By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
From a record number of applications to record-breaking diversity, Baylor’s class of 2028 is already breaking boundaries less than a week into their time as Baylor students.
President Linda Livingstone spoke on Wednesday about the uniqueness of the class of 2028, especially in terms of diversity.
“We’re extremely excited about the academic quality, the diversity, the national and global reach of this class,” Livingstone said. “It’s going to be a fabulous class and a fabulous year.”
Baylor is unique in terms of higher education, according to Livingstone. Not only is it academically-focused, unapologetically Christian and involved in Power 4 Athletics, but it also is mid-sized, allowing students to build a community while being at a larger university.
“That combination is a really unique space in higher education,” Livingstone said. “I think students are recognizing that and want to be a part of that.”
According to Livingstone, Texas is one of the most diverse states in the country in terms of college-aged students. It’s important for the university to appeal to a diverse population because the population on campus is becoming more diverse.
When thinking about admission and recruiting students, Livingstone said she and her team has been looking to enhance academic quality and diversity of the student body.
“I think the last three classes have been the top three academically that we’ve had at Baylor,” Livingstone said. “I think we’ve really leaned into some of those things that have always been important to Baylor and we’re really seeing it pay off in the number of applications that we’re getting and… the quality of students that are coming to Baylor.”
Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president of Media and Public Relations, said in this freshman class, there are students from all 50 U.S. states and around 50 countries. Additionally, at 31%, it contains the most underrepresented minority students ever in a first-year class — 40% students of color and 42% male students, which is a 2% jump from last fall.
Fogleman said via email that Baylor is also excited to welcome nearly 350 transfer students to campus and “to help them get acclimated and engaged on campus.” Baylor also received a record-breaking 1,600 transfer applicants for this semester.
Baylor speaks a lot about its Christian mission, Livingstone said. It wants students to understand that Baylor is a place that is serious about its faith and is really preparing students to go out and have an impact in the world and in their academic field, but also from a faith perspective.
“We welcome students from all different backgrounds of different faiths.,” Livingstone said. “Certainly students come here that don’t necessarily come with a faith tradition, but we want them to be exposed to it while they’re here, so it’s a really embedded part of who we are at Baylor. We’ve worked really hard in the last several years to find new and more significant ways to embed our faith really throughout every experience that students have at Baylor.”
Livingstone said she hopes that the class feels cared for on campus, that they feel a part of what Baylor’s doing in terms of its mission and for students to get engaged early on campus.
“We want them to have an amazing academic experience, but we also want them… to grow spiritually while they’re here so that when they leave Baylor, they can go out with confidence that they’re going to be able to have a real impact and make a difference in the world in the ways that they want to do that, that they choose to do that,” Livingstone said.