Baylor School - Review #2

Walkabout is an experiential outdoors learning program open to all students that offers day, weekend, and break trips. It introduced me to things like kayaking, backpacking, and rock climbing without having to invest in gear or find instruction.Round Table is a faculty-chosen small group for literary discussion that is considered an honor for participants. It was my first experience with high level analysis and prepared me for my most challenging collegiate English seminars.

The best thing I got out of boarding school was seeing what a real educational experience was like, before college. I'd been in a public school and while they tried, the resources just weren't there to make it any kind of a challenge. I was bored and coasting, and no one really cared. I had no academic interests and I didn't know what it was like to have to study. I would have gone to college unprepared.

I would have tried more of what was offered, academically, socially, and recreationally, from the very beginning. It took me a while to feel comfortable enough to explore the options.My advice would be to plunge right in. You can always back off if something isn't for you. Also, make relationships with the professors. At a boarding school, they generally really want to be there and they want to know about you. Being open to that gives you opportunities you might never have known about.

I liked that it had the right idea about being a whole world of educational experiences in and out of class. It wasn't just a holding pen for teenagers until college.

It has been so long that I'm sure a lot has changed. I liked studying on the library terraces, and lying in the sun on the crew docks. If you're a history person, the Civil War sights around the area are pretty good for hiking.

Every professor was engaged and present. You couldn't slide by even if you were smart enough to do the work without putting extraordinary effort in. They asked for more than your minimum, and were paying enough attention to gauge what you were actually capable of.

I liked that everyone had to do something active two seasons out of three. The varsity sports were highly competitive, but JV was open to everyone, and if you had no interest in sports at all, there were dance classes and weightlifting.

I really didn't do much in the music or theater areas, but there were numerous productions and my friends seemed to love the programs. I did take both AP Studio Art and AP Art History, as well as ceramics as my activity the term I had mono and had to be out of sports, and the instruction, freedom, and facilities were great.

The school does a good job of offering enough to keep boarding students active on weekends and nights, even those who don't keep cars on campus. The recreational program director seemed to accurately assess what the students who used the rec programs were really into and offer activities accordingly.

I thought dorm life was pretty good. The dorms are big enough to feel like you aren't under a microscope, but not so big you're anonymous. We had a team of dorm parents that lived in attached apartments as well as faculty that took shifts during the week. They'd come hang out and watch movies, bake snacks, etc. I liked that almost all the dorm parents lived somewhere on campus and felt like part of the community.

The dining hall was beautiful. River views, lots of glass. I appreciated that you had a lot of freedom in choosing when and what to eat, as well as not being overly supervised during meals. The food was pretty diverse and seasonal, with themed meals around both traditional American holidays and multicultural events.

Chattanooga was in transition when I attended. The best thing about it was how fast it was growing. Every week there was a new coffee shop or boutique. The river runs between campus and downtown, and there were a lot of cool places to walk and hang out. The city is surrounded by mountains, and getting out to go hiking or kayaking is really easy.

There's a lot of interaction between boarders and day students, which isn't the case at every school. I never felt forgotten or socially isolated as a boarder.I also really liked how diverse the foreign student population was. Asia, Europe, the Middle East... having so many backgrounds and perspectives really added to both the social and academic environment.