Baylor University is a university.
Baylor University ( BU ) is a private Baptist university in Waco , Texas . Chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas , it is the oldest continuously-operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River in the United States . Located on the banks of the Brazos River next to I-35 , between the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Austin , the university 's 1,000-acre campus is the largest Baptist university campus in the world .