Hi everyone I am currently a freshman at Loyola MD. I am transferring out at the end of this year so I can give you guys some straight up answers about Loyola if you have any.
Why are you transferring? How would you rate the academics and professors. My D will be majoring in Political science.
I am transferring because Loyola is 100% a bar and party school. Most of the kids here do not care about academics, and all they do is go out to the same three bars every weekend. There is no social life on campus what so ever, so your D will need a Fake ID if she wants to have any fun on the weekend. The academics and professors are great however. They really care about the students, and if you show them that you truly care, then they are more than willing to assist you in any way they can. Overall, Loyola lacks school spirit and a good vibe overall. Baltimore isn’t the town it’s made out to be, as there really isn’t much to do in the Inner Harbor at night time, plus the area around the campus is very dangerous. I would sit down with your D and ask if this is what she wants, because if she does not want to get a Fake ID or just doesn’t drink in general, then she will most likely be sitting in her dorm room almost every weekend, just counting the days until she comes home next like I do. I know it sounds extreme, but I want more out of my college experience than just going to the same three bars every night for the next four years. That’s just not something I find fun.
@graduate2017 Please be aware there are other perspectives. It’s unfortunate that OP has had a bad experience at Loyola. My D has had a completely different experience, and has loved it enough that she was disappointed when my son chose a different school. She would not have wanted him there if she didn’t think it an amazing place to be. And she’s not a big drinker or bar goer, even now that she is over 21. She and her friends have found plenty of ways to go out and have fun that don’t require a fake ID, and also take advantage of the many events that are arranged on campus.
The area around campus, especially heading towards Hopkins, is rough and I wouldn’t recommend walking around it alone especially at night. But the campus itself is safe and there’s ready access to cabs and Uber to get anywhere you need to off campus. That’s life in the big city.
@graduate2017 My D has also had a completely different experience. There are some great places to go in Fells Point and Federal Hill as far as restaurants and such. She has attended Orioles and Ravens games, visited the aquarium, and will be doing an internship at the zoo. She has made great friends and actually finds there to be quite a bit of school spirit. It is true that a good deal of the weekend social life occurs off campus which is typical of an urban campus. The academics at Loyola are second to none. My D was a top student in her HS and yet she has to work hard to do well and is sometimes challanged more than she anticipated. I have seen a great deal of intellectual growth. She loves her school and so do we.
Thanks for the feedback. We will be attending admitted students day on March 18th and hope to have additional conversations with current students. My daughter is not a drinker and will not be getting a fake id. Like any urban city, there should be museums, restaurants and other activities available during the weekend. Do you know if there is any interaction with the other colleges on Baltimore?
D hasn’t mentioned much other than the major lacrosse rivalry with Hopkins.
D participates in a group on campus that volunteers at the local animal shelter, and also is in a Democratic group (they recently got a bus to go to the Women’s March on Washington). She loves the cheap seats at Orioles games that are available to students. Her group of friends has made a point of visiting as many different restaurants as they can, and hop over to Fells Point quite a bit. There’s also some cool section of Baltimore with lots of used bookstores and vintage shops - can’t remember the name right now. There are definitely plenty of museums, theater performances, concerts, and the like. D is in the Honors program and the often provide students tickets to local activities. It’s also quite easy to get to DC on the light rail, and Philly is not that far either.
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I might have been a bit extreme in my last post. As a girl at a bar school like Loyola, it is hard to make friends who don’t go out like I do. However I feel like these posts beforehand are from people who’s children do go out. All of the people I know at Loyola who do go out love it there. I read that you said that your daughter is not a drinker and won’t be getting a Fake ID. This is why I would advise you to really think about what your daughter wants. Yes, there is stuff to do, but it can be hard to find friends who would rather go an Orioles game/the museum on a Friday night instead of the bar.
what were your stats for admission?
