Filling out college applications can be a very stressful process. Not only are you supposed to find the right colleges for you, you are somehow supposed to find the right programs that fit you at that particular college. Well, in the process of applying to Baylor, I somehow decided it was going to be a great idea to apply for the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC). I did not know exactly what I was getting myself into. I am still trying to figure out exactly what the program is...but for one thing I am certain: BIC has truly been a life changing experience.

I went through the same phase that almost everyone in BIC goes through. Is BIC worth my time and effort? This was of course at the very beginning of my first semester in college where I was basically questioning my whole life. I didn't know if my major was working out for me or if Baylor was even the right fit for me. There were a lot of questions up in the air, but I for some reason decided to stay in BIC. I thought one semester of BIC couldn't hurt that much...and I was right.

BIC is not like anything I've ever experienced before. BIC isn't just an alternative to the traditional college education but a unique way of approaching one's educational experiences in a personally stylized way. Everything I have experienced in BIC has been something different for me than it has been for other people. You get out of the program what you want to. Others might have gotten out of it just hours upon hours of homework, but for me, it was more than that. I learned to think differently and learned to see the world differently.

I was a pretty sheltered child growing up, so I didn't really venture outside what I knew, which wasn't much: school, grades, staying within the bounds of what I was taught and never exploring for myself. The BIC gave me the opportunity to study the world around me in ways that challenged me to question my views about the world. I didn't learn facts about different cultures but their ways of life and their philosophies that shape even the modern state of those cultures.

I have really gotten to experience the program for all that it has to offer. I now love the BIC. I love the small groups and the large groups. I love the lectures where professors care so much as to dress up as the subjects they are covering. I love the small groups where each professor would bring their expertise into the materials we are learning. I love that I can talk to basically anyone in BIC and strike up conversation about the program and have that person relate. I love being a part of a community where ideas are heard, respected and cultivated.

These are all of the reasons why I decided to stay. I thought it would have been the right answer to lighten my load by dropping BIC. I now know that my life would have been completely different for all the wrong reasons if I had dropped BIC. To all the freshmen who are scared about BIC and are completed daunted by the amount of work that's ahead of you, just know this. All of those homework assignments and the work you have to do become secondary when you look at the bigger goal of the BIC. It is a community of scholars who are not afraid to say they want to learn. After all, we aren't just here to get the skills we need for the next steps in our lives, college is a crucial moment for self-development and self-cultivation. BIC gives you a great foundation to be introspective and contemplative.

Give BIC a chance.

BIC'em Bears!