<p>Anyone ever attend the Invitation to Excellence program. What were your impressions of the program?</p>
<p>I went four years ago, and I highly recommend it! It definitely was a HUGE factor in my deciding to attend Baylor (though just visiting the campus, even aside from I2E would have done a lot of that as well). Let me know if you have more specific questions!</p>
<p>Our family attended Invitation to Excellence in the Fall of 2008. It was a well planned informational two days. My daughter spent the night in the honors dorm, met with professors and also met a lot of interesting students. She came home with a good overview of the university and stash of promotional items. In addition, following the last session they gave out vouchers for an additional one time $1,000.00 scholarship per student. I’m not sure if they still do this, it was not publicized but every little bit helps. She’s now a sophomore at Baylor and could not be happier with her decision.</p>
<p>Have the “Invitations to Excellence” been mailed out already? My son did not receive one yet, but was told some time ago to expect one.</p>
<p>Just send a quick message to your admissions representative at Baylor. If I remember right it was in November the year we went. </p>
<p>I also have a senior and while he hasn’t decided where he wants to attend we are encouraging him to apply to Baylor (if it’s on his short list) before November 1 since there is no application fee if you apply online before this date.</p>
<p>Can anyone explain to me what the Invitation to Excellence is all about? Thanks!</p>
<p>My dtr is a junior in high school now and is very interested in attending Baylor. Thoughts? </p>
<p>what is the average GPA, SAT scores etc… Thanks again</p>
<p>Here’s the website: [Baylor</a> University | Visit Texas Undergraduate University Admissions, Texas University Undergraduate programs at accredited Baylor University || Invitation to Excellence](<a href=“Ways to Connect | Baylor University”>Ways to Connect | Baylor University)</p>
<p>I know I2E used to be just for NM Finalists, but now it’s for other “high achieving” seniors as well. I’m not sure about the average GPA, etc. Make sure you have your daughter join Baylor’s mailing list, and see if she gets an invite next year. Even if she doesn’t, you can try to request one (which is what we did four – or actually, I guess it was five! – years ago, as we didn’t hear about the event until after the invites had been sent out.)</p>
<p>We got our invite today to attend this year. We aren’t sure what will take place at the event, but we are planning on attending.</p>
<p>My son got an email invitation today. It said to be on the lookout for a snail mail invitation soon. My son plans to go. </p>
<p>^TXmom09, you mentioned that your family went. I didn’t realize there were things for parents to attend. The email my son got was kind of in a 3 or 4 line “postcard” format. I guess the snail mail invite will be more informative. Looks like I may have to take another day off work. Yikes.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much has changed in the last couple of years. We attended a dinner on Friday night with our daughter. Tables were labeled with various degrees offered at Baylor. At each table there was a faculty member and student for that particular major. There were definately students there by themselves but also a lot of parents. They also had a short program. Students were given the opportunity to spend the night in the dorms. The next day there were several activities/information sessions to attend. The weekend is very well planned. I am sure they will provide a complete schedule with the mailed invitation.</p>
<p>My daughter got the email message today. I am sure she will want to go.</p>
<p>TxMom09,
Can you help us with some idea of what the daily schedule might look like - what parts might our 11 and 16 year old participate in, dress code for dinner, etc?</p>
<p>Is it too late to request an invitation? I’m a National Merit Semi Finalist, if that helps…</p>
<p>If it’s not too late, does anyone know who I should contact?</p>
<p>We just went with our daughter and left the younger son at home w/friends. I wouldn’t think that the younger ones would enjoy much of what was planned. I did see they now give $2000 if you attend the weekend. To the dinner most girls wore skirts or nice pants. Guys wore khakis and polo type shirts. The year we went the dinner was outside under a large tent. The rest of the weekend the dress was very casual.</p>
<p>Sciencefrenchie - I would just contact the admission rep for your area. You can find that on the website. Since you are National Merit Semifinalist they will want you. Contact them right away cause I saw the date is late October.</p>
