As my sons were growing up, I did the “right” thing…of giving them age-appropriate responsibilities.  Like “making” their beds.  Check.  Putting their toys back in the box.  Check.  Saying “please” and “thank you.”  Taking out the trash.  Feeding the dog.  Participating in Boy Scouts.  Getting a job.  Putting (a little) gas in the car periodically.  Check, check, check, check, check, check.

These building blocks continued and according to parenting experts, were the steps to help them become responsible young people, taking charge of themselves.

So why I am I still nagging them to get their college applications finished?

You’ve asked yourself (and them) the same question.  Again.  And again.  And again.

Baylor’s application process is open until February 1, 2019.

You want your student to complete the application, so that there is a “check” in that box.  Why is it so hard for them to get it done?

Students procrastinate…for many reasons, and rest assured, it’s probably NOT because of something that we did (or didn’t do) as we raised them.  But it can be frustrating for us to watch application deadlines loom while Suzie spends hours on social media or Johnny finds excuses to check his fantasy football team.

Baylor understands that students procrastinate.  (In fact, Baylor’s student engagement program, recognized as one of the best among national universities, offers a wealth of 1:1 resources to help students…more on that in a future post.)

Make sure your student completes the Baylor application soon, because Baylor loves all their students.  Even the procrastinators.

It will feel good to stop nagging.

And for a few days, the country pauses.

This week, we’ve watched the ceremonies commemorating the passing of our 41st President of the United States of America, George H. W. Bush.

Texans, particularly, stand proud, welcoming President Bush home, to join his beloved wife, Barbara, and daughter, Robin, at his museum in College Station, Texas.

Flags are lowered. Stories shared. Government quiets. Heads bow.

We pause.

For high school seniors, it’s the admissions season, often filled with stress. With waiting. Worrying. Disappointment. And often, joy.

George H.W. Bush shouldered more challenges than we can imagine. From being shot down in World War II as a 20-year old naval pilot, to losing a young daughter to leukemia, to moving his young family to Odessa, Texas, where he lived in a rooming house with others less fortunate.

We know how his story ended. And as Americans, we are grateful.

So, parents, during this busy season of admissions with our sons and daughters, let’s help them to pause…to find joy in their letters of acceptance. Perseverance in their disappointments. And fortitude to carry on through their senior year.  Remind them that their story is just being written.

Join us at Baylor, during this season of Advent, as we pause in anticipation of the joy who is Christ to come.

By Frances George

Thousands of college students are completing their semester finals, packing suitcases and preparing to come home for the Christmas holiday. After the requisite “long winter’s nap” where they will no doubt, enjoy the comfort of their own bed, they’ll wake up, and without rush, without concern for completing an assignment, your student will relax and be home. Enjoy. And somehow, as the days unfold before you, you will notice and enjoy something far greater than just their presence in your home. You will notice they are different somehow, more mature, more confident in who they are, maybe even wrestling with, but thinking in an adult manner, about their future, in a way unlike they did just a few months ago. They are looking toward the future and smiling.

What is the difference? In a word, Baylor.

Just last week, our junior daughter posted an Instagram story from the last Vertical meeting of the semester. Vertical’s campus-wide ministry met at Common Grounds coffee house where hundreds of students gathered to reflect on the past semester and look with great joy toward the new one. It was a collective “thank you” among the students to God for a semester of growing and walking with God.

While standing among the throng of students at Common Grounds, Catherine paused, snapped a picture that included not only the students around her but also the Collins parking deck in the distant background. She marked the photo in true insta story style, writing: “it was in this general area that I watched the sunset, the breeze surrounding me and thanked God for bringing me to Baylor and for what He had done so far in my freshman year. How amazing is it that 2.5 years later, I’m a junior standing here next to dear friends, praising God as a Vertical volunteer on the prayer team. God is so good.”

