News Briefs

Setting a Record

Baylor enrollment was the highest in its history this fall, with 14,614 students in class, according to the official twelfth-day enrollment statistics.

The freshman class is the second largest in the university’s history, with 3,098 first-year students. It is only the third time that an incoming class has passed the 3,000-student mark. The freshman class is also the most diverse that Baylor has ever enrolled, with 35 percent minority students, up from last year’s 31 percent.

But the average SAT score for the incoming class came down slightly to 1190, compared with last year’s average of 1210. Lori Fogelman, director of media relations for Baylor, told the Baylor Lariat that only 52 percent of the class had their SAT scores tabulated in the average, and the rest used ACT scores. The ACT average, she said, showed improvement. Officials also noted that the incoming class had an increase over last year in “academic index,” a number that measures the combination of a student’s high school class rank with SAT and/or ACT scores.

Great Place to Work

The Chronicle of Higher Education listed Baylor in eight survey categories in its study of “Great Colleges to Work For” this summer. Baylor was in the large university classification and was cited for these areas: compensation and benefits, connection to institution and pride, facilities and security, job satisfaction, physical work space conditions, professional career-development programs, supervisor-department chair relationship, and work-life balance.

Locals Like Baylor

Baylor recently released the results of a study done last year of McLennan County residents and their perceptions of the university. The news was good. A Baylor press release noted that 89 percent of respondents said they viewed the school either “very favorably” or “somewhat favorably.”

Most of the respondents—55 percent—had no connection to Baylor, according to Dr. Charles T. Tolbert, chair of sociology and director of the Center for Community Research and Development, which conducted the study. All respondents were chosen randomly and interviewed by phone, and Baylor was not identified as the caller or sponsor.

Baylor Named “Best Buy”

Baylor was one of forty-four institutions named a “Best Buy” in the 2010 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Baylor was the only Texas Big 12 school to earn recognition in the list, which includes both public and private schools. The Fiske Guide ranked Baylor based on its ratings of the quality of the university’s academic programs in relation to the cost of attendance.

Iowa State was the only other Big 12 school that made the list. Three other private Texas schools made the list—Rice University, Trinity University, and the University of Dallas.

Scholarship Established