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