Interesting tidbits:

54.1% of (U of U) students were raised to be members of the church. Now, only 61.48% of those students have remained in the religion, while the majority of those who left the church identify as agnostic, atheist, spiritual but not religious or nothing in particular.

Worldwide retention rate in the church is 64% (with BYU graduates and returned missionaries being much higher than that number)

"17.07% of students said that they didn’t feel welcome on campus because of their religious identity. The largest proportion of students who responded that they did not feel welcome on campus were Latter-day Saints, with 29.01% signifying that viewpoint." [sure sounds like the BYU experience to me, right Scratch?].

Yes, I think I do know the meaning of the word "proved". My claim was that "you're MUCH more likely to go on a mission and/or remain active in the church if you go to BYU. Way way way more likely to become ex/anti if you to to Utah." Based on the study/numbers, I am correct. I don't know how you even could dispute it. My claim had nothing to do with the kind of kids/backgrounds, etc. that choose BYU or Utah, only that if you go to BYU, you're more likely to go on a mission and stay active in the church. And the poll numbers from your very own Daily Chronicle showing that many of the U of U students who belong to the church do not feel welcome on campus shows that BYU and Utah do indeed have very different atmospheres.

Not trying to say that the U is bad or that kids who leave the church are bad-I'm only responding to the claims by Utes in this thread that "Utah provides the best of both worlds" and that Utah is "by far the best destination for elite LDS athletes". I strongly disagree with both of those claims. BYU is a better education, and a much better atmosphere for kids who love the gospel of Jesus Christ.