Baylor University Overview

Baylor University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Waco, Texas. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

What Is Baylor University Known For?

• The student loan default rate at Baylor is 4%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at Baylor.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 78% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Baylor with a bachelor's degree make about $51,600 a year. That's 26% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• It takes the average Baylor student 4.2 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Baylor University Rankings

Baylor is ranked #463 out of 2,320 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2021 Best Colleges list. It is also ranked #21 out of 159 schools in Texas.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Baylor has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#142	Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#260	Most Popular Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Baylor.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Best General Sales & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best General Business/Commerce Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#26	Best Management Information Systems Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#59	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#84	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Baylor has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#5	Best Colleges for Teacher Education Subject Specific	College Factual
#6	Best Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific	College Factual
#7	Best Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing	College Factual
#20	Best Colleges for Education	College Factual
#30	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#40	Best Colleges for Communication & Journalism	College Factual

Where Is Baylor University?

Contact details for Baylor are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	Waco, TX 76798
Phone:	254-710-1011
Website:	www.baylor.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baylor-University/61388081925
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/baylor

How Do I Get Into Baylor?

You can apply to Baylor online at: www.baylor.edu/admissions

Admission Requirements for Baylor

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Baylor?

You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to Baylor. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 39%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 41% of accepted students are men and 59% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 39%, and the acceptance rate for women is 39%.

Average Test Scores

About 36% of students accepted to Baylor submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 600 and 680. Math scores were between 590 and 680.

Baylor received ACT scores from 64% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 25 and 32. Math scores were between 25 and 29. Composite scores were between 26 and 31.

Can I Afford Baylor University?

The overall average net price of Baylor is $44,536. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Baylor, approximately 47% of students took out student loans averaging $11,254 a year. That adds up to $45,016 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Baylor is 3.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Baylor University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 14,108 undergraduate students at Baylor, with 13,906 being full-time and 202 being part-time.

There are also 3,925 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 13,906 full-time undergraduates at Baylor, 40% are male and 60% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Baylor University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	988
Black or African American	764
Hispanic or Latino	2,163
White	8,532
International Students	676
Other Races/Ethnicities	783

Geographic Diversity

Texas students aren't the only ones who study at Baylor University. At this time, 47 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 86 countries are represented at Baylor. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Nigeria, and South Korea.

Online Learning at Baylor University

In 2017-2018, 935 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Baylor has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 60th most popular in Texas for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.

Online Growth Rankings of Baylor

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Baylor University was 134.4%. This is the #300 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Baylor regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Baylor majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business, Management & Marketing	5%
Health Professions	2%
Nursing	15%
Public Administration & Social Service	8%
Social Work	6%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Baylor ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Baylor.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Social Work	#3
Public Administration & Social Service	#9
Nursing	#41
Business Administration & Management	#65
Health Professions	#78
Business, Management & Marketing	#86

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Baylor University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	159	0	196	0	355
Accounting	232	0	101	0	333
Nursing	264	0	22	7	293
General Biology	233	0	0	8	241
Marketing	191	0	0	0	191
Communication & Media Studies	139	0	15	0	154
Finance & Financial Management	153	0	0	0	153
Health & Physical Education	108	0	38	7	153
Health/Medical Prep Programs	137	0	0	0	137
Management Information Systems	128	0	0	0	128
Social Work	41	0	85	1	127
Communication Sciences	78	0	47	0	125
Law	0	0	0	118	118
Mechanical Engineering	105	0	4	1	110
General Psychology	93	0	6	4	103
Political Science & Government	96	0	3	4	103
Teacher Education Subject Specific	80	0	17	0	97
Entrepreneurial Studies	86	0	0	0	86
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	81	3	84
Journalism	73	0	8	0	81
Business/Managerial Economics	68	0	6	0	74
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	70	0	0	0	70
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	64	0	0	0	64
Music	39	0	22	2	63
General Business/Commerce	60	0	0	0	60
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	60	0	0	0	60
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	56	0	0	0	56
Electrical Engineering	46	0	5	3	54
Teacher Education Grade Specific	52	0	0	0	52
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	48	0	0	0	48
Sociology	35	0	7	3	45
Public Health	32	0	12	0	44
International Relations & National Security	43	0	1	0	44
General English Literature	26	0	6	11	43
Computer Science	39	0	3	0	42
Religious Studies	35	0	2	4	41
Mathematics	34	0	1	5	40
Real Estate	39	0	0	0	39
Interdisciplinary Studies	39	0	0	0	39
Human Development & Family Studies	38	0	0	0	38
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	38	0	38
Drama & Theater Arts	36	0	1	0	37
Chemistry	21	0	5	10	36
Human Resource Management	35	0	0	0	35
History	26	0	4	4	34
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	3	23	8	34
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	0	32	32
General Sales & Marketing	30	0	0	0	30
Allied Health Professions	8	0	0	21	29
Natural Resources Conservation	21	0	2	5	28
Romance Languages	23	0	4	0	27
Design & Applied Arts	27	0	0	0	27
Taxation	0	0	25	0	25
Fine & Studio Arts	25	0	0	0	25
Information Science	0	0	22	0	22
General Engineering	20	0	2	0	22
Food, Nutrition & Related Services	19	0	2	0	21
Philosophy	16	0	1	4	21
International Business	20	0	0	0	20
Educational Administration	0	0	17	1	18
Writing Studies	17	0	0	0	17
Anthropology	17	0	0	0	17
Statistics	5	0	6	5	16
Insurance	15	0	0	0	15
Geological & Earth Sciences	8	0	4	3	15
Physics	7	0	7	1	15
Air Transportation	15	0	0	0	15
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	7	4	11
Liberal Arts General Studies	11	0	0	0	11
Special Education	10	0	0	0	10
Museum Studies	0	0	10	0	10
Sacred Music	7	0	2	0	9
Applied Mathematics	8	0	0	0	8
Nutrition Science	0	0	8	0	8
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	5	0	0	0	5
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4	0	0	0	4
Biomedical Engineering	0	0	4	0	4
Classical Languages & Literature	4	0	0	0	4
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages	4	0	0	0	4
Public Administration	1	0	3	0	4
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	3	0	0	0	3
Area Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Germanic Languages	2	0	0	0	2
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	2	0	0	0	2
Astronomy & Astrophysics	2	0	0	0	2
General Family & Consumer Sciences	1	0	0	0	1
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	1	0	0	0	1
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	0	0	0
Computer Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	3,798	3	885	279	4,965

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Kairos14 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.