Baylor is a place where students are encouraged to reflect, take stock of where they’ve been and where they are going and then get to work doing what God has called them to do in this moment, in this season. They do this so often in the rhythm of the semester, that it becomes second nature to pause and reflect and record what they’ve learned wherever they are on campus. “Be the very best you can be. God uses it all! What unique thing does God have planned for your life? Here at Baylor, you will find your way.” This is not unique only to a few hundred students involved in campus ministry. It extends to the field of play. Football Coach Matt Rhule was recently quoted, saying, “I preach this message to our team that all the things that happen to you, happen to you for a reason. And they prepare you for the next opportunity.” This from a D1 football coach who thinks well about all things, the good and the difficult. This is a coach that does all things with eternity in view and he models it for his athletes. This is someone who reflects, takes stock, and gets to work, trusting God with the results. So, far… so Great! Sic’em Bears in the Texas Bowl!

However, this is not unique only to students in campus ministry, not only unique to student athletes. This commitment to excellence extends into the classroom… oh yes, one of the primary reasons your students are at Baylor!

“Be your best! Do your best. What does God have for you to do that is uniquely YOU? Find it here at Baylor.”

How do I know this to be the Baylor tenet repeated over and over and taught with practical application to each student? Princeton Review has recently released the top 25 Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies for 2019. Baylor has dramatically risen to #6! No surprise! In the classroom, students are encouraged to train their minds to think well about all things, to think beyond what they see and peer deeply and thoughtfully in to the unseen world of what could be. And apparently, they do it very well! I know this to be true from a 2018 alumnus, now living in Dallas, successfully working in mergers and acquisitions consulting, but not before co-founding a small business while an undergraduate (sophomore) at Baylor and successfully selling majority interest upon graduation, yet retaining a percentage of the enormously successful company right here in Waco, a business that serves our very own students on and off campus! He is an amazing young man, gifted and winsome and wise.

“There are so many opportunities out there. You’ll never know if you can succeed unless you try.”
–Ryan Snitzer, Baylor graduate Class of 2018, co-founder, Campus Crates

This type of thinking is fostered at Baylor. It is encouraged in the classroom every day and becomes reality on a regular basis. This ranking is real and deserved. I’ve seen the results in actual lives, Ryan Snitzer is exhibit A! I look forward to the day when Baylor is #1 and fully expect it to happen! Congratulations Entrepreneurship Studies!

But from where does all of this excellence originate: at the top, in an administration that seeks to educate students to think well, to be their best, to go beyond the status quo, not only in the classroom, but on the field of play, and in ministry. Because this administration too, does all things with eternity in view.

So, as you are sitting by the fire with family, wrapping those last minute Christmas gifts, traveling to visit family, listen well to your student. Listen for the lessons they have learned this semester. Listen to their words of gratitude, perhaps not in actual words spoken to you, but in the manner in which they carry themselves, more confidently than just a few months ago. Notice it in the way they speak, more eloquently than even last summer as they interact with their peers and elders over Christmas dinner and more compassionately when they speak to you. Baylor students are more poised, more purposeful than most.

“Thank you Mom. Thank you Dad, for sending me to this place called Baylor.”

You may not hear those exact words, although I’ll bet many of you will, but you will see those words in the life of your student. Growing up at Baylor is a blessing unmatched by any other school. God uses it all and in a moment, He will bring to remembrance, as He did with Catherine, a sense of tremendous gratitude for the privilege of attending such a university as this. And then in an instant… in an insta story, perhaps…you will be given a great gift, the rare glimpse into your student’s maturing heart, as they say with their life, “Thank you God for bringing me to Baylor.”

And that, as I always say, is the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

What follows is a tangible example of why we chose Baylor. There are stars among our students every day, though we as parents, may never see them. They are illuminating our students’ lives and minds and hearts day in and day out. And once the sun sets on our students’ time at Baylor, these stars’ influence will shine brightly. And you will be grateful for this place called Baylor…

Baylor Homecoming weekend was just a month ago, and you might have been expecting a blog about that happy event from me as Homecoming at Baylor is one of the highlights of the entire year on campus and this year was particularly special for our family. But what transpired this week on campus while I was 1,200 miles away in North Carolina, is the reason we have a Homecoming at Baylor to celebrate.

