow up on why you aren't Mormon anymore and that will help protect whoever is asking the question from Mormon missionaries.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2015 12:28PM by CA girl.

Just say you went to BUY - Brigham's Undertruthed Yokels at BYU - BUNCHA YOUTH in UNDERWERWHERE, so YBU - YOUNIVERSITY BY UNDERSERVED

Roll your eyes as you say, "I went to BYU, back when I was young, stupid and Mormon. What embarrassing thing did YOU do?"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2015 02:05PM by wanderingbutnotlost.

It's a lot better then having to tell someone you worked at KMart during the college years.

One of the reasons resigning is a positive act is being able to demonstrate through actions you reject Mormonism.

BYU? Are you Mormon?

No! I resigned.