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| Bright |
I graduated from Baylor in 2007. I have to begin by saying that my time at Baylor was not the best time of my life. I had personal problems going on, as well as issues happening with the school. In summation, the four years I spent at Baylor were difficult for me, but I think they were made easier by being at Baylor and I am extremely thankful that I attended the university.
One of the most important things for applicants or prospective students to realize is that the campus is NOT ultra-conservative, and not everyone that attends is a Bible beating Christian. I will confess, I am Christian, but I am Presbyterian, not Baptist, and we tend to be far more relaxed about "doctrine, rules, etc." The majority of the student body is not Baptist, and the professors are largely not Baptist. So, I think that one of Baylor's criticisms - "being too Baptist" - is misplaced. That is not to say that there are not hardcore Christians at Baylor, because there are. But they have their groups of friends, just like partygoers have theirs. Honestly, its less fundamentalist than where I go to grad school (UC Berkeley), where there are hardcore, no compromise, extremist liberals, but there are also your normal students who make up most of the population. So if you are worried about the religion, don't be. The religious classes that are required are not a big deal, and some of them are extremely educating about other world religions.
The student body is without question some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered in my life. I am not from Texas originally, and I don;t live there now, but I can honestly say that the people at Baylor make Texas seem very appealing. Greek life is huge, so if you don't want to be a part of that, maybe Baylor is not your place.
The campus is gorgeous. Enough said.
Finally, the thing I love most about Baylor is the sense of purpose people have there. I don't mean in the Christian sense, but that does exist as well, instead I mean the people at Baylor (I know I am generalizing, but this whole exercise is generalizing) really and truly act as though they have a purpose, that there is something that drives them. It is intoxicating, though the Baptists would never use that word. I turned my life around at Baylor because of that cultural purpose and I cannot downplay how important it is to a lot of people that feel lost (Again, I was not converted and I am not Baptist, in fact I disagree with a large portion of Baptist beliefs such as being saved. It was the spirit of purpose, not the motivation of that purpose that was so enthralling, By and large the students at Baylor want to do good worldwide everyday and I am not sure I can say that about many other communities.
Ok, so I have discussed the things I love about Baylor, now I would like to tell you some of the things that I really disliked, and I mean REALLY disliked.
First, the mandatory attendance policy is bullshit. Realistically, it probably helps numerous people, but for certain classes it is ridiculous. Some of the classes would be better served by simply assigning some good books to the students and then having an exam at the end of the year. This brings me to my next point...
Second, some of the professors have no business teaching. There is no in between at Baylor, I had either incredible professors who I will remember for the rest of my life, or professors that made me feel like I would get a better education in some social work GED program. It is a problem that needs to be addressed by the school. If Baylor truly has a goal of being Tier 1, which they claim they do, then they need to have the guts to fire some of the shitty professors and spend some money bringing in people that know what they are doing. I don't mean to say that you won't get a good education, but if you are really seeking to learn something and going to college isn't just about getting drunk and looking for late night fun all the time (which happens in Waco believe it or not) then you need to be very selective about your classes and who is teaching them.
Third, there is an overconfidence at Baylor which is unsupported. I am thankful for the time I spent at Baylor and I know that I received a great education. With that being said, I pursued it. And after graduation, I pursued an excellent graduate education. Without my drive, I would have fallen into what I call the "Baylor trap." As good of a school as it is, it is not Rice, it is not Tulane, it is not Vanderbilt. You will not have the type of diploma, like I think you would at those schools, that will probably get you a job just by having that on your resume. Yet, the faculty at Baylor an the current students seem to think that the school is providing that. It isn't, and it never will unless the aforementioned shitty professors are dealt with, as well as increasing the endowment, and...
Fourth, one of the problems at Baylor is the reluctance to become a private school that does not cater to people who cannot afford expensive private educations. Baylor is consistently ranked as one of the best value educations that one can get, which is great except when they profess to be aiming at Tier 1. There is not a Tier 1 private school that isn't expensive. Earlier I mentioned Rice, Tulane and Vanderbilt. They are all more expensive private southern schools for a reason (others are Emory, Duke, and William and Mary but they are farther geographically so they aren't really in direct competition), it costs an arm and a leg to go there, but you get a Tier 1 diploma. It is risk versus reward if you can get into one of those school, but in my opinion Baylor will not be Tier 1 until the administration is willing to charge the amount those schools do for education.