My son transferred from Loyola for many of the same reasons as njkid2021. He found the social life limited too. Not many options on or near campus. Loyola has strick rules about drinking on campus and getting caught with a fake id, so younger students tend to drink quickly in smaller groups in their rooms. There are a few off campus parties and the three bars to go to, but my son didn’t find those options fun or worth the risks. Most of the students are catholic (we are not) and come from the mid-Atlantic/New York/New Jersey area (we do not), so it was harder for my son to fit in. Many students know other kids from their town or high school on campus when they arrive. My son did enjoy the small class sizes and professors, but felt overall students didn’t care that much about what they were learning. He attributed part of that apathy to the fact that many students are taking classes to fill Loyola’s extensive core requirements, so aren’t always interested in the topics. My son is intellectually curious and enjoys talking about the things he is learning in class and outside of class. He found the lack of intellectual engagement among students frustrating. He is much happier now in a bigger, more diverse, academically-challenging city school closer to home. It’s all about “fit”. Loyola is a good school with caring faculty and administrators, but it wasn’t right for my son.
I think my daughter got lucky this year as a freshman. She’s not a drinker and she does not want a fake ID (though I was not opposed to her getting one if she wanted it to aid her socializing), but she has found a nice group of friends who hang out and do other things on weekends. She’s actually very happy (and I was very worried). She’s also interviewing to become an Evergreen (peer leader in the messina program) and they have a pretty rigorous code of conduct, so that will likely expose her to more kids who are her speed. D2 is accepted for 2022 and she would likely be more of a partier, so i may get to see that side of things next year . . .
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Hey I have a 3.3 uw and 3.6 w gpa , sat was 1280 do I have a good chance for Loyola
Thank you to everyone for your posts. My DD is admitted to the class of 2022. She is nervous about going, because of the lack of a social life and no sports. Do kids go to the mall? Dinners? Movies? Or just go to bars? Are the kids cliquey? Thank you.
@DTimberLD
@InigoMontoya
@msk7777 Loyola doesn’t have a football team, but that doesn’t mean there are no sports. Their men’s lacrosse team won the national championship I think about 6 years ago, and they’ve been contenders several times since then. There are some very serious lacrosse rivalries.
Soccer is also popular to watch, and other sports will often have giveaways to encourage attendance.
There are plenty of kids who do nothing but go to bars, just like at any other school. My D was able to find a like-minded group of friends. They would go to the mall and to movies, but they would also walk around some of the fun and funky districts in Baltimore - Inner Harbor, Hampden, there are a number of fun areas. They also made a bucket list of restaurants in Baltimore and especially Fell’s Point where they wanted to eat before they graduated. She lived in a large suite sophomore year and sometimes on snowy days they’d just make cookie dough and stream movies.
Trivia night was always popular. Even before D could drink.
And don’t forget the amazing rec facility, where you can work out alone or with friends and there are many different group classes offered.
There’s also rec sports - my D was a ref and eventually a supervisor for rec sports and met a lot of people that way.
D is not at all a clique person, she ended up making a fairly eclectic group of friends that suited her. It might take a bit more work to find those folks, but she did. Many of her friends, like her, were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Best of luck!
@InigoMontoya Thank you so much!!! This is exactly what we needed to hear.
Hey I have a 3.38 uw and 3.7 w gpa , sat was 1310 do I have a good chance for Loyola
Or umbc and umd college park
@Graduate17 , did your D end up attending Loyola MD? Would love to hear her experience as a nondrinker! Thx (my DS is a prospective Fall19 student, nondrinker.)
@TS0104 - is your son at Loyola MD?
Would love to know how he likes it as my D19 is prospective (also nondrinker).
@sammytv , he’s a HS senior now. Loyola MD is on the list, but not in the top 5. Will continue to watch this thread. Also, student reviews are interesting. There are a few (the minority, but still a few) that mirror the negative concerns posted in this thread. Of course, many positive ones too. I think if this school ends up as an option after decisions are in, I would take DS to an overnight visit and really try to get more information on social life before making final decisions.