<p>Let me tell you that I *love it *that she is paying attention to things like availablity of internships, who recruits from their grads, and other employment issues. Listen, I have an '09 grad with Asperger’s who will either end up an English or a Psych major and I hope that he graduates some day…if I have one who is focused on getting a job, that is terrific!</p>
<p>No other student from D’s HS attends her college and she is fine with it. She also had no interest in going to college with a bunch of kids from our state. She has met people from all over the country and many international students. BTW , a lot of those kids are from places like California, etc. and they seem to winter just fine in NYC. Seems as if it would be similar in Chicago.</p>
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<p>There are 2 students from D’s (VA) HS attending Pace.</p>
<p>One of the things that Im getting from this conversation is that if youre planning to go to a place that is more regionally known, but not planning to live there after graduation, then it becomes more important to do well and that you get good experience. That way, the experience and effort will travel with you wherever you go even if the name of the school is not all that well known in other parts of the country. Based on that, I would think that the DePaul grad with both good grades and the relevant background gets the job. I guess it gets a little trickier as the grades and experience level go down. But you’re more likely to flourish in a place that you like, that is a good fit and that wants you to be there.</p>
<p>I’ve known a couple of kids with Aspergers who have done well employment wise after taking some directed classes in a technical skill. They have gone into programs that are more career specific than general liberal arts, Missy.</p>
<p>It’s tough to say what will work for a kid until s/he tries it. I was on pins and needles about sending my son so far away. My friend whose D transferred to DePaul left her first school for the lack of the familiar after choosing it for the same reason. Said the same thing as FallGirl’s D about going to U Missouri over U IL and DePaul and other local schools. Another left Bucknell for the very reason he chose to go there. Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we get it or don’t. But even that is a lesson learned.</p>
<p>I have a lot of respect for those kids who are willing to go out of the comfort zone and try something different. Go to a school that is relatively unknown among peers, go far away to school, take a chance.</p>
<p>Good catch, Schmaltz - I did mean red herring instead of red flag. Sorry.</p>
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<p>This is pretty much a requirement as far as my kids are concerned! A place where half their high school goes is decidedly unappealing for them, as it was for me back in my day as well.</p>
<p>^ I actually should have said that she loves it that way! She did NOT want to “mass migrate”
with 1/4 of her HS class to one of our state schools…</p>
<p>I think DePaul sounds like a good option for the OP. The question asked was “What’s wrong with DePaul?” I would have things to say about what’s wrong with Penn, too. No place is perfect (well, Rice was pretty close except for the football “situation”). It’s a matter of weighing what matters the most. As I said, perhaps my paranoia about the job-thing is because I have a recent grad and because of my position in the workforce I am living and breathing the current economic problems.</p>
<p>Another vote for “nothing wrong with DePaul”. It’s a decent school in a GREAT area of Chicago where a young person would have a wonderful four years. It’s not an academic powerhouse, but it offers a solid education in many different fields and big-time sports in the best college town in America. 
