<p>If anyone has any questions about Loyola, ask away. I'm a freshman and am willing to give you truthful answers. PM me if you want. Good luck on your college search/acceptances/decisions!</p>
<p>i dont drink, will there be anything else to do on friday nights?</p>
<p>I don’t drink either so I try to do as much in Baltimore as possible. There is a club on campus called Options that holds events each month like laser tag, hibachi, bowling, etc. It’s really fun. You can take the collegetown shuttle into the inner harbor or go to the towson mall. There are a lot of museums and the aquarium is fun too. I will admit it does get a bit boring. Everyone just goes to bars, it sucks, but college is what you make it.</p>
<p>Hi Yankeesgirl (i’m assuming you from NY - I’m from LI). I’m a junior and will be visiting Loyola in April. I’m really excited and from everything i’ve read it looks like a great place.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if you submitted your SAT’s? Any guess at what point a particular score would help/hurt? My math scores will alwasy be lousy and my reading / writing were not as good as my practice tests. I’ll be taking the ACT next month and then will decide which test to focus on and retake that one. </p>
<p>What other schools did you look at? i’m also looking at Fordham (don’t think i’ll get in unless SAT go up a bit), holy cross (reach, even though SAT are optionl), providence and stonehill.</p>
<p>What is your favorite and least favorite thing about Loyola?</p>
<p>How is the diversity on campus?</p>
<p>hii tellch00 i submitted my sats they weren’t that great. 1720. i got waitlisted but was persistent and got in. you might as well just submit them you never know. i’m actually from nj lolz. and i looked at marist, high point, ucf, rutgers, penn state, loyola marymount, and probably more but i don’t remember haha</p>
<p>superghuman- favorite thing: the small campus and how easy is it to get involved in extra curriculurs least favorite: it’s a bar school</p>
<p>shaniceeex0- diversity doesn’t exist. there are some african americans and asians, but for the most part it is upper-middle class white kids from new york-long island, new jersey-everywhere, connecticut, pennsylvania. i wish there was more diversity</p>
<p>when did you find out that you got in after being placed on the waiting list?</p>
<p>My daughter is wondering about cliques at Loyola. How easy is it to make friends?</p>
<p>I’ve heard that everyone can be a little too preppy and superficial. What’s your take on that? How friendly is everyone at Loyola?</p>
<p>bmore410mp- may 7th</p>
<p>CTMom1- it is easy to make friends. you just have to make sure that you’re finding the right people.</p>
<p>ducttapeguy- i am transferring from loyola for that reason. i am from nj and most of the people are superficial. they have a lot of money and just like to go to bars. i want more out of college than just drinking and its tough to find that here. the people are friendly though. whether they are being genuine or not, that is the question. i will admit there are a few people here who are real people and not just fake and want friends to go out with. it’s hard to find people who could be your best friends. luckily i found my best friend here, and i’ve met some other cool people too. it’s easy to make friends once you get involved in a lot.</p>
<p>Yankeegirl - How would you compare Marist and Loyola? They are my son’s top 2 schools right now.</p>
<p>Also, are you leaving Loyola, or did I misunderstand you last comment?</p>
<p>I remember reading in a college review book a while back that the Loyola population tended to be into designer brands, expensive cars, etc. How true is this? Would I feel like a freak for not being interested in such things? I mean, it would seem to fit in with what you said about students being superficial, but they don’t always go hand in hand.</p>
<p>I know you said that you find plenty to do on the weekends besides drink, but how many people would tend to join you? Do you feel like you’re really out of place for not drinking, or are there a decent number of people that don’t drink?</p>
<p>lovethecape- marist was actual one of my top choices too. i feel like they are very similar people wise. with a lot of students from the ny/nj area. i feel like there’s not much diversity there either. but i liked how marist had a sports communication program and it is really pretty. the schools are similar in academics, but i think that loyola’s core is harder. loyola is also jesuit as marist is not.</p>
<p>you are correct i am leaving loyola, well hoping to transfer somewhere else in the fall.</p>
<p>loyola is perfect for some people, just not me. </p>
<p>fruttivendolo- the students at loyola dress up for class. the girls are all carbon copies of each other wearing sweaters, jeans, boots, purses, makeup etc. i honestly don’t care what i look like. i’m going to class to learn not to impress anyone. the guys wear t-shirts, but a lot of them are preppy and wear sperrys and clothes like that. you wouldn’t feel like a freak, but it would just be easier to fit in if you were like everyone else. I wouldn’t change for anyone. You will find people who will like you for who and who have the same interests as you do. </p>
<p>Ehhhh it’s tough to find people to join me. I do feel like I’m out of place for not drinking. Tonight is st. pattys and everyone is out at the bars. I’m alone in my dorm, which is fine. I choose not to drink. Trust me if I wanted to I could easily get a fake id and go out with them, but I don’t find the fun in getting drunk and going to a bar. There are some people who will just want to play video games or watch movies or go explore baltimore, but it seems like the majority just go out and party. Which is fine it’s college go crazy, but I’m looking for more than that in a college.</p>
<p>yankeesgirl…</p>
<p>Much as I hate to see it, EVERY college my children have attended so far (BC and Wake Forest) is a bar school…and we are talking Jesuit and a college established by the Baptists. The M.O. today in colleges is underage drinking, and students have to find the personal strength to chart their own course. For D1, it was immersion in her studies, which left her at the top of class at BC where she was able to write her own course for the future. For D2, it has been making the decision to be the “designated driver” for her friends. In the end, like all of life, these are personal diversions that are all too sadly, very hard to avoid. I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of happiness in college. You sound bright, committed and mature.</p>
