<p>I think you’re far overstating the extent to which some of those have “national reputations,” which is what I was asking about. Actually Villanova is an interesting parallel to DePaul – not in terms of the campus feel, as Villanova is leafy suburban Main Line, but in terms of a decent reputation that resonates mostly within its parent city. I would consider the two of them comparable in terms of how much job opportunities from there would be localized to Philly and Chicago respectively, and I would throw Fordham in there from a NYC perspective. Gettysburg? I grew up in Philly and I don’t even know anything about that other than it must be in Gettysburg.</p>
<p>I think there are quite a few schools that have “national” reputations only in that people have heard of their sports teams…If you ask most folks to tell you about Gonzaga or Villanova, wouldn’t they say “basketball”? Heck, that’s how I knew about DePaul -they were the basketball powerhouse that we could never beat.</p>
<p>When I say national rep, I mean the kids who come from all over the country. Dickinson and Gettysburg, for the type of school they are, do have a lot of kids going there outside of their immediate areas. As do the other schools I mentioned. I don’t know anyone who comes to Pace or Suffolk or St Johns/Iona/Manhattan (other than athletes for the last bunch) from any distance. Those schools just don’t attract very many out of area folks and have a high commuter populations. Which is also the same problem that our SUNYs have.</p>
<p>Missy, Depaul is a great pick, in my book. I mentioned to my current high school junior but Pittsburgh is as far west as he wants to go. He’ll probably stay local anyways. What is the cost at Depaul? I don’t remember from 6 years ago when I visited it and it was on my other son’s list.</p>
<p>To be honest, I never have really thought of DePaul as a “commuter” school so describing it as such is a disconnect. It’s always just felt like a school that happens to be in an urban neighborhood. When I think commuter school, I think of more functional buildings, schedules designed around non-traditional students, and not a lot of clubs / activities aside from those surrounding a given major. </p>
<p>DePaul also has campuses near O’Hare and Naperville which I believe are satellite campuses, set up to accommodate working adults and the like – much as I know Temple does in some of the Philly suburbs. Are the commuter numbers including those?</p>
<p>Our campus tour guide gave some explanation about why people think it’s a commuter school but it isn’t…something about counting off campus students as commuters which didn’t make sense to me. (The same girl, when pointing out the chapel, said that they had not only Catholic Mass but “Presbyterian Mass,” which we’re all looking forward to experiencing!)</p>
<p>When I lived in Chicago, Depaul and Loyola both seemed to be commuter/local schools to me. But that was a long time ago and things have changed. My friend’s D who went there, found it comfortable because she was so familiar with so many kids there. I don’t know what the non IL breakdown is for the school these days, and you may well be right.</p>
<p>missypie, it does look as though they define commuter as anyone not living on campus, which is silly when it might mean literally across the street. </p>
<p>Fordham’s website says “Of the 7,950 undergraduates, 3,845 live in University-managed housing” so if they used the same criteria, over half of Fordham’s students would be commuters, too.</p>
<p>I think the commuter thing is a red flag here. I think the bigger issue is the extent to which the name has staying power in Chicago and not so much elsewhere. If you’re comfortable with that, then so be it. I think a lot of people on CC tend to overemphasize the national appeal of some of the little northeastern elite colleges and universities, and would be surprised how many people who are actually in positions of hiring people haven’t heard of some of the colleges that they all swoon over. And I adore little northeastern elite colleges, LOL.</p>
<p>Depaul only has 14% of its student body from outside of IL. Fordham has 54% of its kids from OOS. That is the difference. UBuffalo only had about 7% out of state which was double what it had been having in prior years. In contrast, some of the state schools that attract a lot of OOS kids are restricted to 30% OOS kids and could easily have far more without that restriction. That is what makes DePaul more local than, say Fordham.</p>
<p>I also agree with you, Pizzagirl, in the name recognition outside of the Chicago area. Around here, folks get DePauw and DePaul confused and can’t tell you which state either school is located. </p>
<p>And, yes, big time sports teams do increase the name recognition tremendously. The only colleges my son could name other than where his brothers went were a couple of local schools and the big sports schools. He was amazed at what else was out there.</p>
<p>“I think the commuter thing is a red flag here.”</p>
<p>As a 2-time former Chicagoland resident, I’m trying to keep up with the discussion of this often-overlooked school. Rarely has there been a discussion this long without somebody getting ticked off about something. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl, am I right in assuming you meant “red herring” instead of “red flag”?</p>
<p>I’m surprised nobody has mentioned how prominent religion is on campus. From what I’ve heard, religion keeps a pretty low profile there.</p>
<p>One tour guide said 35% RC, the other 40%. There are parts of the country where the student body of a public school might be 35% RC. On our campus tour, we only saw one bit of religious-ness (other than the chapel) - there is some New Testament looking stained class in the library building. Contrast with Loyola which had a crucifix in every classroom and religious art on many walls.</p>
<p>Anecdotal data–I’ve got quite a few relatives from Chicago and many of them graduated from DePaul. All have done reasonably well–one reading specialist/SPED teacher, one lawyer (went to NU law school) and became a judge (moved out to a Republican suburb to facilitate this, which horrified my aunt, his mil and a Democrat), another cousin is involved in real estate development–not exactly sure what he does. All of them commuted, but they’re also people in their 50s, so this was a while ago. </p>
<p>I agree with Pizzagirl on the name recognition issue–where I live in Boston–not many people would recognize DePaul. Although a few kids from our local high school have gone there because it does have a good BFA acting program and our high school has a very active drama club with quite a few kids who pursue theater in college.</p>
<p>If your D loves the school and it seems like a good fit for her, then I’d tell her to go for it.</p>
<p>At DePaul, she can major in Real Estate and/or Marketing (few schools have real estate majors.) </p>
<p>Let’s say you have an opening at your real estate company for a new grad. You have an Amherst Political Science major with a 3.9 and no prior experience, and a DePaul double major in Real Estate and Marketing, with a 3.9 and five relevant internships. Do you think most employers woud go with the Amherst grad? (I’m not being sarcastic - I’m asking.)</p>
<p>missypie- has she looked into Univ of Denver?
I think for your question it depends on the person interviewing. In our area most people have never heard of Amherst. When the son of my tennis partner was deciding between Georgetown, Amherst and Davidson she said people would say to her “I have never heard of Amherst or Davidson”. In our area I bet the UCSB or the San Diego State grad would get more name recognition over Amherst. Heck my friends D who goes to Pomona College is constantly having to explain that she doesn’t go to Cal Poly Pomona. And when she tells them it isn’t Cal Poly they go silent.</p>
<p>Most jobs want someone that can start off running. If trained specifically in a certain area so that you can do that, you will most certainly get the job over someone who is not. My friend’s daughters who went to community college and got AA degrees are doing well working as medical transcribers and bill analysts. Their specific course of study at the comm college was in that area. A Harvard English major would not have gotten their jobs because s/he would not know the specifics that you must have to do them.</p>