College profile
Baylor University
TX · Private nonprofit · Mid-size city · 39,735 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. General Sales, Merchandising and Related Marketing Operations grads from here earn about $125,167 four years out; music grads about $40,017 — a 3.1× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The 4× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$74,226/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$41,104/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~4× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students. Expect a high net price across most income brackets.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Health Professions (the two biggest majors)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1210, or ACT below 27, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- High cost — full price is ~$74,226/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$41,104/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
31% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 19% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Baylor University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Baylor University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Baylor University's own published aid policy · 2026-27
The Baylor Benefit Scholarship offers full tuition coverage for a select number of incoming freshmen with significant financial need and an adjusted gross income under $50,000. ... Families with an adjusted gross income under $50,000 as reported on the FAFSA ... If awarded, a student's Baylor tuition is fully covered by a combination of the Baylor Benefit Scholarship, Baylor Distinction Award (merit-based), federal grants, state grants and Baylor need-based grants. This award applies only to regular tuition costs and does not cover additional expenses such as housing, meal plans or other fees.
Income thresholds assume typical assets — and this college uses the CSS Profile, which can count home equity and business value the federal form ignores. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$361K ahead at full price +$494K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Baylor University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Baylor University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Baylor University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $128,411 |
| General Sales, Merchandising and Related Marketing Operations. | $125,167 |
| Business/Commerce, General. | $124,434 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $102,812 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $102,011 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $100,110 |
| Management Information Systems and Services. | $96,148 |
| Real Estate. | $94,027 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | $92,990 |
| Mathematics. | $89,618 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Baylor University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Baylor University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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Get your child's odds at Baylor University →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Baylor University?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
43 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Baylor University on it. Between them they printed 105 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Baylor University, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 33 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
7 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Baylor University on it. Between them they printed 24 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Baylor University, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 50 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantBaylor University is a private nonprofit four-year college in TX. It admitted 51% of applicants (39,735 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1210–1400, ACT 27–32. 31% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 19% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $41,104 a year on average with aid, $74,226 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $65,793 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $493,514 ahead with aid, $361,026 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($128,411); General Sales, Merchandising and Related Marketing Operations ($125,167); Business/Commerce, General ($124,434).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 34% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college for 2026-27: families earning under $50,000 pay no tuition.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Baylor University: 43, 105 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often The John Cooper School (3.8 per class year, 19 over 5 class years, Class of 2022 - 2026); Punahou School (3.2 per class year, 13 over 4 class years, the past four years (2022 – 2025)); Collegiate School (3.0 per class year, 3 over 1 class year, Class of 2026 College Enrollments / 2023-26 4-Year College Enrollments, counted column "Class of 2026 College Enrollments"). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/baylor-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Baylor University: 7, 24 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (11.0 per class year, 11 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); The Altamont School (1.2 per class year, 6 over 5 class years, Classes of 2021-2025); Canterbury School-Fort Myers (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/baylor-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/baylor-university.json