Give Me Some Perspective on DePaul

Parents Forum
1

<p>Looking for parent/parent of student on DePaul. </p>

<p>D who is a senior has clicked "submit" on 6 applications. I asked her tonight to take a moment and think if there are any remaining thoughts on a school. She has some curiosity about DePaul. She does have a couple friends applying there from her Midwest Catholic high school. We walked by The campus at night last winter by chance, but didn't pay much attention - it was freezing!!! </p>

<p>Wondering about personal thoughts about the area, student body, dorm situation ( how soon do students move off campus?), class size, how much "Catholic"plays a role, and SAFETY!! </p>

<p>She has a low 30's ACT and a 4.5 weighted. Somewhat quiet and reserved but mature. Not into the usual social high school stuff. Also applied and accepted to Loyola in Chicago. </p>

2

<p>My mother lives right on the DePaul campus (though she is not affiliated with it), so I am quite familiar with the area.</p>

<p>I think it has a pretty good reputation in Chicago - it’s not NU or U of Chicago, but you know that already.
It’s Catholic, but it’s more liberal-Catholic in nature compared to Loyola (or Notre Dame).
It’s a fun, young-person, vibrant urban area … within the natural boundaries of “be aware of your surroundings” and “be smart in urban areas,” I wouldn’t really worry about the safety. It’s surrounded by very upscale, yuppie-ish city living. </p>

<p>I believe missypie’s daughter goes there if you want to PM her. </p>

3

<p>I know a girl there who transferred from UCLA. She is a theater major and loves it. I have heard so-so things from people who have worked there, though. As with a lot of expensive private schools, there is an element of “spoiled rich kids” that might be a turnoff to some. </p>

<p>Your daughter is certainly smart enough to do very well there. And safety-wise I would rather have my kid at DePaul than Loyola.</p>

4

<p>We ave visited all the schools on her list - most of them twice - but this will me a blind admission. My sense is that it will be bigger than she wants and maybe a bit too much of the preppy vibe - she would not be a sorority girl! Apps were suggested to be in by November 15 and admission was a mere $25 so I told her to go ahead and apply.</p>

5

<p>My daughter’s “coolest” friend from school is at DePaul. She wanted to be in the city and she never goes home anymore. She and her friends rented a place off campus after the first year. Just be aware it’s a relatively pricey area of the city. The friends are doubled up in rooms in order to afford the area.</p>

<p>Safety is an issue as it is always an issue in a city. She should take a self defense class before she goes and consider a taser, definitely mace. And…wait for it… so should all young women on all college campuses. </p>

<p>That said, what does she want to study? There are better and worse things to study there. The theater dept is aces. </p>

6

<p>“Your daughter is certainly smart enough to do very well there. And safety-wise I would rather have my kid at DePaul than Loyola.”</p>

<p>I agree with this. The area around the DePaul campus is some pretty prime real estate, Whole Foods, cute boutiques, Halsted Avenue shopping, theater, etc. While there will always be city crime, you’re in a nice neighborhood. This is an imperfect analogy, but DePaul has an urban campus feeling kind-of-sort-of the Chicago version of NYU; </p>

<p>Loyola is in a grittier neighborhood (Rogers Park) - it’s on the lake, but it’s mostly working to middle class residential around it, and more older people Loyola feels more like a self-contained traditional campus with more delineation of on and off campus. </p>

7

<p>I can’t give current info but I have three cousins who are alums. All went to DePaul from well-respected Catholic high schools in the Chicago area. They’ve all done well since graduating. One cousin is a school district superintendant, another is a lawyer, and the third is in sales. I’m closest to the cousin in education and she urged her kids to go to DePaul but both were engineering types and ended up at Purdue. </p>

8

<p>Sorority girl is not what I associate with DePaul. It is common for DePauw-just one state over. It has an urban feel, with a great theater department and a healthy mix of good departments. I know a lot of graduates that work in theater and in a few of the tech companies and banks. </p>

9

<p>I agree I don’t think of the sorority girl stereotype. I think it’s a relatively clean cut student body, but they don’t have the trappings of that kind of lifestyle precisely because it’s an urban campus. </p>

10

<p>Her area of interest is the health sciences - currently, Occupational Therapy but with some consideration to other related careers. We know that she will need a minimum of a masters for OT. We also know that she is 17 and has enough interest in various health sciences that we are not sure whether it’s the best for her to commit to a 3-2 OT program. Therefore she is mixing her applications between traditional bachelor’s and 3-2 programs for now. </p>

11

<p>No sorority strong campus = positive!</p>

12

<p>They do have sororities and fraternities, but I am pretty sure there are no houses - the campus isn’t set up that way. Perhaps they meet in the student center or something like that. They don’t appear to have the “typical” trappings of Greek life that you’d find elsewhere. I would be surprised if it were more than 10% of the student body. </p>

13

<p>A Jewish friend’s daughter was going to attend DePaul, until she got in off the wait list at another school. She was initially concerned about the Religious aspect, but after multiple visits they were fine with it. </p>