I, like probably many of you, have become jaded and/or deeply concerned in recent years by what transpires in the hearts and minds of many students across the country in a typical, top academic tier university classroom over the course of four years. The words “subtle (and not so subtle) indoctrination” come to mind. We read on almost a daily basis how many students walk away from their faith in college. We see pictures on social media and in the news, ad nauseam, of protests on campus and sit-ins, common at university administrators’ offices. We hear of rude and untoward behavior toward guests of the university when non politically correct speakers are invited on campus. (Even as I write this, I am so grateful for Baylor, a place so “other”.)

These behaviors and paradigm shifts among students take place on so many campuses and the genesis of this worldview shift begins in the classroom. Professors wield enormous power over students during critically formative years. You may wonder, is there a university anywhere unlike that which I just described? Even our thinking can become clouded with the constant barrage of negative images.

And so, when you receive a text from your student late in the semester, immediately following a class and the text reads:
“Wow. History class was, um, one for the books,” you might find yourself wondering, as I did, with a little trepidation… “Oh my! This is Baylor! What happened in the classroom, a history classroom, no less?” As a history major, my heart was conjuring up images of the aforementioned fears. Thus my immediate (yet calm and measured) response to my daughter was, “How so?’
What I received next brought tears to my eyes (and it was a bit of a “shame on me for thinking that” moment!) and reminded me again that this place called Baylor is unique. This is what Catherine wrote…
“It was about WW2. Our professor showed us a picture of his grandfather reading to him as a little boy. His grandfather was the only one of ten siblings to survive the Holocaust. Then we watched a video of college students last year (not on Baylor’s campus) protesting against Jews on their campus. And then we watched a documentary on the Holocaust. I understood Hitler in a way I had never understood. How could this have happened? What kind of a person can do that? I have so much sympathy for my professor and his family. Part of me wants to go to Europe now and see a concentration camp. This is real. Kate and I almost cried a couple of times during class. Oh Mom.”

I read that and put my phone down and once again thanked God for this place called Baylor.

It would have been easy (and immensely fun) to have written about Homecoming, that happy annual event of remembrance and celebration. But writing about this “50 minute moment” in my daughter’s life, a moment that no one will see on social media, reflects the heart of soul of why we all want to come to Homecoming at Baylor. At the end of the day, we want to remember well. We want our students to learn how to remember well. This history class is a microcosm of what takes place throughout Baylor’s campus every day, not only in the classroom, but on the field of play, among students involved in campus ministry and even as they walk from class to class with friends.

History came and sat next to my daughter this week and in that moment history reached not only her mind but her heart. “Remember well, Catherine.” My daughter grew up a little more this week and the result is an increasingly wise young woman with a sense of who she is and what she wants to become because of this place called Baylor.

One could say this is just one professor, in one section, of one history class, in one classroom, on one campus, unseen by millions in the world. However, I believe this professor is an example of one of Longfellow’s stars shining brightly at Baylor, though unseen my most, illuminating in my daughter’s heart and mind something deep and reverent… a renewed love of country and appreciation for those who sacrificed so much to secure freedom, a deeper compassion for those who hurt, and a renewed inspiration for making a difference with her life. One day, her light will shine and reflect the light she gained at Baylor in this class. And she will remember that Baylor’s light is simply a reflection of the Light that illumines all.

“Um…this class was one for the books.” No doubt. But what a book it will be.
Won’t you join us and begin your own book? Be inspired every day at this place called Baylor.

And that is, as I always say, “The Baylor Difference.”

By Frances George

It’s Homecoming week at Baylor. Sic ’em Bears!

And although I did not receive my undergraduate degree from Baylor, I am looking forward to Homecoming as if I had run the Line with my very own freshman class back in the day! I’m packing my suitcase, pulling out my Dapper Bear green and gold scarf, securing my BU luggage tags on my carry-on, and making sure I have my “Baylor Kappa Mom” big button to wear on Saturday! I’m getting excited about Torchy’s, ready to find a new food truck at the Pep Rally on Friday night, and telling parents of freshman about shopping at Spice and eating at Ninfa’s!

