You did quite a bit of research! Thank you for all the history, and I'll pass it on to my daughter. She is very happy at SWU (freshman). I was so impressed with SWU, Austin, and Trinity. All three are top notch, and she wanted a smaller school. I'd have been thrilled with whichever one she chose.We are in the Waco area, but she refused to consider Baylor even though many of her friends chose to go there -- the "too close to home" syndrome for her.
Well Baylor is a big school. These days, or any days for that matter, I'd prefer not to send my kids, or now grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc, to a big school. Baylor isn't the mega-school that UT and A&M are, but it's still big. Big is fine for grad school, since the individual grad programs are nearly self contained and form a (really) small school within the larger one. Plus by the time they are grad students all the temptations that go with the big school town are not so tempting, and they are mature enough to mostly resist those that are.
My older daughter also looked at Baylor and Trinity, before deciding to stay home and go to Austin College.