Baylor Honors or UT Austin Honors. Help!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone</p>

<p>I've been accepted to both Baylor and UT, with honors at both. I have automatic admission to the Baylor University Scholars Honors program and I have been admitted to UTs Liberal Arts Honors Program. I plan to triple major (hehe I know... I realize this could be difficult and I totally understand if it ends up not being feasible) in International Relations, Spanish, and Russian or Chinese. UT's generous policy with AP credits and Baylor's University Scholars Program would make it pretty easy to triple major. </p>

<p>I have also been offered a scholarship at Baylor that reduces my total COA to around 5k/year, and I'm a semifinalist for two different scholarships at UT that would make my COA either 1k or 3k/year depending on which scholarship I could potentially get. I would also get my first year for free due to my class rank. I'm not being presumptuous by asking which school to choose before I've even got the bigger scholarships to UT, I just want to submit my deposits as soon as possible to make sure I get housing. </p>

<p>I can disclose stats if they facilitate any advice as to which school might challenge me more. </p>

<p>Career-wise, I plan on doing foreign service work, and UT has an International Relations concentration that specifically focuses on this.</p>

<p>Other Pros to UT include it's massive course diversity, the large size of the Honors community which feels like an LAC within a huge university, the city of austin, their myriad study abroad programs, and their large, active and diverse (denomination-wise) Christian Fellowships. </p>

<p>Some Cons include how big the school is and that I currently live only 45 min. away.</p>

<p>Pros of Baylor include the prevalence of Faith on campus, the closeness of the small honors community, and their smaller student body. The campus is also beautiful. </p>

<p>Cons include the city of waco, the lack of course diversity, and the small list of study-abroad programs. Some people are also telling me I might not be challenged at Baylor, or that it's not a great school academically. </p>

<p>I really don't know where to go from here, both schools seem to"fit" me in different ways, and I'd be happy attending either.</p>

2

<p>I would go with UT, it is a better school and Baylor doesn’t have all that great a reputation if you ever leave the south.</p>

3

<p>UT Plan II is considered a superior program compared anything Baylor has to offer (I assume that is what you are in unless there is another liberal arts honors program).</p>

<p>You should go to Baylor if you rate your faith over anything else you want in life. There was someone couple years ago joining Baylor over Harvard based on faith. </p>

<p>Otherwise it should be UT.</p>

4

<p>Baptist churches near UT Austin:</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://texasbaptists.org/]Texas”&gt;http://texasbaptists.org/]Texas</a> Baptists<a href=“SBC,%20socially%20conservative”>/url</a>
[url=&lt;a href=“http://ubcaustin.org/]University”&gt;http://ubcaustin.org/]University</a> Baptist Church | Austin’s Progressive Voice of Faith since 1908<a href=“left%20the%20SBC,%20socially%20liberal”>/url</a></p>

5

<p>I’m actually not affiliated with the Baptist Church. We’re non-denominational Christians, although I’m open to attending denominational services or joining denominational fellowship groups or Bible-studys. I do “rate my faith over anything else I want in life” though. </p>

<p>I feel like I will have similar options to worship and grow in my faith at both schools. Please let me know if this isn’t necessarily true. </p>

<p>I really like both schools, and I feel like I can find similar peers at either of them. </p>

<p>I’d love to hear anymore input. Thanks everyone.</p>

6

<p>Well, it may depend on whether Baylor’s “official” religious values match yours, or whether you want a non-sectarian environment like UT Austin where various churches and religious organizations “compete” on equal footing for your membership (like the churches listed in #4 and others, or organizations listed at [url=&lt;a href=“http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sa/vieworgs.php]University”&gt;Office of the Dean of Students - Student Activities - View Orgs]University</a> of Texas at Austin - Office of the Dean of Students - Student Activities - Registered Student Organization Database<a href=“try%20putting%20in%20%22Christian%22%20or%20%22Bible%22%20into%20the%20search”>/url</a>).</p>

7

<p>Bumping for some more suggestions or advice. </p>

<p>@ucbalumnus, I’m not totally sure which envrionment would be better, but I feel like a non-sectarian environment might encourage me to more actively pursue my faith independently and it might make those involved a little more impassioned with what they are seeking.</p>

8

<p>bumpbumpbump</p>

9

<p>Based on what you mentioned, it seems that you slightly favor UT Austin on the religious aspect (numerous diverse Christian groups and churches), and most of the academic aspects you mentioned strongly favor UT Austin.</p>

<p>The only thing left is the price. Have you found out what your net price at UT Austin will be (based on whether you got the scholarships)? Without the scholarships, would UT Austin be affordable?</p>

10

<p>UT Austin should be a better choice from what I can see.</p>

11

<p>@UCB: Assuming I don’t get the scholarship Ut would be around 9k per year for tuition (for 3 years only, my first is paid for due to my class rank), financed. And then my parents will pay my room and board monthly, so we won’t be taking out loans or dipping into savings. Baylor would be around 5 or 6k per year with the scholarship for four years. They’re pretty similar price-wise (27k vs 20-24k). </p>

<p>I still don’t feel totally certain of which way I’m leaning.</p>

12

<p>Would it be a correct assessment that, based on your other posts, for you:</p>

<ul>
<li>Academics: favor UT Austin</li>
<li>Career preparation: favor UT Austin</li>
<li>Religious environment / organizations: slightly favor UT Austin’s diversity of religious groups to choose from over Baylor’s “official” Southern Baptist religious environment</li>
<li>Other factors: favor Austin over Waco; favor Baylor’s smaller size (though not really small) and nice campus</li>
<li>Price: $20-24k at Baylor versus $3k, $9k, or $27k at UT Austin (for all four years); UT Austin would likely cost less if you needed any extra semesters beyond your scholarships</li>
</ul>

<p>It looks like Baylor’s advantages are relatively minor compared to UT Austin’s larger advantages, unless you are putting a higher priority on them than it looks based on your other posts.</p>