I have two daughters with three Baylor degrees between them as of 2020 and so I make my way down to Waco several times a year. I look forward to driving onto campus from I-35… always under some sort of construction I have learned from years of driving in from DFW… but no matter! When I see McLane stadium on the left and the beautiful suspension bridge ahead, the Clifton Robinson Tower on the right and the Alico building downtown in the cityscape skyline, I feel like I’m home even though I am 1,200 miles away from my house! Exit 335- C here I come! This place called “Baylor.”

How can that be? My college campus in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is beautiful and storied, full of ivy covered buildings and a college- centered downtown and fun football Saturdays. It holds many memories, to be sure. It is the place where I became a follower of Christ.
But there is this place called “Baylor”… and it is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

Just last week our younger daughter was getting ready to go on a date with a young man she is just beginning to know. They serve together in Vertical, the campus ministry. As she was getting ready and as you might imagine, a little nervous, she texted me later, after the date and said, “Mom, while I was getting ready, I was reading and praying Hebrews 3 and I surrendered the night to God. We had a blast!” What college develops and encourages that kind of thinking among its students, students who absolutely know how to have great time but also know how to keep their eyes on Christ? This place called “Baylor.”

Last Monday, we hosted twenty parents of current students in our home in Raleigh, North Carolina for a NC Baylor Nation Family Dinner and Prayer time. The scheduled end time was 8:30. The last guest left at 10:15! But that’s what family does. We lingered over coffee and dessert and prayed for our children by name, from freshmen to seniors. At one point, several parents said, “This night was like a Thanksgiving dinner with family.” What college has regularly scheduled Parents in Prayer Dinners throughout the year across the country praying for students by name? This place called “Baylor.”

Later in the week, I was reading an Oswald Chambers devotion from the early twentieth century and as I read, I thought, “This could be said of Baylor today, one hundred years later!” “I have chosen you.” Keep that note of greatness in your creed. Here in this college, God is at work, bending, breaking, moulding, doing just as He chooses. Why He is doing it? He is doing it for one purpose only – that He may be able to say, “This is My man, My woman.” This is true at this place called “Baylor.”

As I walk through the campus and meet new students with each visit to Baylor, I see malleable young men and women, eager to know God’s best for them academically, socially and spiritually. I see it in the way they carry themselves on campus. I see it in the way they honor their campus and its heritage and history. I see it in the way they do all things with excellence. I see it on Sunday mornings when I worship with them when I could return to my home state and my home church but I’d rather be here with the students and catch a glimpse into the future of what God is doing with the next generation. In these students I see great hope. I see it at this place called “Baylor.”

There may be a college campus that has more history or more ivy-covered buildings, but when you look for the light, the illumination emanating from the institution, what do you see? Increasingly so at many colleges and universities, there may be “lovely” but there is very little “light.”

Recently I heard an illustration that makes my point: You may have the best logs for a fire, arranged in a most lovely and perfect manner that will give the most light and yet, if you never light the fire, all of the perfection of the logs and their arrangement is for naught. At Baylor, not only are the “logs” arranged in a most beautiful manner, from Fountain Mall, to the statue of the Immortal 10, to the flowering gardens in front of Pat Neff, and of course the Baylor Bookstore (the most beautiful campus bookstore in the country!) but the logs have actually been lit by Baylor’s forefathers and founders, and the fire continues burn brightly by our current faculty and staff, as they fan the flame, giving light to our students. This is a rare find at a top tier university today. But it is commonplace… at this place called “Baylor.”

So as you pack your bags and plan your visit to Baylor for Homecoming where you’ll see (and feel the heat from!) the greatest bonfire you’ll ever witness, as you pack that sweater to stand on the sidewalk early Saturday morning with hundreds and hundreds of students, faculty, families, and friends and watch the largest and longest continually running Homecoming parade in the nation with floats that have been designed for months and built by students, as you get ready to watch the freshman run the Baylor Line in McLane on Saturday and see 1000+ students spill onto the field in their yellow jerseys like yellow paint… as you do all of this and more, know that there is this place where hope resides, where students are of the highest caliber in character, where faculty and staff are intentionally pouring into our students to grow them into young men and women who will give light to the world because they know the Light of the world. As you do all of this, know that you are in a unique and wonderful place.