Finally, the problem of Waco. Don't bet me wrong there are things to do. There are bars, there is a nightlife, everything you need is there. But it still sucks and there is no avoiding it. Look at other private schools that compete with Baylor: Rice = Houston, SMU = Dallas, Tulane = New Orleans, Vanderbilt = Nashville, TCU = Fort Worth. Get my point? The other private schools are in big cities that are generally speaking pretty freaking cool. Houston is huge with tons of business for Rice grads, Dallas has a great nightlife where SMU's campus is in one of the most beautiful, clean, and safe places in the US, Tulane is in New Orleans which means endless music, great food, interesting culture, incredible architecture, and the campus is on one of the most historical streets in the country, Vanderbilt is in music city USA, and Fort Worth, while not the most happening of places, is a hell of a lot better than Waco. Again, Waco isn't "terrible," but its not cool either. Honestly, the city would be nothing without Baylor keeping it alive. Which, once again, brings me to my next point and my conclusion.
Waco, while lame, might be Baylor's greatest weakness and simultaneously its greatest strength. Baylor is a tight community, often called condescendingly the "Baylor Bubble," and that tight community may be the result of Waco. The Baylor community also vigorously tries to improve the quality of life for the city of Waco and it is admirable how much Baylor, through its students and faculty, have accomplished in a city that has little hope of improvement in terms of issues like poverty and crime. Waco creates for Baylor something that, as I stated earlier was so impressive to me while I was there, purpose. The goal of bettering another man's life and helping humanity is always present and I cannot emphasize home much that helped form me as a person, religious or not.
In conclusion, academically I probably could have received a better education at Rice, Tulane or Vanderbilt, but Baylor did something for me that an academic education would never be able to do, it made me a better person. That type of education is priceless and I would not trade it for any type of academic education in the world. | Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: C- |  | | |
| | Nov 22 2009 | 4th Year Male --
Class 2007 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Quite Bright |
I am writing this comment to talk about my experience at Baylor. I spent one year there and transfered. I will not exaggerate, I will not lie, but I will give my completely honest opinion of Baylor, giving both the positives and the negatives. I hope this will help, those considering Baylor, to make more of an informed decision.
Positives:
Academics: My time at Baylor I did have some pretty good professors they were always willing to help and spent much time to make sure their students completely understood the material. Anytime I had any problems I would just contact them and they would always respond and be helpful.
Students: Very athletic and most are very active athletically.
Spirit/Athletics: There is much spirit and many games at Baylor. If you are looking for a High School part II then Baylor should be perfect for you. They have homecoming, games, pep rallies, carnivals, parades, and many other exciting events-just like High School. Games are also very exciting much rivalry and tailgating. Even if Baylor losses-which is often-the games are still exciting.
Campus/City/Security: The campus is very beautiful and traditional style-if you are looking for this, Baylor would be good. Sorry no positives on the city. Security is somewhat tight. I always like that I could look outside my window and see police driving by. Much Emergency phones around campus and well lite campus.
Residence Hall/Food: Sorry no positives on the residence halls. Food is plentiful and many are all you can eat buffets. Much, much food- and some of it really is good. There are buffets inside practically every residence hall.
Academics: One thing that I never did like about Baylor was that some of the professors were not challenging enough and would make there classes "hard" on purpose. Some professors of mine gave much busy work while others did not give any work at all and would later hit you with an impossible midterm/final exam that many would not do well on. Many professors were proud to have a class average grade of B or something low and not ever seek to go beyond that or help the students try to go beyond a B. My first semester at Baylor I already got into an argument with one of my professors because I felt he was grading my papers unfairly. He felt he was doing a good job and that I was doing well, with a B. Needless to say, the B remained. Another professor of mine lectured on one thing then would give tests over things she did not even lecture on-I bet you can imagine how the class would do. Another professor of mine showed nothing but movies, then hit students with very difficult tests and later just curved the grades-He did this because he did not feel like teaching. All this happened just first semester. Second semester was a bit better, but not too much. While professors are willing to help, it all depends on what kind of help you are wanting! Lastly, many professors I had were deeply closed-minded and stuck in there ways as well. One professor I had got a kick, once and awhile, out of making fun of Hispanic people. Being half Hispanic myself-I knew I could either report him or try to get out. Also make sure if you go here-you major is strong here, otherwise DO NOT come!
