You can absolutely be a strong stalwart member up at Utah. And you're not going to be persecuted for having the same beliefs as half the student body. But you're also not going to be immersed in the culture the same way.

You're not going to bring up book of Mormon passages in government class or talk about statements of prophets in biology class. Or if you do, yeah, you'll get eye rolls.

And there's honestly plusses and minuses to both environments, but if he wants a spot he can lean FULLY into being surrounded by the gospel and having it impact every part of his life? Then BYU is unique in that regard. Utah has the second largest LDS influence among major colleges and gives some of that experience....but it's not BYU. Nowhere is