This place called “Baylor.”

And that name, in and of itself is, as I always say, the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

Are you and your student in the midst of college applications? So many choices. Are you wondering, “Should my beloved stay close to home, close to me for college, attend my alma mater, or should I let him or her try their wings and take flight and go to that school that is not just down the street or down the interstate, or even within the state?” This blog will hopefully remind you that yes, though you may think you are losing something by sending your child to a school that is not your alma mater, not just down the street, you are actually gaining so much and more importantly, so is your student.

This truth came to my mind with several non-connected events just this past week.

I was at a leaders’ meeting early this week for a women’s Bible study I attend. One of the leaders walked in and though her mother had just passed from Time to Eternity the night before, there she was. At one point, she answered one of the study’s questions, making a personal application from her mother’s very recent passing. She said she woke up and was struck by not only the death of her mother but her father-in-law’s death just the week prior and a difficult season in her own personal life. She said she had prayed that morning, “God, so much loss.” And then she said that it was as if an audible voice spoke to her heart clearly saying, “My dear daughter, you see loss. But, oh, look how much you’ve gained…a new grandchild from one child and a son-in-law from another. So much gain.”

We are halfway through the semester at Baylor. Week 8.5. Midterms are piling up. Papers are coming due for our students. Thanksgiving and Christmas seem so far away. Rehearsals for Pigskin Revue are getting later and later…so much loss…of sleep! And for you as parents, you might be thinking, “How could I send my child so far and not be there to help navigate it all?”

But may I remind you, that though those things may hold a modicum of truth in one sense, let me assure you, the gain of being at Baylor far outweighs the loss of distance and familiarity. Just now, I listened to a podcast of Dale Wallace from Baylor’s “Vertical,” a weekly Baylor Bible study with over 1,000 students in attendance. Dale challenged our students to find their rest in Jesus. He reminded them that, yes, we need to pause. We need to stop, to rest, and take stock but without Jesus at the center, it is hollow rest. “The purpose of the pause is to point to the person of Jesus.” Oh, look how much our students have gained from the wise words of a Baylor graduate, who has chosen to stay on campus in ministry and encourage our students concerning matters holding eternal significance.

This is the gain of choosing Baylor: students constantly encouraged to press into knowing Christ more.

In another Vertical Bible Study earlier in the semester, Dale encouraged the students to live on mission with 5 challenges:

• To work while they wait for God to move in circumstances
• To develop a heart for others in class and on campus
• To be faithful no matter the place or platform…be faithful with the little things. The platform will come in time.
• To be bold and relevant in their conversations about Jesus with classmates–to develop that heart and establish rapport and then give the reason for the hope they possess, in Christ.
• To be obedient no matter the outcome and remember, the outcome isn’t up to them. It’s up to God. Trust Him.

This is the gain of choosing Baylor: practical ways to live out your faith presented to you and 1,000 of your closest friends each week! (I have actually, with Dale’s permission, shared these five truths with a women’s ministry team here in North Carolina! The gain goes beyond the Baylor campus!)

And yet there was more: The evening concluded with the story of a former Baylor graduate student who was challenged by a friend with this statement when he arrived at Baylor and started a small Bible study in his apartment. The friend said, “God has brought you to Baylor for a purpose.” That Bible study grew to the point that over 10% of Baylor’s entire population came each week to study the Word (Baylor has nearly 17,000 students. You do the math!). After ten years on Baylor’s campus, this graduate student, Louie Giglio, finished his work at Baylor and founded The Passion Movement where millions of college students have gathered around the globe annually to worship and know God more fully and deeply. And it all began at Baylor, with one Bible study, in one graduate student’s apartment, who understood what living life on mission meant and a friend, who was an encourager, reminding him that “God brought you to Baylor for a purpose.”

This is the gain of choosing Baylor: a place that develops leaders who go on to impact a generation and a place that develops friendships that encourage a heart.