Students: 95% of the students that attend Baylor all hail from Texas. I have nothing against Texas, I love the state, I am from Texas. My point is there is absolutely no diversity at this school whatsoever. I wanted to go to a university and meet students around the nation and the world-needless to say I was gravely disappointed. I also came to Baylor not knowing anyone-I came open and ready to meet people, but yet again I was gravely disappointed. Practically everyone who came to Baylor came with their friends from high school, or someone they have known for awhile. Since many came with friends already, no one wanted to make new friends. Needless to say, I went the whole year and did not make not one new friend. Everyone at Baylor is deeply conservative and closed-minded. Everyone keeps to themselves and inside this bubble. Anything outside of this norm, like a liberal point of view, get back! They will try to rip your head off. It is such a shame to see such young students already so closed-minded and stuck in there ways. Many students are also self-absorbed and worry not about academics, but about how they look(many girls also come here to just simply find a husband!) Another thing briefly worth mentioning is the Baptist nature. Yes, everyone here is Baptist and anything the school says otherwise is a lie. These kids do not know anything about being Baptist/Christian like-it was always funny to me how both my roommates went out partying Friday/Saturday and were in church on Sunday. If thats not hypocrisy then I do not know what is. Lastly, many students who come here, any year, would always talk about transferring-there was much, much talk of transferring. This made it very difficult to settle in as well.
Spirit/Athletics: Not really any negatives here. If you are looking for a High School part II then Baylor would be good, I never, never wanted this. It seemed too much like high school for me. These very things, rivalry, hatred, ect reminded everyday not only how shallow and self-absorbed everyone was but always how much I wanted to get out.
Campus/City: I have really no negatives on the campus-it is just very traditional style and something I never did like too much. The city, Waco, is absolutely horrible! Extremely boring and unless you have a car-you will be trapped, literally. DO NOT come to Baylor unless you have a car- you will be miserable otherwise. I came to Baylor with no car and was trapped. I constantly needed things that my parents had to mail me or I had to do without. I know, thats pathetic. Hardly any stores, shops, ect - the mall is also absolutely horrible. Another thing I want to mention is poverty in Waco. Poverty is extremely high in Waco-no exaggeration, check the facts-and many poor people come on campus and try to get money from the students. Yes, many that are poor get chased away by police, but I can not even tell you how many times someone came up to me to ask me for what money I did have. People even stopped in their car and asked me for money. Security is alright-many students feel they are mean and unfair-but I cannot testify to this. I also felt Baylor should put up gates around the campus to make it more secure, instead they put the money into athletics, so this was never done.
Residence Halls/Food: No negatives on the food-sometimes really mean staff though. I lived in Penland. It was absolutely horrific! This is a complete understatement. Not only does baylor not have matching exams-where roommates are matched according to similar things-but they just throw you in with whomever and expect you to get along. My roommates loved to party, drink, stay up late, absolutely adored sports, extremely dirty/messy, and were very ill mannered. I was the complete opposite to all of these things- I cannot even begin to tell you the nightmare this was. All the residence halls were very overbooked. Kids were sleeping all over the place-literally, not kidding at all. I was having such problems I wanted to leave-it had only been a week!! Baylor did release me to go and get an apartment-but I was deeply hurt over this-not only were freshman required to stay on campus, but I felt that Baylor had just taken my money and threw me to the dogs. They kicked me out, but first took my money. I moved into my apartment for a weekend, just a weekend and knew I wanted to go back-I cried the entire weekend. At these apartments were much older kids, I felt deeply alone, and not even apart of Baylor anymore. I went back and decided I would only sleep there and spend my days in the library or out in about. It was horrific. Another thing worth mentioning is much crowding in these halls produced many, many rats! Every morning I would get up for class and a rat would run past my bed. I wish I was kidding. The restrooms were not cleaned very well and were extremely nasty as well. The boys got a kick out of putting their feces and urine all over the floors. Baylor needs to seriously invest in more residence halls and match kids accordingly-like all other universities.
Overall, I did not like Baylor at all. It was absolutely horrible for me and I wanted to leave the first chance I got. To this day I have no idea how I lasted as long as I did-it had to be by the grace of God-I am very glade I left. I hope those who are considering Baylor, find this to be very helpful | Campus Aesthetics: B, Education Quality: F | | | |
| | Oct 31 2009 | 1st Year Male --
Class 2012 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Not so bright | | If you are considering Baylor, you should look into other public universities before you make the same mistake I did! | | Oct 28 2009 | 2nd Year Male --
Class 2011 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Quite Bright | | Worst 4 years of my life | | Oct 28 2009 | 4th Year Female --
Class 2009 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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