住在校园里的贝勒学生有多种选择。有些人选择与同龄的其他学生住在一起；有些人选择与有相似学术或课外兴趣的学生住在一起；还有些人选择住在由教师主导的住宿学院。
Baylor students living on campus have a variety of options. Some choose to live with other students their age; others, with students who have similar academic or extracurricular interests; still others, in faculty-led residential colleges.
贝勒非常重视这些机会，而且有了成效。《美国新闻》最近将贝勒的学习社区评为全美前 10 名——仅次于耶鲁、密歇根和普林斯顿等学校，并且领先于几乎所有其他学校。（这项荣誉将贝勒列为 Big 12 中的第一名、大型私立大学中的第一名、德克萨斯州的第二名和基督教大学中的第二名。）
Baylor takes these opportunities seriously, and it shows. U.S. News recently recognized Baylor’s learning communities among the top 10 in the nation — just behind schools like Yale, Michigan and Princeton, and ahead of, well, just about everyone else. (The honor ranked Baylor No. 1 in the Big 12, No. 1 among large private universities, No. 2 in Texas and No. 2 among Christian universities.)
“[我们的目标] 是帮助学生尽可能地取得成功，并真正感受到我们住宿社区的欢迎，”贝勒的住宿学习副主任 Rob Engblom 博士告诉 Lariat。
“[Our goal] is to help students be as successful as possible and really feel welcome within our residential communities,” Dr. Rob Engblom, Baylor’s associate director for resident learning, told the Lariat.
一年级社区是传统的大一学生宿舍（例如 Collins 和 Penland），让一年级学生有机会与其他有不同兴趣和专业的一年级学生住在一起。高年级社区（位于大学公园）提供类似的服务，但拥有公寓生活的便利设施。
First-Year Communities are your traditional freshman residence halls (such as Collins and Penland), allowing first-year students the opportunity to live with other first-year students who have different interests and majors. Upper-Division Community (at University Parks) offers something similar, but with the amenities of apartment living.
生活学习社区 (LLC) 围绕特定的学术课程或课外兴趣组织，例如 Earle Hall 的科学与健康 LLC 或 Brooks Flats 的商业与创新 LLC。所有类别的学生都与具有相似兴趣或学位计划的其他学生住在一起，一起分享特殊课程和课程。
Living-Learning Communities (LLCs) are organized around specific academic programs or extracurricular interests, such as the Science & Health LLC in Earle Hall or the Business & Innovation LLC in Brooks Flats. Students of all classifications live among other students with similar interests or degree plans, sharing special programs and classes together.
住宿学院是由教师领导的社区，通过密集的师生互动促进学术卓越，例如 Alexander 和 Memorial 的荣誉住宿学院。所有类别的学生都住在贝勒的住宿学院，通过各种活动享受特殊的社区感，这些活动有助于学生彼此联系并与教职员工建立联系。
Residential Colleges are faculty-led communities that foster academic excellence through intensive faculty-student interaction, such as the Honors Residential College in Alexander and Memorial. Students of all classifications live in Baylor’s Residential Colleges, enjoying a special sense of community through events and activities that help students connect with each other and faculty/staff.
除了宿舍主任和社区领导外，每个贝勒宿舍都有自己的驻校教师（住在学生旁边的教授）和驻校牧师（住在现场提供精神关怀的 Truett 神学院学生）来帮助指导和服务住在那里的学生。
In addition to the hall director and community leaders, every Baylor residence hall has its own faculty-in-residence (a professor who lives in the hall right alongside the students) and resident chaplain (a Truett Seminary student who lives on-site to provide spiritual care) to help guide and serve the students who live there.
在贝勒大学这样规模的学校中，很难找到这样的社区。美国新闻排名前 25 位的其他学校要么规模大得多（例如旗舰州立学校，拥有大量资源来支持此类项目），要么规模小得多（前 25 名中约有三分之一的学校本科生人数为 5,000 人或更少，这自然有助于形成更紧密的社区）。只有三所规模与贝勒大学相当的学校（本科生人数在 10,000-20,000 人之间）进入前 25 名，而贝勒大学是该群体中唯一的宗教学校——再次证明了贝勒大学在高等教育领域的独特地位。
It’s rare to find such community in a school Baylor’s size. Most of the other schools in U.S. News‘ top 25 are either much larger (such as flagship state schools, with massive resources to support such programs) or much smaller (roughly a third of the top 25 had undergraduate populations of 5,000 or less, which naturally lends itself to a tighter community). Only three other schools of Baylor’s size (between 10,000-20,000 undergraduates) made the top 25, and BU was the only faith-based institution in that group — speaking again to Baylor’s distinct place in the world of higher ed.
再加上贝勒大学在“第一年经验”方面的前五名认可以及其罕见的本科教学和研究排名前 25 名，您就会明白为什么这么多人认为贝勒大学是一个如此特别的地方。
Combine that with Baylor’s top-five recognition for “first-year experience” and its rare top-25 ranking for both undergraduate teaching and research, and you can see why so many find BU to be such a special place.