The evening’s message ended with a prayer for the students who represent the future, the classes of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022… “You can have an impact now. May this group of students gathered here tonight change the world as you begin to realize you are here on mission. You are here for a reason.”

This is the gain of choosing Baylor: students who realize they are at Baylor for a reason, a reason that intentionally weaves together their Baylor experience with their academic endeavors. Each student’s Baylor degree serves as a launching pad for living life on mission, changing the culture, changing the world, skills honed while at Baylor.

Could it be that God is saying to your student, “God is bringing you to Baylor for a reason.”

You see, at Baylor our students don’t only hear this at a campus ministry gathering. They hear it in the classroom, from professors who challenge them to be their best academically and spiritually. They hear it from their peers, a student body made up of a caliber of students unlike any other university in the country. Baylor students are not only exceptional in academics. They are exceptional in character. I see it in the little things, in the way a young man asks for a date by saying, “May I have the privilege of taking you to dinner?” I know. It happened to my daughter.

The measure of Baylor students is found in the strength of their character. Character begins at the top and is found in the example of a President whose first act as Baylor’s President was to gather her closest staff… and pray. And it makes its way down to professors and in the life of campus ministry directors who challenge the students to find rest – even during midterm season – by residing in Jesus. It is found in the upperclassman taking a young underclassman under her wing and showing her the way.

The loss you may sense because of distance is far outweighed by the gain of all that is Baylor. You cannot understand it until you spend some time here. Baylor is more than a university name.  Come for a visit and you will begin to see all you will gain and say with me from 1,200 miles away, “Loss? What loss? Oh, look how much we’ve gained.”

It is… the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

There is a verse in Scripture that says, “He brought me forth into a large place…because He delighted in me.”

As I just now read this passage, my mind suddenly pictured a myriad of parents across the country who have a student beginning their journey at Baylor, and maybe today Baylor seems like “a very large place.” And you may wonder, through a few tears on the phone with your freshman and when you see that item at home that was accidentally left behind, “Was this right? Did my beloved choose well? It’s so big and (for some, like our family) so far!”

I am here to assure you, you chose well. Very well.

Our family first came to Baylor in the fall of 2012 when our elder daughter began her Baylor journey which would ultimately conclude with two Baylor degrees in 5 years – a BA and a BSN.  Now she is supremely happy as Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, serving the tiniest among us. He brought her to a large place: Baylor University in Waco and then in Dallas at Baylor Medical and Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing. Now she is in an even a larger place. Baylor made the difference. Our younger daughter, whom we thought would never leave the close proximity of home (we are 1,200 miles from Baylor, in North Carolina), chose Baylor over eight other schools across the country and over a million dollars in combined scholarship awards. He brought Catherine to a very large place: Baylor. And as she began her junior year this week, coming “home” to Baylor was a seamless transition and as easy as walking on our family farm – a large place with hundreds of acres but secure and safe, every acre known, paths traced and retraced, filled with happy memories dotting every step along the way. The swing under the tree on Fountain Mall, the event where we met, meals in Memorial, the classroom building where I found my best friend in that 8AM class, and McLane Stadium where I cheered until I was hoarse after running the Baylor Line in a sea of yellow “painted” jerseys. A large place, indeed, but one that is the epitome of joy realized and dreams fulfilled.

Coming back to Baylor this year, I watched from a distance, as I helped Catherine set up her new house with her roommate, and saw firsthand the steady stream of friends coming and going, welcoming each other back. I stepped back and observed, hearing joy in the squeals of delight of girls seeing each other after a summer of traveling abroad, working at camp, or just sitting by a pool taking an academic hiatus for a few weeks.  You would think they hadn’t seen each other for years instead of just weeks! I smiled as a young man helped Catherine hang curtains and set up the heaviest pieces in her room, laughter floating down to the first floor where I was working on another project. The depth of friendship that has grown over the past year through good times and hard times, always being there for my daughter, made this mother smile. (Yes, young men at Baylor are a different breed. They are gentlemen and well-spoken, thoughtful and yes, reams of fun with their big black trucks!)  The very first weekend back, the girls hosted a housewarming to invite friends to see the new house named “The Owls’ Retreat,” enjoy dessert and their big new porch, followed by a very large annual “Welcome Back” event hosted by a group of young men for hundreds of students! A large space but one that feels like home.

