<p>So as I described in a previous post, my family recently visited DePaul as part of a combination vacation/visit-the-inlaws/college tour. My daughter was particularly interested in Depaul, since it's in Chicago (one of her favorite places) and seems to offer many opportunities for internships and job placement. Have I also mentioned that Chicago is home to to Fall Out Boy and Kill Hannah?</p>
<p>Most of Depaul is actually located in Lincoln Park, a green, leafy section of Chicago, but its Colleges of Commerce, Accountancy, and Computer Sciences (including Telecommunications) are located in Chicago's Loop area (in the financial district.) It sounds confusing but it isn't - the campuses are a 15-minute El ride apart, and every student receives a UPass from the transit authority. Anyway, we toured the Lincoln Park campus and attended the information session there. The admission representative was great, one of the most dynamic presenters we've seen. (Even my blase daughter was captivated.) The visuals themselves (power point) were not as slick as those we saw at Wisconsin, but the speaker made up for it with her humor and professionalism.</p>
<p>By the numbers, Depaul is big (14, 700 undergrads) and very diverse (60% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic, 10% African American, and 10% Asian.) Most students are from illinois (70%), although that does leave 30% from out-of-state. (As the counselor noted, they don't get a whole lot of applicants from the deep south. In our group of 15 or so prospective students, we had visitors from Ohio, Minnesota, and Connecticut.) It's the largest private Catholic institution in America. However, they really seem to value religious as well as cultural diversity (in response to the question"How Catholic do you have to be to go to Depaul?", the answer was ""not Catholic at all, if that's what you want." There are large numbers of Jewish and Muslim students on campus. ) That being said, there is a VERY strong emphasis on character and service to the community. DePaul prides itself on "fostering social responsibility."</p>
<p>The admissions representative mentioned that the average GPA of incoming freshmen is 3.4 (UW) and rising; the ACT composite (mid 50% range) is 21-26. They don't use the writing sections of the ACT/SAT (yet) and they do not weigh class rank very highly. I thought it was interesting that the representative spent several minutes discussing letters of recommendation - she suggested that these letters cover academic readiness only, not character (even though character seems to be very important.) Estimated costs for the upcoming year are $33,700.</p>
<p>We lucked out with our tour guide (again) - funny, enthusiastic (but not annoyingly so), and down-to-earth. We visited several classrooms - the average class size there is 22.5 students, and 97% of the classes number 40 students or less. We also went in the library and the student center, both of which were fairly new and very well-kept. I was especially impressed with the dorm rooms. The room we saw was NOT your typical spruced-up model but a real live room (a real live empty room, of course, since move-in day had not yet arrived.) It was slightly larger and definitely newer than the rooms we'd seen before, with more storage space (especially under-the-bed). Housing is not guaranteed (first come, first served), which is a little disconcerting, but our guide (and the admissions rep) implied that there are numerous housing options available.</p>
<p>The campus itself definitely feels like a campus, even though it's unmistakably urban - there are distinct classroom buildings and a nice quad. I had heard that the area around the school was "not so nice", but I found the opposite to be true - lots of beautiful row houses and so many trees. I has also heard that DePaul is a commuter school; while there ARE many commuters (hey, it's Chicago) I did not get any kind of "this place empties out on the weekends" vibe. To the contrary, our guide was especially enthusiastic about the social opportunities: the campus organizations as well as the chance to explore the city.</p>
<p>One word about career guidance/ internships: Every graduating senior must complete either an internship, some kind of study abroad, or a service project. Internships with Chicago businesses appear to be readily available. The admissions speaker noted that there are almost 100,000 DePaul alumni in the Chicago area, many of whom actively mentor students through DePaul's ASK program.</p>
<p>Bottom line. My daughter absolutely loved everything about the school, which I had tagged as one of her safeties. (In fact: I know the mantra here - "love your safeties" - but seriously, can you love your safety TOO much? I keep telling her - keep an open mind about other schools, too. I don't want her choosing her college based on the proximity of concert venues!) </p>
<p>The only thing she did not like was, ironically, one of the things I liked best: the small class size. As for me, I wound up liking the school more than I thought I would. I liked the campus atmosphere, the emphasis on social responsibility (yeah, I'm a big softy), and the class size. One caveat: DePaul is a teaching institution more than a research institution (they're very upfront about that) - so if your child is big into research in he physical sciences, say, you might have to dig a little deeper here. Otherwise, I think it's a great option for those considering an urban campus. I have a feeling we'll be going back to visit it again in a year or so when it's time to make those final decisions....</p>