r/byu • u/TerrenceS1 • 8d ago
Transferring from SLCC to BYU
Hey everyone!
I’m an international student currently attending a community college in California, but I’m planning to move to Utah and attend Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) in Spring 2027. I’m considering transferring to BYU either after my freshman or sophomore year.
I’m interested in CS, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Engineering. BYU seems like a great option because of its affordable tuition, but I’m also curious about how strong these programs are, especially when it comes to internships and job opportunities.
One thing I’m wondering is whether attending SLCC would actually make transferring to BYU easier compared to attending a community college in another state. For example, would getting the ecclesiastical endorsement be easier while living in Utah? And would SLCC courses transfer more smoothly to BYU, especially for math, physics, and CS?
I’m not LDS, but I respect the religious environment and I’m willing to follow the Honor Code.
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who transferred from SLCC to BYU, especially international or non-LDS students. Is moving to Utah actually worth it if BYU is my goal?
Thanks!
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u/varsderk 6d ago
BYU's CS program is the strongest in the state. The closest school for CS is probably the U—I'm there right now doing my PhD—and it's close: the U has more classes that it offers, but the courses I took at the Y were harder. (E.g. one lab you have to build a shell. At the Y we had to make it so that you could have an arbitrary number of pipes; at the U the class only required supporting one pipe.) EE and CE would probably be up there as well, but I don't have personal experience.
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u/SometimesIComplain Current Student 7d ago
I’m In the Information Systems program, but from what I know about CS, it’s a fairly strong program but isn’t being very proactive about adapting to the usage of AI
In other words, I’ve heard from one of my friends who’s fairly deep into the program that they’re still using zero AI in their classes, which is concerning to me in terms of being ready for the workforce. Obviously there is a ton of value in learning things with no AI and knowing how to code without it, and I’m not suggesting they stop coding themselves and have AI do it. But knowing how to utilize AI effectively—like, actually effectively—is an indisputably necessary skill in 2026 and I am moderately concerned that the CS faculty aren’t preparing the students well enough in that way
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u/varsderk 6d ago
isn’t being very proactive about adapting to the usage of AI
This is as it should be. AI is changing things—I used a lot of AI at my job over the summer—but it was my theoretical knowledge and ability to reason through problems that differentiated me from my peers.
But knowing how to utilize AI effectively—like, actually effectively—is an indisputably necessary skill in 2026 and I am moderately concerned that the CS faculty aren’t preparing the students well enough in that way.
Relax—there's not actually that much to learn. You'll pick it up in a week once you graduate. Source: this is what happened to me when I got a job this summer. These tools are not hard to use. To use them well, however, requires years of training on the basics—exactly the training you are getting right now.
So please, don't fret about "not having an AI-native curriculum" or whatever hogwash the giddy AI peddlers are insisting that you need. You'll be fine. Do you own work, get mentally strong, and you'll end up being ahead no matter where you go.
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u/lizbusby BYU-Faculty 5d ago
I am so glad to hear this. My husband is a programmer and a lot of recent hires know AI but have no idea how to diagnose their own code bugs. The underlying skills are what you go to college for. AI is not that difficult to pick up.
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u/SometimesIComplain Current Student 5d ago
I don’t view the Information Systems faculty as “giddy AI peddlers.” They are significantly more thoughtful than that.
I think you are right that I overstated the difficulty of using AI effectively.
But my worry is that the CS department is taking the approach of, “We’re going to keep operating the exact same way we did before AI” despite heavy drops in job placement rates for CS.
Granted, the IS program and the CS program have significant curriculum differences so it’s not a clean comparison between the two in terms of their approach to AI
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u/varsderk 5d ago
giddy AI peddlers
I was thinking about a particular strain of industry folks, not the IS program.
job placement
Yes, it is true that the industry is not soaking up as many jobs as it used to. Entry-level jobs will be hit the hardest. I still think that this means a stronger focus on CS fundamentals will ultimately be better for students.
I could see the case being that some upper level courses start having students lean on AI hard and the course itself focuses on larger software architecture. That could be cool.
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u/SometimesIComplain Current Student 5d ago
That’s fair. Btw how do you do quote blocks on Reddit these days? My old method of using > hasn’t worked
> Test
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u/varsderk 5d ago
In the preview I got for your message the
> Teston your bottom line rendered as\> Test. Are you using the rich text editor or the markdown editor for comments?>is working for me.Behold!
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u/SometimesIComplain Current Student 5d ago
Ah, I just looked into it and it seems they removed that functionality for the mobile app, which I'm on. So my assumption is you're on a browser and that's why it works. RIP
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u/KURPULIS 8d ago
That's how I did it.
Took a load of classes and Institute at SLCC (basically finished my Associates) and then transferred to BYU. You aren't really considered part of the 'Freshman' class and so I would assume it's a bit easier.