This scene was repeated all over campus among returning students. A large family on a large property with large joy… because He delights to give good gifts to our children. Parents, remember this: Baylor is a gift. And when, as a parent of a freshman, you wonder, “How will they ever learn to do all of this – navigate classes, and campus and coeds – remember, it’s Baylor. It’s a university filled with students who are set apart from other schools, one that grows young men and women into adults over the course of four years, and along the way there is much laughter and love to enjoy. “Oh, I’ve missed you!” being repeated a hundred times over the course of the first days back, the big “Welcome home” hug of a treasured friend, reminding me, that my daughter has gems in the form of close friends, makes me realize that this large place is very special indeed. These four brief years are the treasure where life lessons are learned, where friendships for life are grown and where the shaping of the next generation is taking place in a most wonderful place.

Be at peace, parents of freshmen. This large place will soon feel like home, full of delight and life lessons, laughter and love, and though it may seem large today, Baylor will feel like their own back yard so very soon. You’ll see the transformation and shed tears of happy joy, like I did this past week. And then, they’ll wish it would all slow down so they could linger a little while longer. You will too.

And that, as always is the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

There is a story from years ago of an old man who walked about town with an oil can and wherever he found a squeaky door or roughly hinged gate, he would use his oil can and make the way easier for the one who came after him. It is my hope that as you read this, your uncertainty over college will subside and in your mind and heart, the door will open wide and without hesitation and you allow your son or daughter to walk through it…to Baylor.

Many of you are deciding where your son or daughter will spend the next chapter of their life. I have two daughters who have attended and are currently attending Baylor, beginning in 2012 through 2020. They will complete their time at Baylor with a total three degrees between them. My elder daughter is receiving her second Baylor degree in May and my youngest graduates in 2020. Over the years I have witnessed much of college life from a Baylor perspective. May I submit to you that the Baylor difference is real. Just this morning I was talking with a mom in another state about the Baylor difference. I shared with her the things that set Baylor apart. I told her stories of financial sacrifice on the part of parents in order to send their child to a private university (We are in that category!) I told her stories of distance (We are 1200 miles from our girls). And I told her stories of the academic rigor that accompanies a top tier institution (Yes, that describes us as well! Our girls work extremely hard each year.) These things are all true of Baylor. But as I told this mom just a few minutes ago, there is no sacrifice too big, no distance too great, no rigor too overwhelming that supersedes choosing a university where professors share our faith, for a college community that encourages faith, for the myriad of churches in Waco that grow our children’s faith, and for the deep friendships that make faith such fun. Baylor is unique.

Just last week my younger daughter submitted a paper in one of her classes and in her conclusion she quoted a verse from scripture. My daughter sent the paper to me to share with my 91 year old father, as the paper referenced him and his experience during the Great Depression. Someone in the room with us, who taught at the college level in a state school asked, “Won’t your daughter be graded down for quoting scripture in an academic paper? Won’t this professor be off-put by her blatant display of faith?” My answer, was “No. This is Baylor. This university is different.” I remember thinking once again how grateful I am again for Baylor.

Baylor is worth the cost, worth the sacrifice of distance, and worth the challenge that accompanies academic rigor. Four years at Baylor will make your sons and daughters better prepared to enter the world than most college graduates. A Baylor education is much more than the time spent in the classroom. It is a life experience that takes the long view. Baylor does all things, as the great English orphan protector and provider George Mueller said, “with eternity in view.”

It is costly? Yes. Is it far away from home? Yes. Is it challenging academically, requiring many hours in the library? Yes. But is it worth it? That is the ultimate question each parent must answer. Most things in life of value come with a cost to us. The cost may include the sacrifice of not having our children right down the street but the result: amazing young adults who learn “life” apart from us and yet are surrounded and mentored for four years by wise men and women who teach and do life with our children. The friends, the faculty, the faith found at Baylor are like the old man with the oil can and our children are the recipients of that grace. And likewise, your children then become the “old man with the oil can” to the students who will come after them. How do I know this to be true? Because I’ve seen it, in not just one but two daughters at Baylor. This institution has shaped my daughters, who pour into others’ lives each day, like the old man with the oil can. Baylor is absolutely worth it. Life is about choices. Choose well. Choose Baylor. You will not regret it.