<p>yankeesgirl - my D and i visited last month and spoke to some great girls from ALANA. they were very helpful. they did mention housing, but i didn’t get the “real scoop.” would it be better for a freshman to live in the apts or freshman dorms? thanks.</p>
<p>brian6u- thank you and i know that there is drinking at every college, but this just isn’t college. freshman shouldn’t have to go to bars. if there were even house parties or frats, i could at least socialize without having to pay and get a fake id. it’s much different at other schools where drinking doesn’t require a cab ride ya know.</p>
<p>alfmom- i live in the freshman dorm and i like it a lot. its closer to where classes are and it’s closer to boulder to eat. however having an apt is nice because you can cook and you have more room. it’s really what your daughter prefers. my best friend has an apt and i’m over there all the time. i like both the same.</p>
<p>YankeesGirl - A couple questions about “school spirit” and “dining”</p>
<p>My son has narrowed it down to Loyola and JMU (St Joe’s is an outside possibility). We have visited a couple times, but looking for your perspective on how you would describe the school spirit at Loyola. This appears to be very prevalent at JMU and St Joes, but less evident at LMD. Perhaps it is just the days we happened to be there (Saturdays) were quiet.</p>
<p>Second question - what is your opinion about the dining options. Boulder is a very nice physical set-up, but wondering how it works out having everything essentially al-a-carte. Also, the seating area seems pretty small.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback, yankeesgirl. I really appreciate it. I’m going to visit again (this time on a school day) and try to get a glimpse of the student population. I do understand that you’ll find people similar and dissimilar to you everywhere, but it just depends on how big the proportions are. I want a school with a decent amount of down-to-earth, non-preppy people. guh this is very frustrating to gauge. I’m going to visit my top three schools- TCNJ, Scranton, and Loyola- all in the same week, so hopefully that’ll give me a better idea.</p>
<p>I’m not into the drinking thing either, but I fear that situation is going to be as you described at every school. Eh. I’ll find a couple of people and spend Fridays watching movies and drinking chocolate milkshakes, wherever I end up.</p>
<p>Fruttivendolo–</p>
<p>I live near TCNJ & believe me, you will not be finding a lot of super preppy types there. </p>
<p>Yankeesgirl–my D is in 12th grade & was accepted at Loyola & 3 other schools, waiting to hear from 2 more in a few days. I am really glad I found your post!</p>
<p>Here are my concerns, not nec in order of importance—</p>
<ul>
<li>The food arrangements, and their costs & social implications. I have been to the dining calculator on Loyola’s site and tried to get estimates of what it costs to feed a student who is at L. The calculator asks if you like to drink Starbucks and eat smoothies, and how many times/day you will have these. </li>
</ul>
<p>When you do the math, the smoothies come out to $5 each & the Starbuck$ at $4. We are not planning to fund Starbucks & the smoothies place with my daughter’s earnings nor, frankly, with ours either, on this declining balance thing.</p>
<p>All the food is a la carte and full retail restaurant prices. What do you pay for a “real” meal–eg roast chicken or ziti? Are these the $12 a dish items? </p>
<p>What do dinners cost if you don’t get the prepared dinner plates? $6, $8, $10? If you spend less on dinner, does that mean dinner is always going to be a wrap or pizza slice? Where do students get their food if they aren’t buying their meals at Boulder & Iggy’s? </p>
<ul>
<li>The big question for me — is there a social divide betwen the kids who are eating every meal at the Sodexo venues, and the students who are cooking their own meals in their dorm room or in the kitchens at O’Connor? If you are cooking your own meals, are you left out of meeting friends, etc? Or left out of making friends, if you are a freshman?<br></li>
</ul>
<p>It seems to me that this set up could lead to a social split between kids from families who are stretching to make college possible, and kids who have been handed everything. That split will turn up anywhere eventually, of course, but in schools that have a dining hall where everyone eats the same food, it at least does not start out from Day One in freshman year. </p>
<p>Did you find this to be the case, or am I reading too much into the dining arrangements? </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The calculator seems to be assuming if you buy groceries you will do so at Iggys. I am guessing Iggy’s is higher priced than the local supermarkets? Do you know people who are buying their food at local stores, and are they actually cooking it from scratch in the dorm kitchens or are they getting Stouffer’s and using the microwave? If you cook your own food are you considered a dork?</p></li>
<li><p>The social scene as you describe it—my D does not drink either. Are you really saying there is nothing else to do? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>My oldest D was applying to Princeton years ago, visited it (they are very near us) and came back all upset because the kid on the tour had been saying Princeton was a great school; HE started drinking every Thursday & did not stop until Sun.</p>
<p>That ruined Princeton for her; she tore up her application. However—Princeton has plenty of kids majoring in engineering & other subjects in which they had best not be drinking from Thurs-Sun or they will not get through the first half of freshman year. </p>
<p>Princeton and every other school has a drinking problem—there are kids at every school who are away from home and doing stupid things. If this is the only thing you focus on when looking at or attending college, you’d better go to BYU — and I bet they are drinking on the sly there. </p>
<p>So, are there NO other students who don’t drink, at Loyola? Or did you get the bad luck to be thrown in with a bunch of sots in your dorm, classes, etc and you haven’t found the non drinkers yet? </p>
<p>If my D does go there, she will add to the nondrinking population by one, but she’ll miss you, I guess. Where are you thinking of transferring? </p>
<p>Thanks for posting & I am going to have some other questions for you. Good luck!</p>