<p>My DD just received an invitation today. The dates are October 29-30. A schedule was not included but it referred us to their website for the program details. I’ll try and post it here by not sure it will hold: Baylor.edu/visit/excellence. This year they are giving $2,000 scholarship for attending. Not sure that Baylor is on DD’s short list so I may need to do some encouraging!!</p>
<p>My son cannot go after all! We haven’t called Baylor yet to let them know. </p>
<p>All-State auditions are that same Saturday morning! Bummer.</p>
<p>TxMom09,
Thanks for the information! Our problem is that we are coming from Colorado. I would not be comfortable leaving the other kids in our hotel alone. I’m not sure I’d even want them alone on campus anywhere. So we’ll probably need to tag team on the dinner. Thanks especially for the “dress code” info!</p>
<p>I attended the Invitation to Excellence a few weeks ago. For anybody looking at this thread in the future, I will include some information about the program:</p>
<p>I was only able to attend on Saturday. First, I signed in because I did not do so on Friday. We had a general meeting. Several admissions people and directors of different departments spoke. Next the students went on tours in groups (basically about 20 kids standing near each other were grouped together, no organized system of division). The tour was led by students of Baylor. I had been on a tour at a Sic 'Em Day before, but I enjoyed the I2E tour more because it was longer and had the student perspective. We ate lunch in the Memorial Dining Hall. I ended up sitting with some people from my tour group, but you were free to sit with anybody. We then split into our groups for the academic session. I went to the session on the Honors Programs (Sickness Unto Death). We began in a large group, listening to the Director of the Honors Programs speak. Then we split into small groups of 5. Oh yeah, this was after free Dr Pepper floats 
In the small groups, you had an interactive discussion with a student in an Honors Program or a professor about the theme of the session. We combined into an “intermediate group” (about 6 of the small groups) and compared ideas. Then we returned to the large group for a summary of the discussion and review of the Honors Programs. After this I believe we met back up with our parents for a closing session.</p>
<p>Overall I had a great experience. There were several free gifts and lots of informative handouts. My mom said that parents went to two (?) sessions while we were on our tour. I believe she did the Honors Programs and Study Abroad? Other than that, the parents were pretty free to do whatever they wanted. They did not have an organized lunch time or many other programs. Many parents went off campus and back to their hotels in the middle of the day. I think the program is mostly focused on the kids. Some people had younger children with them (presumably the families that came from other states). Though I’m sure the programs the parents attended did not interest the other children, the sessions were not very lengthy. So if the kids can sit still for a few hours, they are fine to attend with the parents.</p>
<p>In addition to being a NM semifinalist, I am on the mailing list and have been to other Baylor events. I believe if you have never contacted Baylor or replied to their mailers/emails, you might not receive an invitation (regardless of your NM standing). If you did not receive one, contact your admissions rep (they are very friendly and helpful). The I2E was definitely not geared specifically toward NM semifinalists. They did not even mention anything about the scholarships for NMF in the programs I attended. So if you are not a NM semifinalist, you are definitely welcome at I2E.</p>
<p>I hope this information helps! :)</p>
<p>PS I do not know what the dress was like on Friday, but I wore nice jeans and a dressy sweater on Saturday. I would have worn a dress, but I’m from Texas so the 50 degree weather was too cold for me However, there were some girls wearing dresses and skirts. Most guys were wearing polos or sweaters with khakis. Some had on slacks and button-down shirts. Overall anything other than athletic clothing or sloppy jeans/t-shirts would have been acceptable.</p>
<p>^Thanks,4college! That’s all great stuff! We sure do appreciate it.</p>
<p>(What’s “Sickness Unto Death” supposed to mean? lol)</p>
<p>SimpleLife: “Sickness Unto Death” refers to one of the four simultaneous afternoon sessions the students could participate in. I think that one in particular was about society’s fascination with death. (I participated in a different session.)</p>
<p>To reiterate what 4college2011 said, the program truly is targeted for more than just NMFs now. The salutatorian from my school and I were invited (I’m valedictorian) despite the fact that neither of us received NMF recognition. We are from a small public high school in Texas, and we happened to meet a few people from other states that were in the same situation.</p>