I’m currently deciding between these two and was wondering if any current students could help me out a bit?
Part of the question is how many students would you prefer to be around as Texas A&M has about 50 K undergraduates and Baylor about 15K. Also both are conservative but Baylor is more religious based with chapel requirements for the first year. What major are going in under because they makes a difference potentially.
What major are you? How much financial aid have you received from Baylor? I actually lived in college station eight years and my girlfriend goes to TAMU but I go to Baylor, so I know both schools in and out.
What is your take on the schools in general @stratshredder97?
Both are fantastic schools but I’ll lead off with this: TAMU and Baylor both offered me full tuition scholarships and I choose Baylor–and have not regretted the decision since. Here’s why:
-Baylor has smaller class sizes than the typical public U. I have yet to have a class with more than 30 people, unlike my friends at TAMU. Not to say you’ll never have a class with 100 or so at Baylor (intro science and business classes are typically this large), but typically classes are smaller and professors are more committed to your success.
-Did I mention professors? I was wowed by the friendliness and kindness of professors throughout Spring Premiere, Orientation, etc. at Baylor, and overall my professors here have shown a commitment to their students that is far above the norm. At massive public schools, you tend to be more anonymous. I have a friend at TAMU who waited in a line of 30 people to see her professor at office hours. That NEVER happens at Baylor because professors simply aren’t demanded to teach so many students.
-The Baylor campus is far more beautiful than A&M, although I will admit Kyle Field and the MSC in College Station are top-class places.
-School spirit is phenomenal at both schools, but verges on cultish at A&M. Baylor is more for the person who enjoys sports but is not obsessed with them, who enjoys tradition but doesn’t want to be expected to memorize dozens of cheers and strange campus expectations.
-Baylor tends to draw more from the cities in Texas and from out of state, while A&M has a large student body group that comes from rural Texas. This causes Baylor to tend more towards moderate conservatism (given high religious participation), than TAMU, which is I think more polarized between extreme liberal and extreme conservatives.
-Baylor is more racially diverse than TAMU.
-Baylor just is more professional and reliable when it comes to the little things. Whether from my recruitment to the application process to financial aid and scholarships to doing menial tasks like getting a student ID or using the mail center, I’ve never had problems at Baylor. I here stories from my friends at A&M where it seems like a massive public school bureaucracy makes it much harder to get things done
-Baylor has a more liberal arts, balanced-education focus. Professors at Baylor joke about TAMU as a technical school, because TAMU has fewer core requirements. If you want to get in your degree and don’t care about getting exposed to some of the liberal arts, then TAMU is your school. But if you want a well-rounded education I believe from my experience and seeing my aggie friends’ experiences that Baylor is better. This does admittedly depend on the department. Don’t go to Baylor over TAMU if you want to do engineering. That’s just TAMU’s specialty and they excel at it.
-I appreciated Baylor’s religious focus as a Christian myself, however I have talked to atheists and people of other faith’s on campus and the vast majority will say they never felt discriminated against and have loved their time at Baylor. We’re very welcoming here and, although the Christian mission deters some I would say it is encouraging to Christians and never detrimental to non-Christians.
-Having lived in College Station 8 years and Waco almost 1 now I can confirm that Waco is, in my opinion, a better college town. An aggie once told me there is nothing to do in College Station but Cinemark and drinking. Waco is changing for the better and has a lot of quirky artsy hotspots where you can find a niche off campus.
Both schools definitely have benefits. The aggie alumni network is one of the best in the country and TAMU is overall an extremely friendly, happy, and supportive campus. I just think overall, Baylor is the better college experience, and having gone back to visit my aggie friends several times, I only miss Waco when I’m in College Station. Good luck on your decision
Sic’em bears!
I attended Texas A&M but my son liked Baylor more and will be a freshman next year. I agree with almost everything @stratshredder97 said. To me, it comes down to the size of the school and whether you can afford it. Baylor is much more expensive if you have in state tuition at A&M. (unless you get merit aid etc) But, I have been very impressed with Baylor and the people have been so friendly. I did not realize how diverse Baylor was until we spent some time on campus. The campus is beautiful and there is a lot to be said for the individual attention given to each student because you feel as if they know your name.