On-campus housing can be hard to get, but in Chicago it’s easy to commute from just off-campus or even miles away by train, for less than it would cost to live on-campus.</p>
<p>And I wouldn’t underestimate the # of employers who are just looking for solid folks educated locally at a school they have familiarity with, and just don’t really know or care about Amherst or Williams or whatever. I think this is true of many major cities. I think missypie’s example of the real estate firm is dead on. CC way overestimates that all employers are necessarily chasing only top 20 grads.</p>
<p>^^ This is correct. BUT- if she returns to Dallas she could easily be edged out by grads from UNT, SMU or UT Arlington. There are many other factors, of course. The unknown is whether she will want to stay in the Chicago area. Regional schools are fine but there is no question that the reach can be limited. Same reason I wouldn’t suggest U of Idaho for a student who wants to return to Dallas or Nashville.</p>
<p>At least people have heard of DePaul, if only from basketball.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed something: People tend to assume that a college that’s far away, and that they’ve heard of, is good. I would not be surprised to hear people in Texas say, “You went to DePaul? Wow!”</p>
<p>I went to a third-tier university 900 miles from where I live now. When I tell people I went there, they often say, “Ooh, that’s a good school.” I guarantee there is only one reason they would say that: We had a very good football team a few years back, playing in bowl games and getting television exposure. 'Cuz it ain’t the academics.</p>
<p>I think DePaul gets a similar reaction outside of Chicago.</p>
<p>When you say “DePaul” you make an “L” sign with your hand. When you say “DePauw” you make a paw with your hand and do a pawing motion. My daughter learned this at Interlochen.</p>
<p>A couple of years ago in a national survey, DePaul students were ranked the happiest students in the country. They also reported one of the highest rankings of satisfaction with their educaton.</p>
<p>According to Charles Morris in his book about American Catholicism, in Chicago during the pre-Vatican II era, Catholic boys who were A students went to Notre Dame, B-plus and B students went to Loyola and DePaul got the rest. DePaul was also the first Catholic university in the United States to admit women as undergraduates on a regular basis.</p>
<p>I have to think that internship opportunities in the Chicago area would be first rate. Urban Catholic universities usually have very strong ties to the local corporate community (La Salle and St. Joe’s in Philadelphia, Duquesne in Pittsburgh, St. John’s/Fordham/Manhattan College in New York City, as well as Detroit, Dayton and St. Louis universities</p>
<p>Thanks, mowc!</p>
<p>I was going to say, the only problem I have with DePaul is getting it confused with DePauw. :(</p>
<p>I am embarrassed that the D of some friends of ours goes to one or the other, and I can never remember which.</p>
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<p>Same could be said if she were to go to a more elite school. I"m not so naive as to believe that Dallas employers don’t often prefer SMU grads to NU or U Chicago grads – or Amherst or Swarthmore grads, if she were looking at schools like those! It doesn’t seem as though “what will they think in Dallas” is of prime concern to missypie or her D.</p>
<p>If you asked her right now, D would say she would LOVE to live in Chicago, at least as a young adult (pre-family)…(or Boston, or Baltimore [doesn’t feel the love for Manhattan, except for shopping and shows.]) In her 17 year old mind, she wants to get as far from hot weather (and her parents?) as she can. Of course, the opinions of 17 year olds can and do change (often!) but right now there is no way on earth she would consider SMU or TCU or Baylor or UNT so she would be more likely to get a job here because she has no desire to get a job here.</p>
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<p>There’s one factor that I didn’t post. She doesn’t want to be “the dumb one” at a school. She will only consider schools where her scores place her at the 75th percentile or above. It’s not that she wants an easy ride - she will consider Honors programs. She has a very realisic view of her academic abilities. At her high school, many AP classes include daily homework grades, papers, projects and other ways to raise your grade other than only the test grades. She is far better at the daily homework, papers and projects than she is at the tests. She knows that her A in an AP class, stripped of the other stuff, would probably not be an A in the corresponding college class.</p>
<p>My UChicago law degree got me my interview and job in Dallas back in the day. </p>
<p>As I said, it sounds like DePaul might be a good fit for this student. It clearly has good academics and good majors and is in a desirable city.</p>
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<p>But not really necessary down here, because even fewer people have heard of DePauw than DePaul.</p>
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<p>No doubt. But I bet that your undergrad could have been from directional state U and it woudln’t have mattered. There are maybe 200 laws schools in the US (but what, 5000 undergrads?) We all at least think we have a good idea of the quality of the various law schools but can’t keep track of the various undergrads.</p>
<p>Someone on CC not long ago said that he or she would mumble “Haverford” knowing that some people would hear “Harvard”. That should be even easier with DePaul and DePauw. Get a degree from one, you carry the reputation of both! And to people who haven’t heard of either, it won’t matter anyway.</p>