And that is the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

Last week I was on campus and found myself parked in a parking lot next to the Stacy Riddle Forum. This beautiful brick and columned building houses the women’s Panhellenic sorority meeting rooms. As I sat in the car in the late afternoon, waiting for my daughter to get out of class to meet me for a quick dinner, I noticed the exquisite stained glass in a set of windows. There is a chapel in the building. To me, that says a great deal. What it does not say is sometimes as important as what it says. A chapel does not say all is rosy all the time. Sometimes freshmen, sophomores, juniors and even seniors have tough days on campus and off. Perhaps there is a class in which you can’t seem to keep your head above water, there is a roommate who has turned out to be less than what you expected, someone has crushed your hopes for the weekend or simply, home seems very far away right now. College is not always the best of the best…on the surface. But there is the chapel. And in that chapel there is hope. And hope is a cornerstone of who Baylor is. It is not a “hope for,” a wish that may or may not come to fruition but rather a hope in what I know to be true and in that hope I can place my trust and know it will be alright because someone bigger than myself is in control. That is Baylor.

Here in this building, a building which represents fun and philanthropy, scholarship and sisterhood all rolled up in one package, there is a room, not tucked away in the back, not given as the leftovers of the building budget, but rather a lovely space with stained glass, prominently positioned in the very front of the building, as soon as you walk in…to your right. Perfectly placed, I’d say. You can’t miss it and that’s the point.

Because you see, even in college, in Greek life, in academic life, Baylor knows where the anchor is and they have built their institution on that very firm Foundation and it is on display around campus for all to see. Because Baylor knows that no roommate will always be there for you like Christ will be. No sorority sister will understand every crisis, no boyfriend will ever love you perfectly, and a perfect 4.0 GPA will not guarantee perfect peace. But Christ will do all of those things and more and weather every storm for four years and more. And yet just like stained glass, you can’t see through it. You can’t see what’s inside from being on the outside. And while that may seem discouraging at first and you may wonder, “Why can’t I see it all right now?” upon closer investigation, a different vantage point, and over time, what was once opaque displays its most spectacular beauty from within and becomes the most encouraging encounter ever. You were never intended to see it only from the outside. The real beauty comes from within. Opaque from the outside but complete peace inside where the light streams through the colored glass and creates a beautiful view only known to those who have ventured to come inside. So much like the college years…arriving on campus that first day, not knowing, not seeing it all clearly but somehow knowing, “this is the place” and by the end, when you walk across the platform, diploma in hand, you realize you’ve made your way “inside” and all things are clear and more beautiful than you could have imagined. Illumination from the Son through the stained glass. That’s the beauty of Baylor.

Baylor not only acknowledges that truth in its philosophy you read in print but Baylor intentionally puts it on display in its buildings, on its buildings, and on the “playlist” of the bells that echo from the lovely old centerpiece Pat Neff Hall each day, hymns that ring out across the campus with the sound of hope. Just this past week my daughter texted me saying, “Mom, the bells are playing my favorite song! Listen!” and she held the phone up to the breeze and I heard an old familiar tune of hope. In the late semester as December and exams are ahead, Christmas carols seem to remind the students that hope is not far off or “That Good Old Baylor Line” reminds the students that we are a family bound by more than classrooms and grades.

So as the semester begins anew for the classes of 2018, ’19, ’20, and ’21, and as your student is looking for a place to call home for the next four years, consider Baylor. When I consider the great things that occur in college and even when I consider the hard times in college, challenges that every student will face in one form or another, there is no other place I’d rather have my daughter walk through them than at Baylor where a chapel is only a few steps away and where the music on the afternoon breeze reminds our students, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

And that is the Baylor difference.