<p>So I visited Loyola University of Chicago (LUC) recently, and I wasn't sure what to think of the atmosphere. I went to the Watertower campus downtown and loved it, but I wasn't sure what to think of the Lakeshore campus. Part of it was that everyone was on spring break, so the place was empty, but I also thought it was odd that one of the school buildings used to be a high school building, and it just felt a little off. If anyone ever reads this, please post your take on LUC because other opinions would be helpful.</p>
<p>yeah.. someone please reply.. i drove by during spring break too.. was kind of weird.. I actually like the lakeshore campus... i can just imagine walking down the sidewalk next to the lake on a boring day.. smoking a cig. studying. who knows.. but .. i mean .. i visited loyola before when there were people there. Hardly visited actually, more like drove past it. But I liked it. :)</p>
<p>Based on the way people dress, I'd say that most of the student body is preppy. There's also a large artsy/hipster crowd, and the rest don't really care about how they dress on a regular basis. The three groups are not mutually exclusive, as some fall in other parts of the spectrum. </p>
<p>I would also speculate that a high percentage of the student body is upper-middle class (based on overheard references to parents wiring money to their children, overabundance of NorthFace and brand-name apparel, where people are from, random conversations). Also, if a class I took is any indication, the professor asked a bunch of people what their socioeconomic status was (it was a philosophy course where this stuff was relevant but his asking such personal info was weird anyway... he might've picked on the people who he thought would say "upper-middle"), and of those asked (most of the class), I was the only one who answered "lower-middle" in reference to my family (though he did point that that all of us should've answered "lower," a point I mentioned in reference to myself as a student).</p>
<p>The students, especially those from upper-middle-class families, generally care about fitness and appearance. Again, this speculation is based on conversations with people, observations of people's habits in my dorm, seeing the commuters drive off in their Lexus and Mercedes Benz. The guys here comment all the time that the "girls are hot," but the girls say that the highly-desired guys are usually straight but taken or gay, and the rest are pre-med. Pssh, I beg to differ... many of those girls are just blind :)</p>
<p>Other commuters are non-traditional students and those responsible for their own education. They give off a different vibe... for one, the former group is older, but both carry a seriousness of purpose that I don't see in most other students, and both seem distant. They tend to be highly represented in night classes (many of them disclosed having to work full-time during the day).</p>
<p>The student body is socially liberal, but to use people's stance on homosexuality as an example, phrases like "that's gay" and "fag" are still thrown around. An article in the newspaper claims that the gay community is accepted here but I think this is more true at the institutional level (the President recently made a statement saying homosexuality is a part of human nature or something like that). I've been called a fag once while walking around campus by someone I didn't even know (no, I'm not flamboyand and no, I didn't wink at him or something like that, ha ha). And this one person on my floor is so blatantly homophobic that when we were in the elevator once, he moved as far away from me as possible (making sure to convey that it was because of my presence there), and in another instance, he had the nerves to say to a friend not to put too much cologne because I might hit on him (when do I ever do that?). Keep in mind that the things I mentioned are probably isolated incidents, but I just wanted to let people know that they still occur. I'd say that the gay community here (in reference to gay people who are out and attend the gay organization's meetings) is very close-knit. We are in the process of creating a GLBT Resource Center! The administration approved as long as we staff it on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Chicago is reallllly fun. My friends and I regularly go to the Belmont Area, Wicker Park, Water Tower/Magnificent Mile, Evanston, and other places. Loyola runs shuttles (charter buses) between campuses, leaving each campus at 15-minute intervals during peak hours and 30-minute intervals otherwise. Also, Loyola has its own stop on the CTA Red Line (which is connected to any part of the city). Each student is given a UPass, which allows him or her unlimited use of public transportation (it's of course included in the tuition... nothing is free nowadays).</p>
<p>If you have any other questions about campus atmosphere or otherwise, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>corrections:
*truer (as opposed to more true)</p>
<p>flamboyant*</p>
<p>Lake Shore Campus is where it is at, but seeing any school when there are not people present is hard to capture a genuine feel. Dumbach was a high school building like 60 years ago. many Jesuit schools have an affiliated high school, so I don’t think that it is so unusual that as the schools change locations that buildings are used for different purposes. the Student Services building was a library, Coffey Hall was an all girls dorm but now is faculty offices. The original campus for Loyola is St. Ignatius High School. The original Building on the Lake Shore Campus was Dumbach Hall, which served Loyola Academy now in Willmette. It all just serves as part of the history of the university. Schools are organic, they continue to grow and change in keeping with the demands of the times and the community.</p>
<p>How were the dorms? Like the building in general and each individual dorm.</p>
@gianscolere1 how’s the LGBTQA environment there now? My son is accepted and received a Loyola Scholarship so it is on the short list now.