Some factors that you should know : I’m lesbian and asexual, black/white/Hispanic mixed woman, I’m atheist and liberal, I don’t know how to drive. (For campus life-social inclusion)
(For academics) I want to study journalism and I don’t know which offers a better program.
Also, Baylor is about 1 hour and 30 mins away from home, while OU is more like 3 hours away. But my mom said that if I went to ou in the first year she wouldn’t mind coming to pick me up.
My parents say to consider educational value more than social value and since Baylor is a “prestigious” private school, the namesake might cause biased assumptions for future employers. I’m just scared that I would be really lonely at Baylor and forced back into the closet. I visited the campus and it was really nice, everyone seemed to had bike racks full, but I also went when the students were on spring break.
I’ve been accepted to both and these are the only two options as all my other colleges are just too far for me with my situation to go to at least in the first year or two.
I feel like I might have a better social integration at OU but would the educational value be less? And again, even what I’m saying I’m unsure of because I just don’t know what it’s really like.
Also, I like to dress to express individuality, my style is sort of a hybrid of skater girl, emo/rock, and girly cool all in one. Like one day I’ll be wearing a crop top (not too cropped up though) and black ripped skinny jeans and shoes. The next day I’m wearing a tshirt with patterned jeans and boots. I just like experimenting, and I’m afraid that at Baylor, a conservative Christian private school, I’ll get outcasted for it.
How should I be looking at this? I also really don’t know which journalism program is better; I keep hearing and reading different things and I’m panicking about making the wrong decision.
Here on CC, many people will say OU because of what’s happening at Baylor.
What’s happening at Baylor?
OU for greater diversity, gender neutral housing, lgbt programs.
Both schools are good academically. Not much difference between them. Certainly not enough to sacrifice your comfort level. You will be more likely to stay and graduate in an environment that is a good fit socially.
What were your other options? You can always take a bus or airplane.
Google ‘Baylor rapes’ , there has been plenty of articles about Baylor issues.
Baylor definitely; its a better school than Oklahoma so after you graduate either for a job or grad school it might look better.
Socially: OU.
What are your specific career goals? What is it about journalism that attracts you?
I ask because the Department of Communication at OU is pretty solid. If you have a particular career within journalism that attracts you, fine, communication might not be your thing. But there are plenty of other communication-based jobs in fields like business/sales, publishing, politics that would suit many students who are not dead set on a journalism career. IMO, that would mitigate some of the prestige issues of OU vs Baylor.
What is the cost difference? Any affordability issues?
Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do specifically. Actually, I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I’ve done really well in my HS journalism classes and I thought that would be a more practical approach in terms of job opportunities. I also really want to double major or have a minor. I love languages and communication and anything with words/writing.
Even if I got my parents to allow me to fly back to Texas if I went to Mizzou or elsewhere, I don’t think I’m mentally and emotionally ready to be too far away.
My other schools I applied to were ut Arlington, Stephen f Austin, western Washington, U of Nevada, Mizzou,
Mizzou is very good for journalism. Being a 3 hour flight from home won’t feel much different from being a 3 hour drive from home unless you and your parents will visit each other often.
Both of those schools are conservative, so not exactly a great fit socially. Are you sure you can’t go further away?
Look into Communication, English, Spanish at OU. You’re not losing any program quality over Baylor with those majors/minors. Interning, networking, finding a mentor can make up for any perceived lack of practicality in the major.
I went to Mizzou for journalism. I’ll give you my 2 cents, but keep in mind I’m a parent, so it was a long time ago. I’m a straight white agnostic liberal female. I grew up in Colorado. I chose Mizzou specifically for journalism. Mizzou’s journalism program is top notch. Some of my classmates have risen very high - one just got appointed as a governor’s press secretary, for example. It is very hands-on. They have a daily newspaper that is circulated throughout Columbia, not just the campus. They have a network affiliate TV station, etc. If you go there, you will actually be published or broadcast-a lot.
For me, Mizzou didn’t turn out to be a good fit. Like you, I liked to write and also loved literature, but felt journalism was a more solid major in terms of being able to find a job after graduation. I liked reporting, but I didn’t love it. I ended up going to law school. My law school was in the upper Midwest in a very liberal city and was a much better fit for me.
I found the students at Mizzou to be very conservative and religious (and we’re talking Southern Baptist, not Unitarian) and I was shocked by the racism (such as a black doorman who wore white gloves and opened the door to the Delta Delta Delta sorority for all the white protestant sorority sisters-seriously, he stood on the front stoop all day to fulfill his role as a doorman). Having said that, there were a few liberals on campus and I did participate in some campus protests. There were also Latin American Studies and Peace Studies departments and I took a lot of electives in those departments. Looking back, that’s where my passions lay at the time, and I should have switched my major to Latin American Studies with a minor in Peace Studies.
I also made a really good group of friends - we were all RA’s in the dorms together. We have remained friends for life. I appreciate the fact that we do not share the same views because we challenge each other in a safe, respectful manner and I learn a lot from them. But if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen a liberal school where I had more in common with the majority of the students - which is why my D is only applying to liberal schools in the upper Midwest and the West Coast.
Mizzou was about 1,000 miles from my home. Because I applied there the summer before my freshman year, they didn’t have housing for me so I had to share bunk beds in a dorm lounge with 11 other students the first week or so. When my parents dropped me off and headed back to Colorado, I was terrified. How would I move all my stuff once I finally got a room assigned to me? Over Labor Day everyone went home (outside of the journalism program Mizzou mainly attracts in-state students) and I was too afraid to go to the dining hall by myself, so I ate saltines and peanut butter in my room all weekend. But I sucked it up and I got through it. And now one of my favorite quotes is: “Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.”
Best of luck to you, whatever you decide!
Are you in the honors college at OU or Mizzou?
The Baylor prestige may be a more local thing. Up here where I live no one has heard of it.
Go to OU. You have a better chance of making some friends and won’t need to hide your true self.
Mizzou lgbt org looks bigger than the one at OU. They even have a special group for lgbt people of color.
Mizzou
https://lgbtq.missouri.edu/
https://www.autostraddle.com/queer-girl-city-guide-columbia-mo-141144/
OU
http://www.ou.edu/gec/lgbtq-programs.html
Baylor does not have one.
Two of my close friends are OU alumni. One is a counselor who just started her private practice out here in WA; she had a successful private practice in OK before moving out here. The other one stayed at OU to get his PhD and now works with me at at my large,prestigious tech company.
I’m not trying to stereotype Baylor - I am sure there are LGBTQ people there, ace people there, maybe some atheists and liberals there too. But it’s a pretty conservative environment, and overtly Christian.
First, I question whether Baylor is more prestigious/“better” than OU. Perhaps regionally, but I’m from the East Coast and live on the West Coast, and Baylor isn’t a particularly “prestigious” school in either place- I mean, generally recognized as good to great, but so is OU.
And social integration is VERY important. You can’t succeed academically if you feel lonely and out of place, much less if you don’t feel like you can be yourself and out and proud. And you’ll learn almost as much from your classmates and the experiences you have in college as you will from your classes and professors. You want to feel like you fit in and are comfortable with your friends and colleagues at whatever university you attend, because that way you’ll really flourish and learn the most.
I’d choose Mizzou or OU, especially if you got into the Honors College there.
Baylor is not LGBTQ-friendly at all and based on your description of yourself, you may feel quite out of place or lonely there.
I just googled “Baylor and rapes” and…wow. I remember reading that now. I wouldn’t recommend that school to anyone, no matter what.