Finding a Home at BYU Marriott

PROVO, Utah – May 19, 2022 – When Allie Jensen lost her mother to a lifelong battle with multiple sclerosis, she thought she would never be able to attend college. Flash forward seven years and Jensen is a brand-new marketing graduate from the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Despite growing up in Provo, in a home overlooking BYU campus, Jensen initially did not feel like attending BYU was the right choice for her. “As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the only active member in my family, I didn’t think I would fit in or belong at BYU,” she says. Living so close to campus, Jensen had many neighbors who worked at BYU, including former dean of BYU Marriott, Ned C. Hill.

When she talked with Hill about her doubts concerning BYU, he said something that changed Jensen’s mind. “I will never forget when Ned said, ‘We should start believing in a church that does not just have one mold,’” says Jensen. “That one comment changed my whole perspective on BYU, and I applied right away.”

Jensen’s acceptance letter to BYU came a few weeks before her mother passed away in 2015. Choosing to attend BYU was one of the last things Jensen shared with her mom about her life. “Having my mom know where I was going and what I would be doing after she would no longer be here was special for me,” says Jensen. “I will always remember how happy my mom was for me and telling me she was proud of me.” Two months after her mother passed, Jensen began her studies at BYU.

Influenced by the disease that ailed her mother, Jensen was determined to pursue a career where she could help people. To Jensen, nursing seemed like the obvious choice. But after struggling with the nursing major, her academic advisor recommended she take an introduction class for another major to see if a different program might be a better fit. To appease her advisor, Jensen selected what she thought would be the easiest option: an introductory marketing course at BYU Marriott.

Jensen still remembers the first thing her marketing professor said to the class. “He said, ‘Marketing is all about people. We are here to care about people, and we don’t have to be doctors in order to do that,’” she recalls. “Up until that point, I thought I could only help people by working in the healthcare field. His comment changed everything for me.” That same day, Jensen decided to apply to the marketing program, a choice she says finally made her feel like she had found her home at BYU.

During her first year in the marketing program, Jensen felt on top of the world—until the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Both Jensen and her husband, who worked as a travel agent, lost their jobs and their apartment from the fallout of the pandemic. The couple lived out of their car and went without income for weeks. This chain of events prompted Jensen to start her own business cleaning homes.

“Owning my own business has taught me that no one can ever take my work away from me,” she says. “If I lose my business, I only have myself to blame. My success has come because of my determination to continue.” Starting with cleaning one house a week during the summer of 2020, Jensen now has 35 homes she cleans by herself.

Officially graduated in April 2022, Jensen says filling out her BYU exit survey was one of her greatest accomplishments. “I know many people wouldn’t consider filling out their graduation survey as an achievement, but the fact that I made it to graduation and received my degree is a feeling I can’t even describe,” she says.

“After my mom passed away and with the endless number of trials that have followed since, I thought that I would never graduate college,” Jensen continues. “Now here I am, degree in hand, proof that there’s a place for everyone at BYU.”

After facing much adversity, Jensen has closed the book on her college experience and is now looking for a position in product management in the marketing field. Although she initially felt like she would never belong, Jensen now feels at home at BYU Marriott and plans to return someday to earn her MBA. “BYU changed my life. I have been transformed and polished into a completely new person,” she says.