Baylor School


Baylor School is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1893, the school's current campus comprises 690 acres and enrolls students in grades 6 to 12, including boarding students in grades 9 through 12. These students are served by Baylor's 140-member faculty, over two-thirds of whom hold advanced degrees, including nearly 40 adults who live on campus and serve as dorm parents. Baylor has had a student win the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement in math and science and a teacher received the National Siemens Award for Exemplary Teaching.
For the 2025–26 school year, Baylor enrolled 1120 young men and women for grades 6–12. Boarders comprise 31% of Baylor's upper school student body and originate from 19 states and 18 different countries. 88% of Baylor's coed boarding population hails from North America. Baylor maintains a 1:1 male-to-female ratio across day and boarding enrollment.
Baylor consistently wins the Max Preps Cup for the top overall high school athletics program in Tennessee, including for the 2024-25 year. Baylor has won 286 TSSAA state championships, the most of any school in Tennessee. The school has also repeatedly been named national champion in both men's and women's swimming, by Swimming World magazine.

History

Origins

Baylor School was founded in 1893 by John Roy Baylor, a graduate of the University of Virginia. He had been hired by leading men of Chattanooga to establish a college-preparatory school for the "young men of the city", and on September 12, Baylor's University School of Chattanooga opened its doors for its first class, a group of 31 boys between ages of 10 and 17, each charged a tuition of $100.
These classes were originally held in an old house in downtown Chattanooga, located at 101 McCallie Avenue; the school later moved to a location on Palmetto Street, also in the city. The first classes of the school were all-male; in 1900, the school began enrolling young women, but by 1912 had reverted to having an all-male class. The school did not again admit women until 1985, over 70 years later. In 1915, with the help of philanthropist John Thomas Lupton, Baylor moved to its current location overlooking the Tennessee River. That campus has since expanded to, but the quadrangle in the center of campus has never moved, marking the location of the heart of Baylor School.

Military school

In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe; by the fall of 1917, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were fighting in the war. In response to the growing need of the United States for honorable, well-educated soldiers, Baylor became a military school, fully accredited by the U.S. War Department. Baylor remained a military school until 1971—the midst of the Vietnam War, when public support for the war was at an all-time low.

New headmasters

In 1925, the school began calling itself "Baylor School" in honor of its founder, who died in the following year. The school then named Dr. Alexander Guerry as its second headmaster. He remained in that position from 1926 to 1929, before leaving the school to become chancellor of the University of Chattanooga and then chancellor of The University of the South. His successor was Herbert B. Barks Sr., who remained as headmaster for the next 35 years. His successor was headmaster Scott Wilson, a graduate of the class of 1975. In 2021 Wilson retired. He is succeeded by Chris Angel, Baylor class of 1989.

Rivalries

The school has maintained a strong rivalry with the crosstown boys-only McCallie School ever since McCallie's founding in 1905. Baylor historically had close ties with Chattanooga's Girls Preparatory School, until Baylor began admitting girls in 1985. The two schools are now rivals in girls' athletics.

Finances

Endowment

Baylor's endowment is currently $165 million, which includes the standalone $15 million Weeks endowment dedicated to supporting STEM programming and the Baylor Research Scholars program. This endowment is maintained by about 20 trustees and is one of the 30 highest endowments among boarding schools in the United States.
On a per-student basis, $165 million divided by 1120 students yields an average value of over $145,000 per student, higher even than several universities such as Babson College, The College of William & Mary, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Tuition

Baylor's tuition for 2025-2026 is $32,650 for day students, $66,000 for domestic boarding students and $71,250 for international boarding students. For day and boarding applicants, Baylor offers need-based financial aid in addition to merit scholarships via the Baylor Scholarship Program. For day students, Baylor also offers need-based financial aid, and awards the Jo Conn Guild Scholarship for students of exceptional merit. For Baylor's 2015–16 school year, the average boarding student received an aid package worth $27,118; the average day student received an aid package worth $11,096.

Admissions

  • Baylor's admissions process is highly selective with both day and boarding admissions operating from a waitlist each spring.
  • Baylor receives approximately 4.5 boarding applications for each boarding enrollment spot and 2.5 day applications for each day enrollment spot.
  • Baylor maintains an early decision admissions process with a December 15 deadline for day and boarding applicants, as well as regular decision admissions process with a January 15 deadline. Day and boarding applications are received as part of a rolling decisions process after the January 15 deadline; however, admissible students who apply after the regular decision deadline may be waitlisted due to enrollment capacity constraints.