14

<p>Going to DePaul as Jewish wouldn’t be a thing. Lots of Jewish kids from the northshore go down to DePaul. Being Jewish in Chicago isn’t even noticed by Catholics from Chicago. It’s really not. (I know it can be a thing in other places, but it would be the least of my concerns at DePaul) It can seem like a commuter school. That would honestly be my only concern, if that were the kind of concern you might have.</p>

<p>Going to DePaul is like moving to the city to go to school and less like moving onto a college campus to go to school. However, I’m not sure that even really matters either since there are plenty of kids in the dorms.</p>

15

<p>My D graduated from DePaul 2 years ago and really enjoyed her experience there. Here are my/our impressions:</p>

<p>As a college freshman, my D was not a preppy sorority-type girl (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) Instead, she was a quirky, straight-edge, emo-music kid who was looking for a critical mass of similar kids in an urban setting. One of the reasons she initially chose Depaul was that she felt it was large enough to find her “people” but not too overwhelming, size-wise. </p>

<p>She was right, too - you can find all kinds of kids at Depaul. It’s Catholic but definitely not too Catholic-y (I found it much less overtly religious than Loyola, which we also visited. I personally like religious, but D was not as thrilled.) The school has a fairly liberal bent - for example, it has a very active LGBTQ community and offers a minor in LGBTQ studies - but does required a few religion classes for graduation (although it offers a wide variety of classes to fulfill that requirement). The school takes its Vincentian heritage pretty seriously and encourages community service among students.</p>

<p>The campus is in a very nice part of Chicago and the surrounding area is safe but pricey (if you’re looking for off-campus housing.) My D moved off-campus after her sophomore year; that’s when most of her friends moved, although she had friends who stayed on-campus all four years (there are some university-run on-campus apartments) and some who moved off-campus after their freshman year. I worried more about safety once she moved off-campus, but it was never a problem in the areas in which she lived. </p>

<p>My D was in the business school so many of her classes were large-ish. However, I was surprised at how many of her classes were under 25 students I seem to recall a campus visit when D was in high school where the adcom told us that the average class size was 19 students? That seems a little small for a campus that large, so I may be mis-remembering, but I do know that my D once complained that it was impossible for her to “hide” in class.</p>

<p>Here’s what my D liked about Depaul: the city of Chicago and all it has to offer; the close relationships she formed with some of her professors; the internships that were available to her and the connections she forged with other business-school alumni; the friendships she made with other like-minded kids. She also liked that there was no overwhelming “party-school” vibe on campus - sure there were kids who partied, but with so much to do in Chicago BESIDES party, she always had other options</p>

<p>Here’s what I liked about Depaul: my D loved it and got a good education there; I never worried about her safety while she was on-campus (and I’ve learned to worry less - because she now lives in Chicago and I can’t stop worrying completely); I appreciated the fact that even though she was an accounting major, she still had to take music and religion and physics classes in order to graduate. I also like that the school was large and varied enough so that when my D evolved from a skinny-jean-wearing emo kid (with an undecided major) to a serious accounting student she was able to find the classes and the guidance she needed.</p>

<p>Most of all, I liked that D enjoyed her time there and was able to accomplish the goals she set when she arrived - namely, she got her degree, found a great job in Chicago, and still lives in the city. The Depaul reputation in the accounting community appears to be solid and D had no problem finding a job upon graduation.</p>

16

<p>Poet girl in post 13 is spot on. I wouldn’t think twice about sending a Jewish kid to DePaul. Non-issue. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about it at Loyola, either, but Loyola has a more palpable Catholic presence and feel fwiw. </p>

17

<p>^^ My D (the agnostic emo-kid) took several classes on Judaism to fulfill her religion requirement. She loved her religion professors!</p>

<p>The student body may have a high-ish percentage of Catholic students (I don’t really know), but the campus does not have a religious feel or atmosphere.</p>

18

<p>Appreciate these point of views - thank you @scout59 for taking the time to share all your observations.</p>

<p>She submitted her app (what’s another $25?). It’s just one on the list and probably more of a long shot in terms of what may be best for her overall, but appreciate the views since we haven’t really set foot on campus. </p>

19

<p>“It’s Catholic, but it’s more liberal-Catholic in nature compared to Loyola (or Notre Dame).”</p>

<p>I do not know where DePaul falls on the liberal/conservative Catholic scale, but I have absolute certainty that Loyola and Notre Dame are nowhere near each other on that same scale. Loyola, being a Jesuit institution, is very Catholic-liberal whereas Notre Dame is clearly Catholic-conservative. Both Loyola and Notre Dame have a religious presence, very different. For Catholic’s that understand it’s like the difference between Pope Francis and his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. It is pretty hard to out Catholic-liberal the Jesuits.</p>

<p>I do agree with the poster that said the difference in campuses was that DePaul feels like you are a part of the city whereas the Loyola lake shore campus feels like you are on a campus. They are only a few stops away from each other on the train.</p>

<p>Anyway, both DePaul and Loyola have a strong reputation in Chicago for putting out great graduates. </p>

20

<p>Also, Loyola has moved hard away from the “commuter” school tag for awhile now. All freshman and most sophomores are required to live on campus. DePaul is more known for being a commuter school, but I understand they have been making strong efforts to move away from that tag. Both have a heavy local student population so on long weekends the dorms empty out for the most part. </p>