<p>I have family in chicago and I live in New York. I am a junior and am very intrigued by this college. I am jewish, but I don't really mind the religious affiliation. What is the campus like, what is the food like, how do people usually dress, what is the overall impression of the school? I would just really want to learn more. And I am interested in doing track here so if anyone knows about athletics that would be great.</p>
<p>Also I heard this was a commuter school, is this true?</p>
<p>There’s not too much activity on the LUC board, but I’ll post my two cents. My daughter plans to attend Loyola in the fall. The campus is really beautiful and is in a great location next to the lake. The school is finishing up an extensive capital campaign, so there are lots of new buildings. The new architecture blends in perfectly with the old architecture. There’s also a campus downtown, also in a great location. My daughter got a great feeling from the school and feels like it’s the best fit for her. As far as it being a commuter school, I know there are commuter students, but there are also several dorms, so lots of kids live on campus. My daugher is from out of state, as are many of the prospective students she has been communicating with. Regarding track, I don’t know anything about the athletic programs, but the athletic facilities are new and very nice. In our tour, we went through the new student union building, which has a dining facility, food court, etc., and also a movie theater. There are also dining facilities in some of the other buildings. In my opinion, the only knock is it’s an expensive school, but they’re pretty generous with aid (scholarships, not just loans). Anything else you’d like to know?</p>
<p>@jamoboo
I am considering transferring to LUC in the fall and just returned home from a campus visit, so it’s all fresh in my mind! First off, the campus is gorgeous, and you get the benefits of living in the big city, but because of the location and design, the campus feels self-contained and cohesive. The construction that has been going on for the past 5 years is finally drawing to a close this summer, so all the student centers are brand-new and nice, but I snooped around a bit and it looks like most of classrooms are just okay- just as old and cramped as any other school, no better, no worse. Most students live on campus, and even when they move off campus, most move to the university-owned apartment buildings a block away from campus, so you never really have to move off campus, which I thought was neat. Jesuits are known for being less “religious”, by current standards, and more spiritual and service-oriented. While there is a chapel on campus, the students I talked to didn’t seem overly religious. They seemed really into community service, social activism, etc, stuff that the school really tries to encourage. There is not a lot of diversity; a lot of the students are middle-class and white. Only 20% of students study abroad (that’s what an admissions counselor told me), and apart from the university-owned campuses in Rome, Vietnam, and China, there are relatively few options, compared to other schools. A huge negative I came away with: In a conversation with a biology lecturer, she let drop that the administration is not giving professors any credit for taking on students in their labs. Therefore, they must teach more classes, meaning many fewer opportunities for students to work hands-on as undergraduates. This is clearly a cost-cutting measure, indicative that Loyola is going through the same financial problems many other universities are at the moment, to some degree. As a biology major, this was alarming to me, and it’s definitely something to consider if you consider majoring in biology.</p>
<p>You can e-mail current students at Loyola and ask them specific questions. The address is <a href=“mailto:lucstudents@luc.edu”>lucstudents@luc.edu</a>.</p>
<p>I have a completely different take on study abroad and research opportunities at Loyola, after attending Loyola Weekend recently. Yes Loyola has its own campuses in Rome, Beijing and Vietnam, but also partners with IES, SIT and USAC, so you can study all over the world. Search Loyola Chicago study abroad to see details. At Loyola Weekend, the study abroad session was by far the most heavily attended (from what I saw), so I think there’s a lot of interest there. Regarding research, the school has the Loyola Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (LUROP), which, according to website information: offers fellowships for mentored research, guides to external research opportunities, travel grants for conference presentations, workshops on research and presentation skills, a spring symposium and more. The spring symposium was this past weekend.</p>
<p>Also, there’s strong Jewish communities very nearby. </p>