WACO, TX — Baylor University has broken enrollment freshman records for the first time in history.
“Even in the face of many unknowns and uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tremendous interest in a Baylor University education from prospective students and their families as well as from our continuing students never wavered," said Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
In 2014 the incoming freshman count was 3,625. That hasn’t been broken until the fall semester of 2020 with 3,731 students.
"It's really a testament to a full court press that we had across the university but a little bit of a miracle as well," VP of Marketing, Jason Cook said.
Overall, Baylor has an enrollment size of 19,297 students with 14,399 being undergraduates.
Jack O’Quinn is a freshman at Baylor. He says he chose to come to this school after both his parents graduated from there.
"I've grown up going to all the football games and stuff, and then also it's just a good Christian community," O'Quinn said. "I like the campus, it's very beautiful. It's just a good place to be."
Along with freshman rates rising, their graduate programs also rose 24%.
This is also the most diverse class Baylor has seen. Out-of-state enrollment is up to 38% and minority enrollment also rose to 37.9%
"The fact that Baylor has truly become a national brand. We're getting a lot of students from California, Colorado, Washing, Illinois, Tennessee," Cook said.
Baylor’s retention graduation rate is also breaking records. From fall 2019 to fall 2020, it's jumped one point to 92.5%.
