<p>The way I've set up my college search is based on large cities, since thats the kind of new setting I want to experience. I'm trying to pick places to go in Chicago. I've already got the University of Chicago, which is the only reach I want to have (so don't recommend northwestern), so what other colleges in Chicago do you recommend? I only want one more: UIC, Loyola, and DePaul. Why? Thanks. (I know each decision is really up to what kind of person I am, but just say which YOU would pick and why and I'll compare you to myself)</p>
<p>I visited Loyola and DePaul. I really liked Loyola because it had a campus feel despite being in the middle of Chicago. I couldn’t go in the dorms, though, because it was finals week. DePaul, on the other hand, I felt did not have a campus feel, and I thought the facilities were much better at loyola. </p>
<p>If you are looking at schools in large cities, maybe you should travel a little bit north to Milwaukee and visit Marquette. It’s nowhere near as big as Chicago, but there is still plenty to do, and it’s not that far from Chicago. I loved Marquette, its probably my #1 school right now</p>
<p>De Paul and Loyola each have two campuses. De Paul is downtown in the Loop, and in Lincoln Park. Loyola is in the Gold Coast off North Michigan Avenue, and along the Lake north near Rogers Park. Traditionally Loyola was regarded as stronger academically and drew a more national student body. However, Loyola had some major endowment setbacks a few years ago, and some other financial issues. Meanwhile De Paul has morphed from a commuter school to a destination school, and tends to have happy students- I’m not entirely certain why.
UIC meanwhile seems halfway between a state university flagship and a glorified community college.
All of them have benefited from their Chicago location, at a time when cities are perceived as the place to be, and Chicago seen as a particularly hospitable major city.</p>
<p>I like the De Paul campus in Lincoln Park and think it’s a much better location than Loyola, despite Loyola’s lakefront location. De Paul in L Pk. is closer to downtown and many fun neighborhoods attractive to young people. Loyola is a trek to get anywhere in comparison.</p>
<p>If your goal is to have a Chicago city experience, I’d pick DePaul over Loyola, and I would take UIC off the list entirely. DePaul is in a great, fun neighborhood for young people, and accessible to everything with easy public transportation.</p>
<p>Why would you remove UIC? The only reason I put it is because UI-Urbana Champaign is a very good school, so I thought the entire University of Illinois system would be very good as well (Like how most of the schools in the University of California system are really good). Is this a false assumption?</p>
<p>yea, when I went on a visit to UIUC they said that even though its in the same system, the schools pretty much all function separately.</p>
<p>UIC has less of a traditional college feel than either DePaul or Loyola. It’s not in a “fun” student-oriented area of town. It has more of a practical feel to it.</p>
<p>UIC is not the equivalent of UIUC. UIC started as something of a “glorified community college” as someone already mentioned; it was an extension of the downstate U that was opened quickly to accommodate returning GI’s.</p>
<p>Loyola’s student body is considered a notch above DePaul’s, although DePaul has some outstanding departments. Neither is comparable to U of Chicago.</p>
<p>UIC serves a noble purpose for a lot of first-gen students and commuter students, as well as students who are never planning on leaving the city of Chicago. I’m just not sure I’d reco it to someone from out of town, though.</p>
<p>Originally, the first predecessors of UIC started as a health care school when the private health care college merged into the University of IL in the late 1890s. In the 1940s, with the GI bill, there was a large demand for a University of Illinois undergrad education. From 1946-1965, University of Illinois-Navy Pier provided freshman/sophomore year courses. The students/faculty/politicians wanted a regular undergrad 4 year campus. Long story short, University of Illinois Chicago Circle opened in 1965. By the late 1970s, the president of the University of Illinois decided it would be good to merge Medical Center and Chicago Circle. This was a highly controversial idea, but in the end it won. Thus in 1982, the University of Illinois at Chicago came to be.
UIC is trying to add more student oriented businesses to the area. You can see that on South Campus.<br>
Each of the three campuses, are fairly independent from each other. They have different requirements. However, they are funded as a group, and the administration can force changes upon a campus; i.e. forcing UIC to go to semesters when it was previously on quarters.</p>
<p>I don’t need a history on any college, just its academic prestige and pros/cons</p>
<p>So UIC is pretty much a take-off-the-list when compared to DePaul and Loyola? </p>
<p>So lets do a Loyola vs. DePaul</p>
<p>My biggest issue with DePaul is it’s a commuter school</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Which one of the three schools I would recommend would depend on what you want to do. For instance, UIC is the largest research school of the three. Only UIC and Loyola have health care programs and so on. There are big cultural differences amongst the three schools. The academic differences are really not that big overall. In certain programs, one school might be superior to the other, but overall, in reality, no one gets too excited over it. Long term, you college’s reputation as a factor of getting a job decreases while work experience and networking increases.
Also, are you an IL resident? You need to think about the financial aspect. UIC does not offer a huge amount of scholarships. Private schools tend to offer more; however, their base tuition will be more.</p>
<p>I’m looking into International Relations</p>
<p>What kind of atmosphere do you want? The three have very different looks-and-feels. Loyola is the most traditional college-campus type in the Rogers Park neighborhood. DePaul is in Lincoln Park, less of a true campus but still a fun place for young people. UIC is in more of a “business-y” part of town.</p>
<p>Also, Nova10 was trying to be helpful by giving you background context; none of these schools are truly “high prestige,” so I’d advise you to stop thinking about that.</p>
i’m years late, but id like to second the comment above me. DePaul, Loyola, and UIC are not ‘prestigious’ schools - no one will be wowed by this, professionally. Actually, pretty easy schools to get into. If you want to talk about prestigious Chicago schools, you want to align with UofC or NU (Northwestern; UofI is only notable for their engineering program). Between the three you’ve mentioned, they’re pretty much the same educationally, and most importantly job appeal. Only difference is price (private vs state), program availability, location (depaul= LP; UIC=ghetto; loyola=not in city), class size and demographic (UIC has more age range with students).