<p>I think bclintonk’s concerns would be mine - that the sort of kid attracted by an urban school in a ‘cool’ neighborhood might have trouble focusing on school work. My neighbor let her son go there. He definintly slacked in HS and was lucky to be admitted. She told him if he slacked there she’d redirect him to the CC. He had a good 1st year and she’s satisfied so far. He’s studying business, but that’s not what he started out with. He initially wanted one of those very unique majors that few schools offer, then determined that he probably wouldn’t survive that admission process.</p>
<p>A friend rode her bike there. It sounded OK, but the department was so small she got out of taking a class that would absolutely be required for that degree at a big state school, for both BS and MS.</p>
<p>I know someone who taught at DePaul and was underwhelmed with the students there, but then given her intellect and opinions she might be underwhelmed with most students anywhere. Her friend is an adjunct who teaches a writing course simultaneously at 4 different Chicago area schools (and who does so much running around to cobble together a decent salary). As this guy says, same course, same teacher, same grading, four different costs to the student for the class depending on where they attend/where he’s teaching. But that situation would be present in any urban area.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m sure your D would benefit from the change in scene and if you can afford it you should proceed assuming it’s a good school.</p>
<p>I’ve been told that most college writing teachers do not think highly of the preparation that many of our little darlings have received in high school.</p>
<p>Mythmom, we may have had this conversation before. What I see a lot of in our school district is grading major papers on a rubric - x points for table of contents and y points for bibliography and before you know it, a poorly written paper gets a 98. Fine, give my kid a 98 for a poorly written paper, but at least mark it up and tell them how bad the writing is (and that “majorly” isn’t a word.)</p>
<p>A terrific school for the right type of kid. We know two there – rising junior in Music and rising soph in Art.</p>
<p>Both are girls who LOVE city life and being in the heart of the wonderful music and art worlds Chicago has to offer. Both feel their depts and profs are top-notch. Their parents wish kids weren’t whisked into off campus housing so quickly, but the girls love it.</p>
<p>“DePaul has 3000 students in on-campus residence halls. That is larger than the entire population of many LAC’s.”</p>
<p>Yes, that’s true. That’s pretty much the freshmen and a sprinkling of lucky upperclassmen. I got a lot out of dorm life as a sophomore, junior and senior. Many people do. Of course, lots of students don’t care about the traditional residential experience with the sense of class identity and so on. But if you do care, DePaul isn’t it. You could have 10,000 freshmen in the dorms and they still wouldn’t get a residential college experience.</p>
<p>My mother lived directly across the street from the DePaul music school for years (on Belden), and I used to work in that area, so I’m pretty familiar with the campus. I’ve hired and been pleased with DePaul graduates and am actually going to be placing an ad tomorrow for a new hire at both DePaul and Loyola. </p>
<p>Nothing’s wrong with DePaul. While it’s no Northwestern or U of Chicago, if she hangs around Chicago, she can do fine with it. While it doesn’t have a “traditional campus” a la Northwestern, Loyola or U of Chicago, I personally think the Lincoln Park neighborhood is fun and exciting for a young person.</p>
<p>I think the other thing is that DePaul simply competes in a different arena than NU and UChicago. </p>
<p>The GW / DePaul comparison is an interesting one – Foggy Bottom is part of the GW attraction just as Lincoln Park is for DePaul. But Foggy Bottom is a “grownup’s neighborhood” – Lincoln Park is a young adult’s neighborhood. </p>
<p>Just as GW students don’t walk around all day bemoaning that they aren’t at Gtown, DePaul students don’t walk around all day bemoaning that they aren’t at NU or U Chicago. So I wouldn’t worry about any inferiority complex.</p>
<p>If the things you describe are of interest to her coming from Texas (taking the el, doing an internship downtown, etc.) – and she doesn’t have the issue with missing out on the traditional leafy-green residential college with the football stadium type of experience that Hanna describes – then I don’t think there’s a problem. Good luck! Let us Chicagoans know if there’s anything else we can help you with!</p>
<p>D attends a school in a “cool” urban neighborhood in NYC and this has not been an issue at all. I don’t see why it would be any more distracting than say a large school with a big party scene</p>
