Baylor University Top Questions

I really like Baylor, it's big enough to where you always meet new people, but small enough to where you see people you know often around campus. You get great one on one attention from the staff if you look for it, they'll take good care of you if you need help. Teaching can be subpar in some areas, but mostly the teachers are pretty good. Class size is generally small, and many teachers will learn your name by the end of the semester. Baylor has a good name to it, and people generally respond by agreeing that it is a good school. Waco isn't necesarrily the best college town around, the people aren't all supportive of the school like they might be in College Station or Lubbock. Waco also isn't the best for having things to do, but it is very close to Dallas and Austin, making it easy to visit those places on the weekends. School pride isn't the highest, there are some Baylor-ed out people, but for the most part we're pretty relaxed, not intense like some UT people may be. When the biggest scandal on campus is that Dr. Pepper may be replaced by Coke, you know you're at a Christian university. It's nice that Baylor is going more green, and we've done a lot to try and help the environment, especially in the last year. The people are pretty nice and the staff is helpful, the education is good, I'd recommend Baylor to anyone looking for a college, but it is a very unique college that doesn't suit everyone, most people either love it or hate it.

baylor is a great school for staying grounded in your faith yet still feeling like you have the typical college experience. a lot of christian universities are extremely small and have a lot of rule but baylor is big enough where you choose how involved you want to be with the university and are not bombarded with pointless rules.

Baylor has tons of extracurriculars to get involved with such as greek life, intramurals, student foundation and on-campus ministries... There is always an opportunity to 'experience' another culture, get free food, or enjoy one another. Living in the dorms was memorable and challenging, but I am thankful for the opportunity. A lot of students are proactive about the environment or poverty and try to do what they can to help.

The best thing about Baylor is the science building. It's huge and beautiful. The science building is what attracts me to Baylor. One thing I would change: well there are actually many things I would change about Baylor. For starters, when I came to orientation at Baylor, I was told that I would be taught by professors only and my classes were going to be small. So far, I have been taught by two grad students, who didn't do the best job at teaching. Also, I have yet to have a small class. I understand that I'm taking science classes that are normally large, but my science professor even commented on the size of the class. I received an email from him at the beginning of the year and he was like I know you were told you were going to have small classes, but this isn't going to be one of them. Baylor is just the right size. It's big enough to have a variety of people, but small enough that you pass your friends everyday. When I tell people I go to Baylor, I get mixed reactions. Some people are like "WOW! That's really impressive. You must be really smart." Other people are like "oh you must be some baptist girl who doesn't go out and party much." This is all false. I do go out and have fun, whether it be a party or bowling. I hate that people view Baylor students as rich stuck up kids who don't have any fun. I spend most of my time in my dorm or in the science building studying. Baylor is not a college town. Waco, is well not a place I'd be happy to say I was from. Baylor's administration. The professors are friendly and are willing to help you out if you need it. The biggest controversy right now, is that Baylor is wasting it's money on stupid logos because they are so concerned about their stupid "ivy league" image. Who cares about a stupid logo?! I don't pick a school on whether their logo is two interlocking letters or if its the whole name of the school. Who is Baylor trying to impress? It's obviously not the students who go here. If they are so concerned about image, then why aren't they more concerned about the students. I mean, hello, I'm Baylor's image. We,as students, are Baylor's propoganda. We talk bad about Baylor, then there goes Baylor's reputation. If I'm not happy with Baylor I will express it to those that are interested in coming to Baylor and tell them Baylor's flaws. For example, Baylor doesn't have enough classes or class space for people who need to take those classes to graduate. I needed to take physics and genetics to graduate and take the MCAT. I have to have all those classes done plus the other required classes by the end of junior year. Now, Baylor being a huge science school, you would think they would have more classes. Maybe, Baylor should look in on hiring more professors instead of chaging some stupid logo. Well, the most frequent complaints recently have been about the logo being changed. No one is happy about it, except for the marketing advisers who are going to be making money off of this change. And the other main complaint is how difficult it is to get into the classes that you need to take to graduate.

