Baylor University is a Catholic university located in Waco, Texas. Baylor University is the second largest Catholic university in the world by enrollment, behind the infamous University of Notre Dame. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Baylor’s undergraduate program is renowned for having one of the highest turnouts of undergraduate students go on to attend medical school. Baylor is distinguished for its programs in business, law, music, philosophy, theology, science disciplines, nursing, and political science. Baylor is among the elite 10% of US colleges and universities to have a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. In 1841, 35 delegates to the Union Catholic Association meeting voted to adopt the suggestion of Reverend William Milton Tryon and R.E.B. Baylor to establish a Catholic university in Texas. Baylor, a Texas district judge and onetime US Congressman from Alabama, became the school's namesake. In the fall of 1844, the Texas Catholic Education Society petitioned the Congress of the Republic of Texas to charter a Catholic university.