Baylor Honors College Welcomes Outstanding New Freshman Class
With Baylor’s national profile continuing to rise, the Honors College looks to welcome one of its most academically impressive classes this fall. With over 350 students hailing from seven different countries and 32 states, this year’s class boasts 22 valedictorians, a median ACT score of 33, and 58 different majors being pursued in colleges and schools across Baylor’s campus.
“Top-flight college-bound high schoolers seek exceptional curriculum, academic enrichment, close mentoring, research experiences, residential community, and merit-based scholarships,” Honors College Dean Douglas Henry said. “By binding these things together in a Christian liberal arts education at a nationally distinguished research university, the Honors College provides the University an exceptional resource for recruiting high-ability undergraduates, whatever degree or major they seek. Once here, our Honors College students retain, graduate, and achieve at measurably higher rates. We are grateful to do our part in fulfilling Baylor’s bold mission.”
For media inquiries, please contact Emily Clark, BA ’14 | (254) 710-8486.
The Fall 2022 entering class of honors students brings academic abilities and interests bolstering each of the College’s four celebrated programs: Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Great Texts, Honors Program, and University Scholars. While numbers are not quite final, 41% percent of the Honors College’s 2022 freshmen class are Pre-Health, 15% are Pre-Law, and over 70% are ranked within the top 10 percent of their high school class.
For incoming freshmen and Getterman Scholar Mary Dickinson, the educational quality and range of the Honors College’s programs and curriculum helped solidify Baylor as her college choice.
“For me, when I was looking at colleges, I wanted to do two things: I wanted to study biology, but I also wanted to keep studying the classics like I had in high school,” Dickinson said. “Many of the colleges I looked at really force you to choose a discipline or double major, but the programs in Baylor’s Honors College really made it possible for me to continue studying two wildly different subjects that I am so passionate about.”
Each year, the Honors College works to recruits high-caliber students from around the globe through the combined efforts of Baylor Undergraduate Admissions and the Honors College’s recruitment committee. The College’s recruitment committee, led by Associate Director of Enrollment Management Erin Stamile, is comprised of faculty and staff from every area of the Honors College. The committee works to recruit, admit, and retain prospective students through a variety of strategies and events.
“In the last three years, virtual recruitment programs have given students a doorway to Baylor from their own homes,” Stamile said. “Additionally, programs such as Distinguished Scholars Day, Invitation to Excellence, and Getterman Scholars Day have grown larger and expanded, and as we’ve added multiple in-person and virtual programs, we’ve had the opportunity to meet more prospective students than ever before. The Honors College continues to be a beacon to students looking to grow in faith, experience richness in community, engage in the humanities, and delve deeply into their studies with dedicated faculty, staff, and student colleagues.”
With just weeks until move in, the Honors College looks forward to guiding and mentoring this group of incoming students as they begin their academic journey at Baylor.
“Each incoming student brings a special story with them to Baylor,” Henry said. “The Honors College provides a curriculum and a community of learning that helps each one understand and tell that story well. Along the way, their life narratives are enlarged in encountering others whose aspirations and receptiveness to God’s work in the world inspire them to dream bigger, think better, and open their hearts wider. We are excited that this year’s freshmen give us signs of grace and hope that the unfinished drama of humankind may, through Christ, draw nearer to its beautiful denouement.”
Students interested in joining the Baylor Honors College for fall 2023 have already started visiting campus. If you are interested in applying to the Honors College or touring campus, please visit baylor.edu/honorscollege for more information.
For media inquiries, please contact Emily Clark, BA ’14 | (254) 710-8486.
ABOUT THE HONORS COLLEGE AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
The Honors College at Baylor University unites four innovative interdisciplinary programs – the Honors Program, University Scholars, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and Great Texts – with a shared commitment to providing undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue questions that often fall between the cracks of the specialized disciplines by investigating the writings of scientists along with the writings of poets, historians and philosophers. For more information, visit baylor.edu/honorscollege.