If I had it to do all over again, I would not have picked Baylor. I thought, "Great, Baylor is a larger school in a warm weather environment with a Big 12 football team. This will be fun!" I have never been more incorrect. Baylor tricks you. They show you the pretty campus and new science building and you are sold! They show you the new renovated area with restaurants like Crickets and Ninfas and students think that all of Waco is like that. It is all a facade. In my admissions essay, I wrote about how safe I felt on Baylor's campus when I visited. My first weekend as a student, my car was broken into and my stereo was stolen. There is absolutely nothing to do in Waco. It is a gross and dangerous city. Homeless people peddle their carts around the perimeter of campus and right across from campus, homeless people live under the bridge. And don't even get me started on the Baylor Police. They did not help me when my car got broken into, they bust almost every single party (even the one day we get a year to have fun, Diadeloso), and they are on a complete power trip. Baylor does not help its students--it strangles and suffocates them. I spend no time on campus, except when I sleep because you have to live in the dorms freshman year. And the dorms are totally horrible. You have the tiniest room ever and a hall with a CL. Baylor does not call them RAs, but a CL is a community leader, because Baylor is seriously trying to promote this idea of "community." I have the worst CL ever. She does not try to get to know us or help us do things together. She is mean and rude, and I would never trust her with any information. My first semester at Baylor, I had never felt more alone in my life. People kept telling me that first semester is always hard and it will get better. So I kept waiting for sorority rush, waiting for things to turn for the good. Sorority helped a little bit, but nothing could cure the bad aftertaste Baylor had already left in my mouth. I really do not understand why people like Baylor. I am a social person, am in a very good sorority, study hard, yet I still cannot find happiness at Baylor. The best thing about Baylor is leaving it. I love going to Dallas or even home for the weekends because leaving Baylor feels great! Baylor is not the school it says it is. Beware!

Baylor is a great school overall. The class sizes are small so your professors really get to work with you a lot better. The staff here really does care about their students, from what I've experienced. The campus is a great size, in that you can walk from one class to the next with no problem, but the school is still large enough to offer almost any program you could want. The campus itself is amazing, it's a breath of fresh air from class to class. Outside of baylor campus, there are a few bars/clubs/nightlife spots and a couple parks to go to. As far as college towns go, Waco isn't the most active, but then again Dallas, Houston, and Austin aren't that far of a drive away.

I guess Baylor has pretty good professors, although I can't say I've learned much from them, mainly because they overwhelm us with work and act like we're only taking their class, as if we had all day every day to study the material for that class. When first arriving at Baylor, you'll immediately start making friends, because at the beginning of the year, everyone acts nice to each other, whether it's because they're scared they won't make any friends or they're happy to see they're friends from last year. But once you get further into the schoolyear, you realize how very similar to Hell it really is. Hmm, I think that's irony.

When students here are asked if they like Baylor, a typical response is "I love Baylor, but I hate Waco." That is probably the one thing I would've liked to know before deciding to come here. Baylor, in a word, is amazing. It's the perfect size - not UT, but not Southwestern. The professors are friendly and approachable, and all are very knowledgeable about their respective fields. The campus itself, in my opinion, is probably one of the most beautiful in this part of the country. Most of the facilities are top-notch; we have an almost-new state of the art science building, a decent-sized recreation/exercise building, and brand new residence halls. Any buildings that aren't new are nostalgic and beautiful, like the Armstrong Browning Library and Old Main. Plus, we have a bear pit where our real Brown Bear mascots live. Aside from the tangible aspects of Baylor, its Baptist heritage plays a big part in student life as well. Baylor's Christian foundations are evident in many ways: we are required to take chapel for two semesters, a Christian Scriptures class, and a Christian Heritage class, not to mention the many, many service projects students put on throughout the year. The best part is that none of this is forced on any of the students. Yes, we are required to take a couple Christian classes in order to graduate, but they are taught from an educational standpoint, rather than an evangelical one. In my experience so far at Baylor, students and their beliefs have always been respected. Now, with all this good, there has to be some bad, and that brings me to the not-so-great city of Waco, Texas. Not only is it famous for housing some grade-A crazies (ahem, Branch Dividians) in the early 90s, but worse yet, THERE IS NOTHING TO DO HERE. Granted, we do have a surprisingly decent zoo, the Dr. Pepper Museum, and a large park along the Brazos River, but those are strictly daytime activities. If you are into big-city nightlife, you'll have to drive an hour and a half either north to Dallas, or south to Austin. This tends to be a given for the weekends, as you can see by the nearly empty parking lots come Friday at 3pm. And THEN, perhaps the very worst part about Waco, and the part that I wish someone had told me, is that it is not a safe city to live in. You know that park I was talking about? Ask ANYone about it, and they'll tell you "Oh yeah it's gorgeous in the daytime. But DON'T go there at night, you WILL be mugged/raped/stabbed." You'd think that such a highly-esteemed university with all kinds of funding would be in a nice little college town that caters to its every need. Sadly, no. Not even close. I hate to say anything bad about my Baylor experience, but it's important, and I'm sure parents would be thankful to know these things ahead of time. If you don't live within the "Baylor bubble" (the 5 mile radius surrounding the campus), then invest in a security system. Seriously. And even if you live close to campus, I'd do it anyway. Safety first!

Baylor claims to be a Christian campus but it focuses more on exclusion and judgement than the acceptance and love they claim to preach.

Baylor is something of tumor in the Waco community. The school has a very wealthy student population and the school itself flaunts a well-manicured campus. This taste for the expensive contrasts with one of the most economically disadvantaged cities in Texas. Many Wacoans disaprove of the behavior of the Baylor students. A self-contained nature predominates the capmus, which has created a term to summarize this realtionship: The Baylor Bubble. The School prides itself on Christian ideals, tradition, and community.