    Academics

  • Baylor offers 28 advanced placement courses. In 1954, it was one of only 38 secondary schools, and the only one in the South, invited to participate in the then-new AP program.
  • Baylor's core curriculum consists of mathematics, English, science, history, and language classes. Baylor offers language classes in: Spanish, French, Latin, German, and Chinese.
  • Baylor offers a two or three-year Research Scholars program with tracts in engineering, biochemistry, environmental, and sustainability in which students are guided by a Ph.D. teaching faculty as they pursue thesis-level research.

    Boarding

  • Baylor's boarding community consists of 240 male and female boarders from 17 states and 18 countries. 88% of Baylor's boarding population hails from North America.
  • In 2025, Baylor announced plans for the addition of a new dorm complex to house 96 beds, a student wellness center, event space, and new admissions center. The dorm is expected to come online Fall 2027, though increases in enrollment will be staged as older dorms on campus are renovated over the ensuing two-to-three year period.
  • Baylor's boarding capacity has grown by 20% since the 2022–23 school year, driven by the completion of a new dorm, Howalt Hall.

    Athletics

Baylor consistently wins the Max Preps Cup for the top overall high school athletics program in Tennessee, including for the 2024-25 year. Baylor has won 286 TSSAA state championships, the most of any school in Tennessee. Baylor's 1973 football team was named national champions by the National Sports News Service, and both men's and women's swim teams have been named national champions by Swimming World magazine. Brian Gottfried, who played tennis for Baylor and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame, rose after graduating to become the number-three ranked singles player in the world. Baylor's teams are nicknamed the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders. Baylor competes in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and its varsity sports are:

State championships

''As of December 2024''

Programs

  • Walkabout is an outdoors program that takes students kayaking, rock climbing, bouldering, trekking, hiking, and caving. Walkabout also goes on an annual trip to Costa Rica for advanced kayakers and a biennial trip to India to trek.
  • Baylor's community service program, "R.E.S.P.E.C.T.", takes 10 students to Kingston, Jamaica, every spring break after they have spent the school year raising money to send Jamaican children to school. On this trip, they visit a state-run home for the aged, a state-run orphanage, and the community whose children are sent to school with the money these high school students have raised. Students from the community service program also take trips to Asheville, North Carolina, twice a year to volunteer in a local homeless shelter. Baylor also does community service within the community of Chattanooga; there is an after school program in which students go to schools or centers within Chattanooga to help tutor children from surrounding schools and help them in their school work. This program is offered throughout the entire school year.
  • Baylor has more than 60 other extracurricular organizations, including the Round Table Literary Discussion Society, which began in 1942, the Peer Tutor Program, the Student Congress and Model United Nations Team, and the annual Periaktoi art magazine.
  • Tenth- and eleventh-grade students can participate in a student exchange program with schools around the world, such as the Southport School and St Hilda's School in Southport, Queensland, Australia, along with Bishops College in Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Seniors end their year with a senior camping trip, a tradition begun in 1975.

    Campus

Baylor's campus is located on the banks of the Tennessee River with red-brick buildings scattered around the campus, some almost 100 years old. Some of the buildings and facilities include:

Academic facilities

  • Katherine and Harrison Weeks Science Building, Baylor's science building, houses biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, forensic science, human physiology, environmental science, genetics, and Lower School science classes. Baylor's main computer lab, "the Bullpen," is located on the bottom floor of Weeks. This computer lab is open to the public and also hosts Baylor's computer science and computer applications classes in private computer classrooms. The building opened in 1999, named for benefactor Katherine Weeks and her husband, Harrison, a student from 1925 to 1928.
  • Barks Hall is home to Baylor's Lower School. The top two floors of Barks belong to Hedges Library, Baylor's school library. The 1961 building is named for former headmaster Herbert B. Barks.
  • Academic Hall, formerly known as the Lower School Building, is the home of Baylor's foreign language classes, as well as an English classroom. Languages offered are Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Latin.
  • Probasco Academic Center serves as the hub for English and history classes. The $14 million building with newly updated classrooms opened in September 2018. It was built on the site of a former dorm and academic building, Trustee Hall.
  • An addition to Baylor's Alumni Chapel was dedicated in 1991 by Rev. Billy Graham. The main chapel is where weekly assemblies and chapel services are held. The original 1927 chapel, now called Old Chapel, is now used for upper-school study hall. Beneath the main chapel is a majority of the mathematics department. The chapel also houses the Board of Trustees' board room.