Dorm Life/Community Feeling

Colleges and Universities A-Z DePaul University
1

<p>Hi,
Our DD is deciding between a smaller school (5,000 students) and DePaul (20,000 students). Ironically, both schools have the same number of students living in dorms, as Seattle U requires frosh soph to live on campus, and DePaul does not. </p>

<p>My question is: what is it like being one of the 20% that do live on campus? Do you feel like you know everyone in the dorms, and then go to classes with strangers? Do the commuters mix with the students who live in the dorms? Do students move out of the dorms quickly? Why? </p>

<p>I can't quite figure out why more people don't live in the dorms - it seems like it was one of the parts of college that you couldn't do any other time of your life, and besides, who would want to brave the weather when you can simply walk out your door and be at your classroom? With all of the students from outside Chicago, why would they choose NOT to live on campus? </p>

<p>thanks for any insight!</p>

2

<p>I’m a commuter and almost all of my friends live on campus. For some odd reason, students decide to get an apartment after their freshman year. DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus is surrounded by apartments and as you’d imagine, most are occupied by DePaul students. The lack of supervision could play a role in that or the fact that it could be cheaper, depending on the amount of students sharing the apartment.</p>

3

<p>Thank you BlueDemon. Do you find the size intimidating? Do you find that your friends stay oncampus or go off on the weekends?</p>

4

<p>I have not found the size isn’t intimidating. At most times, it won’t even seem that DePaul has 16,000 students (undergrad). Regarding friends on campus, it seems that some stay on campus and others go home for the weekend. If a big event is planned, I’d imagine most students living on campus decide to stay at their dormitory for the weekend. It varies, really.</p>