Baylor University

Date: Oct 31 2009
Major: Public Policy (This Major's Salary over time)
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