By Abby Rathburn | Staff Writer
On Friday and Saturday, Baylor hosted Invitation to Excellence, also known as I2E. This recruitment event invites high-achieving students from across the country to experience Baylor firsthand. By simply showing up, prospective students receive an automatic $5,000 scholarship.
Friday features a reception in Carlton Hall, including a variety of local vendors. Students and parents are split up on Saturday, allowing students to experience the academic environment further, while parents learn about university support systems. Families reconvened at Dr Pepper Hour before free time to explore the campus.
Assistant Director of Campus Events Blake Sunny said about 900 students attended. Although the university typically provides students with two dates to choose from, due to nationwide inclement weather, the Jan. 23-24 event had to be canceled.
“We’ve actually increased around 35% overall in there, so our total visitors, including our parents and families, are actually around 2,360, last time I checked,” Sunny said.
Baylor pulled together its resources to accommodate this increase in numbers. Although it was a challenge, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management Ross VanDyke thanked the university for its contributions to making this event possible.
“While undergraduate admissions sponsors it, it’s really an all-university event. We couldn’t do it without institutional events, without campus living and learning, without dining, without the academic units being able to showcase who they are and what they do,” VanDyke said. “So I think it’s really neat that we all kind of come together to be able to show the best of Baylor.”
Upon being notified of the cancelation, the university removed anxiety by guaranteeing students a scholarship, whether they choose to attend the later date or not. Both VanDyke and Sunny found it encouraging that many families still chose to make an appearance.
Amid uncertainty, the university emphasized why this group of students remains a recruitment priority.
“I would add that this is probably the most recruited group of students in the country. These are the students that everyone is fighting over, as it relates to their high academics and what their potential is for what they would do one day,” VanDyke said.
Many prospective students, such as San Antonio student Mercy Wean, described feeling both personally drawn and actively welcomed by the university and the community it offers.
“I’ve always been drawn to it because of its Christian atmosphere, and ever since middle school, I’ve been interested, and that’s just built up more,” Wean said. “And all the people are so nice, and it’s such a great environment, so I think that’s why it’s always where I wanted to be.”
Within I2E, there is a subset of approximately 30 students known as the Getterman Fellows. In addition to participating in I2E, these students compete for three full-ride scholarships awarded each year.
Mary Dickinson, a Plano senior and Getterman Scholar, reflected on how she felt just four short years ago.
“They give you a lot of opportunities to talk to professors at Invitation to Excellence because they have academic open houses and stuff like that,” Dickinson said. “I think that was something that was really helpful to me when I was preparing to go to college — knowing the people that I was going to be working with.”
These scholarship opportunities are very important for prospective students as Baylor’s tuition sticker price continues to rise. Dickinson recalls being on a mission trip in Alaska when she received a voicemail about her future at Baylor.
“And then finally, one week, he actually called me, and I was able to pick [up], it was crazy because I knew that if I didn’t get a big scholarship, I wasn’t going to be able to afford Baylor,” Dickinson said. “So it was definitely this very peaceful moment of, ‘Wait, I’m going to be able to afford college.’”