<p>I’m from Illinois and I’ve never heard any negatives about DePaul. If your D likes it, it’s a good academic match and works cost-wise, I would go for it.</p>
<p>I grew up on the north side of Chicago, but we live in Northern CA now. D looked mostly at Midwest and east coast schools, including DePaul. She and I really liked it, and it made her short list. She ultimately opted for a large Midwest flagship for a lot of reasons cited by others – school spirit, traditional campus, etc. But she seriously considered DePaul and it would have been a great choice.</p>
<p>She has already lived in a metro area in CA, and I figure there will be time later for her to experience the large city life on her own through summer jobs, internships, grad school, or when she begins to work. But she can’t go back to a “traditional” campus as a freshman undergrad. That said, I would have been excited for her and supportive if she had selected DePaul. I loved the philosophy and community orientation, and as former North Sider, it would have been neat to see her living in Lincoln Park. I think she would have loved the Chicago/Lincoln Park experience. </p>
<p>In summary, nothing wrong with DePaul, but definitely very different than a traditional Big Ten-type school experience.</p>
<p>A good friend’s D just transferred to DePaul last year and loves it. I was talking to her recently and she finds her classes interesting and challenging and she is a very bright girl. She likes the different neighborhoods she has lived in, enjoys the commuting (Depaul ID get you ‘free’ - read it is included in the fees - rides on the El) and urban atmosphere. It is the perfect fit for her, though both my kids would miss the traditional campus experience.</p>
<p>Well, I received my Master’s degree and PhD from DePaul many moons ago. That is not quite the same as going there for undergrad, but I had a wonderful experience there. Lincoln Park is fantastic - just a short walk to the ever-bustling Clark St., and a few more blocks to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The campus has changed dramatically since I was there, but I found the teachers and students to be very intelligent, supportive and interactive. We easily obtained internships during school - one of the reason’s I chose DePaul. We did have several commuters in our midsts, but it was not difficult to be as friendly with them as those who lived close by. I never lived in the dorms so can’t comment on that aspect of DePaul. I did receive an excellent education, if I do say so myself, and would recommend the school wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>Do you think that maybe these people who just say “oh” are unfamiliar with the school? I don’t know how well known DePaul is in your part of the country. My own alma mater is unfamiliar to many where I live now.</p>
<p>BTW - I sometimes get that reaction when I mention D’s school and I thought it was a very well known school.</p>
<p>Just one more comment about the “quality of the classroom” concern. I did have the same worries when D chose DePaul (as I said, it was her safety.) I should not have worried. Her business classes have been very demanding, but something about the professors and/or the classes themselves has really sparked my D to excel. She was always a good student in hs (not CC great, maybe, but still good!) but is now doing exceptionally well. She has already made some faculty friends who are supportive and have offered to help with internships and the job hunt.</p>
<p>About the writing thing - that’s interesting. One of D’s English teachers commented on her writing skills and asked her about her high school teachers. D replied she got more guidance from her mother, the English major!</p>
<p>LOL, I know! I grew up in Illinois and could never go back. D wants to visit DePaul again in the winter, which is a good idea, but I don’t know that I can accompany her. (I can’t imagine what the Lake Shore campus of Loyola is like in the winter!) We were talking to a lady at church whose daughter moved up there and she was telling D what type of boots to buy, etc.</p>
<p>When I was in law school in Chicago (and I grew up in the north…) I simply was aghast at how long the winter season lasted. I was sloshing through ice and snow in late March/April and wore my parka every year at least one day in May. It is how we feel about the Texas summers by the time October rolls around. You just don’t think it will ever end. And the WIND in Chicago…<br>
I guess my hesitation with DePaul for your daughter IS that Chicago is an unknown for her. She might love it, but she might not. The DePaul degree does better for you in Chicago than it would back in Dallas or Austin. I also, personally, (and this goes back to my family’s bad experience with a certain prominent boarding school in Austin) prefer that there NOT be a lot of commuting students.</p>