Baylor We Are: A Melting Pot

The numbers bear it out: Baylor’s student body is more diverse than ever before.

Most noticeable are the changes in the student body’s mix of race/ethnicity, where Baylor’s undergraduate population has gone from 22% minority to 34.5% over the past decade. To give you some context, Baylor is now home to the second most diverse collection of students in the Big 12*; BU’s numbers are also higher than such peer institutions as Notre Dame, SMU and Wake Forest.

But such numbers aren’t the only way diversity plays out among students. Baylor students hail from 49 different states (all but Vermont) and 72 foreign countries (from Angola to Zimbabwe). And while 90% of students identify themselves with some form of Christianity, they represent about 30 different denominations.

Such variety adds to all areas of the educational experience, as students learn from one another both in and outside the classroom. It also prepares students for life in an increasingly global society.

Sic ’em, Baylor students!

* 2011-12 numbers: Texas 49.2%, Baylor 34.5%, Texas Tech 30.9%, Oklahoma 29.3%, Texas A&M 28.9%, Oklahoma State 25.2%, Kansas 22.4%, Kansas State 19.5%, Iowa State 18.2%, Missouri 17.3%. Also, TCU 24.8%, West Virginia 13.3%, Notre Dame 25.1%, SMU 32.3%, Wake Forest, 21.7%.