Waco Texas and Baylor University (Houston, Dallas: 2013, law school, universities)

[Bloopers]

Hi everyone! I wanted some opinions in regards to Waco, Texas. I was thinking of applying to a masters program at Baylor University as it seems like a pretty good school. Can anyone attest to this? I wanted to move to Austin, Texas as it seems like it would be a good city for a 22 year old, but I also wanted to choose a good school for the program I am interested in. Even if I do move to Waco to attend Baylor University, my goal would probably be to get a long-term job in Austin or Dallas.

Just wanted to get some opinions on the good/bad of Waco. I currently live in Orlando so you can imagine when I say there is never a dull day here, that I really mean it! I need a change though, and I'm not completely sure about Waco. I do not know anyone that lives there, by the way. The only family friend I have lives in Houston. Any advice/opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[need4speed2012]

ABOUT WACO.

City of Waco, Texas - Official Site

[TexasTallest]

Baylor is an excellent school, set amongst a very beautiful campus. There are plenty of extracurricular activities like intramurals, ect. to keep you active with other college students. If you enjoy the outdoors, Waco has some of the best mountain biking in the state at Cameron Park. Its a ~500 acre park along the Brazos River that offers everything from biking, hiking, and horseback riding, to disc golf, the zoo, ect. There is also an excellent wake board park that was voted the best park of 2013, called BSR (Barefoot Ski Ranch) that is very popular and wildly entertaining. Lake Waco is a large reservoir (over 13 sq miles) with great fishing, boating, and other water recreation activities.
Waco isnt the nicest city, but you can make it what you will. There is an area around campus called the "Baylor Bubble", distinguishing the difference between the local student housing and further out ghetto. With that said, most of the locals are very nice and its a decent city with most of the major amenities you look for in large metropolitan areas, but without all the people and traffic associated with the larger metros. I wouldnt choose to live in Waco permanently (though there are some nice areas of town like Castle Heights and the suburbs to the west along the lake), but for a place to stay while attending school, its not bad.

[RMFW]

I would definitely encourage you to visit before making any decisions. Baylor is a good school (in the upper tier but with plenty of company, even just looking at the major Texas private universities: Rice, TCU, SMU, etc.). Baylor is really large as far as private universities in the state go and has some fairly good graduate programs, but is mostly known for (some would argue buoyed by) it's law school which is very large.

I will say that Baylor tends to have very different images and reputations in state vs. out of state. While out of state it's reputation is benign or obscure at worst to generally favorable, in state Baylor is still weighed down by its stereotype as "the big southern baptist university where students couldn't dance (let alone drink) until the late nineties and the place where future conservative state politicians go to law school." Again, that's stereotype, but you should at least know that going into things rather than get the glossed-over version from the Baylor tour guides.

Waco has benefitted by the distance that time has put between it and the whole Branch Davidians saga, but it is still a city that remains the butt of many jokes in Texas and is very far from vibrancy (though efforts are being made to do what can be done). Really, everything there really tends to center around the university and (increasingly) it's athletics (which has only very recently achieved respectability).

Expect to spend a lot of time on campus or in Austin (not because of its proximity but because there's so little to be found in Waco).

[hoffdano]

The OP didn't say what he wants to study. But I would choose TCU over Baylor assuming TCU has the program you want. They have similar rankings in US News. I would choose TCU mostly because Fort Worth is much more interesting than Waco. TCU is also less obviously religious - which may or many not matter to you.

I would choose Texas A&M or UT-Austin over both.

[Bloopers]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

The OP didn't say what he wants to study. But I would choose TCU over Baylor assuming TCU has the program you want. They have similar rankings in US News. I would choose TCU mostly because Fort Worth is much more interesting than Waco. TCU is also less obviously religious - which may or many not matter to you.

I would choose Texas A&M or UT-Austin over both.

Healthcare Administration. I've taken rankings into consideration and Baylor ranked pretty high for this degree field among other TX schools. Actually, I don't think I even saw another Texas University that was ranked high for this degree. I really like the curriculum they offer along with a 7 month paid internship. I'm not a stranger to large universities as I currently attend one with over 60,000 students. They seem to also have connections with various hospitals, something my current school lacks, that is why I need to move. Are a lot of healthcare facilities in Waco? Tbh, I'm not feeling the city itself at all, but the school seems really nice. A lot of it will come down to if they offer any scholarships, but I'll see in a few months I guess.

[Westerntraveler]

Ive only been to Waco once but I really liked it.I have a friend who went to school there and she seemed to like it. However, I would not want to go to Baylor.Id rather send my kids to UT Austin or TAMU over Baylor or TCU honestly.

[Bloopers]

Originally Posted by Westerntraveler

Ive only been to Waco once but I really liked it.I have a friend who went to school there and she seemed to like it. However, I would not want to go to Baylor.Id rather send my kids to UT Austin or TAMU over Baylor or TCU honestly.

Reason being?

[hoffdano]

I have lived in Texas a long time and never met a person that said "I've only been to Waco once but I really liked it." But if you liked it - good for you.

Waco is 180 degrees opposite Austin or Fort Worth in vibe.

Baylor students are less uptight than the Southern Baptists that run the university. They have fun. But some of it probably happens when they leave town for away football games!

[Westerntraveler]

Originally Posted by Bloopers

Reason being?

Im Church of Christ not baptist