What do you think of Loyola University Chicago?

[grapico]

Originally Posted by Muppet123

DePaul's campus is in a much safer neighborhood (yes, its in evil yuppie-fied Lincoln Park) than Loyola's lakeshore campus. Plus for your average college freshman, there is more to do in and around that area. Yeah, we'd hop on the red line for penny pitchers at Pumping Company... but there were just as many "college type entertainment options" (bars that took crappy fake-ids) near us.

It is safer, but much safer? It isn't as if Loyola is in the ghetto...

[Muppet123]

No, its not like Loyola is in Lawndale or East Garfield Park, but its not a nice neighborhood when compared to Lincoln Park.

[quickdraw]

I lived in Chicago until several years ago.

Since the early 90's, I heard absolutely nothing about Loyola. I was like it fell off the map.

I'm sure it's a fine school and it's basically the same level as DePaul.

[trickygal]

Hmmmm.....I'm a Loyola alumna and I don't usually advise people to go there. I just feel like 30K a year is a ton of money for the eduation you receive.

When I moved back to Chicago in 2007, I thought it would be a great time to tap the alumni network while I looked for a job. Wrong....they didn't even have an alumni database....they referred me to A LINKEDIN GROUP. Ugh.

You said that you couldn't get into Northwestern or U of C, did you try U of I? A much better value for the money and much better companies recruit there as well.

Good luck!

[jakebosco70]

Originally Posted by trickygal

Hmmmm.....I'm a Loyola alumna and I don't usually advise people to go there. I just feel like 30K a year is a ton of money for the eduation you receive.

When I moved back to Chicago in 2007, I thought it would be a great time to tap the alumni network while I looked for a job. Wrong....they didn't even have an alumni database....they referred me to A LINKEDIN GROUP. Ugh.

You said that you couldn't get into Northwestern or U of C, did you try U of I? A much better value for the money and much better companies recruit there as well.

Good luck!

I probably could get into U of I, but 1: I don't feel like going to college with TOO many people I knew in high school (I know of about 5 people going to Loyola and about 40 going to U of I) and 2: I really do like the city better than Champaign. Champaign is nice by central Illinois standards, but I don't exactly want to feel trapped. Plus, drinking really isn't my thing. It's a great school but just wouldn't fit me personally.

And also, I plan on living in the dorms, and I think total cost is going to be something like $42K. 30K sounds like a steal! lol But money really won't be an issue- I got some decent money off and my parents will be able to help with the rest. May I ask how long ago you graduated?

[JasmineFlower]

Originally Posted by jakebosco70

I probably could get into U of I, but 1: I don't feel like going to college with TOO many people I knew in high school (I know of about 5 people going to Loyola and about 40 going to U of I) and 2: I really do like the city better than Champaign. Champaign is nice by central Illinois standards, but I don't exactly want to feel trapped. Plus, drinking really isn't my thing. It's a great school but just wouldn't fit me personally.

And also, I plan on living in the dorms, and I think total cost is going to be something like $42K. 30K sounds like a steal! lol But money really won't be an issue- I got some decent money off and my parents will be able to help with the rest.

You would probably only run into a handful of your high school classmates and that won't be that often. Is that the main reason you've written off U of I? I'm quite serious, you'd barely see them, and when you did, if you wanted to, you could keep walking and just utter a hi, no need to strike up a conversation if that's not what you wanted.

U of I will be less expensive than Loyola and has the superior reputation, if you can get in, don't write it off just yet. I certainly understand not wanting to be in Champaign, but if you don't think its that bad, definitely consider it. Looking long term, its interesting to hear a Loyola alum question their alumni network when others are thinking its really good.

Also, have you thought about UW Madison? Even non-resident is probably still a bit cheaper than Loyola. Better school than Loyola and better city than Champaign.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by JasmineFlower

You would probably only run into a handful of your high school classmates and that won't be that often. Is that the main reason you've written off U of I? I'm quite serious, you'd barely see them, and when you did, if you wanted to, you could keep walking and just utter a hi, no need to strike up a conversation if that's not what you wanted.

U of I will be less expensive than Loyola and has the superior reputation, if you can get in, don't write it off just yet. I certainly understand not wanting to be in Champaign, but if you don't think its that bad, definitely consider it. Looking long term, its interesting to hear a Loyola alum question their alumni network when others are thinking its really good.

Also, have you thought about UW Madison? Even non-resident is probably still a bit cheaper than Loyola. Better school than Loyola and better city than Champaign.

People are saying its good in the context of Chicago only schools, not over UIUC, I already mentioned that in my post though. 4 years (and these days 5-6) stuck in somewhere you are unhappy will have a big effect on how well you do in your classes. If I had to do it allover again I would have done it in a big city as opposed to a college town as well. I actually did something similar just recently and left after one semester b/c I couldn't stand the small town college feel (neither could my SO) (albeit I was 27 when I did this)... I'm now doing program in Chicago (which I had already lived in)
I was also doing it for the cheaper costs but, cost isn't everything. I personally like having a life and was never really into the whole school spirit/fraternity stuff even in my UG so it isn't a plus.

Now maybe Champaign is better, I haven't spent much time there. The city I was referring to was Tallahassee ^, which is bigger and supposedly has good nightlife and great college town, I imagine Champaign being even smaller could be worse....

[jakebosco70]

Originally Posted by JasmineFlower

You would probably only run into a handful of your high school classmates and that won't be that often. Is that the main reason you've written off U of I? I'm quite serious, you'd barely see them, and when you did, if you wanted to, you could keep walking and just utter a hi, no need to strike up a conversation if that's not what you wanted.

U of I will be less expensive than Loyola and has the superior reputation, if you can get in, don't write it off just yet. I certainly understand not wanting to be in Champaign, but if you don't think its that bad, definitely consider it. Looking long term, its interesting to hear a Loyola alum question their alumni network when others are thinking its really good.

Also, have you thought about UW Madison? Even non-resident is probably still a bit cheaper than Loyola. Better school than Loyola and better city than Champaign.

I have certainly considered UW-Madison. Madison, WI is one of my FAVORITE cities in the US! The school even has a good political science program. The only thing is, my parents are getting older (and aren't in great health, even for their age) so I'd like to be close to them. U of I would only be about a 2 hour drive, but Madison is almost 4 hours from my home. I just can't go that far. Madison is actually the school I'd most likely transfer to if something doesn't work out at Loyola. So thank you for your input. And yes, it's only a couple thousand dollars cheaper after the money I got off at Loyola...so not a bad price at all! The only thing I don't know is if the partying is as out of hand at Madison as it is at U of I...do you know?

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by jakebosco70

I have certainly considered UW-Madison. Madison, WI is one of my FAVORITE cities in the US! The school even has a good political science program. The only thing is, my parents are getting older (and aren't in great health, even for their age) so I'd like to be close to them. U of I would only be about a 2 hour drive, but Madison is almost 4 hours from my home. I just can't go that far. Madison is actually the school I'd most likely transfer to if something doesn't work out at Loyola. So thank you for your input. And yes, it's only a couple thousand dollars cheaper after the money I got off at Loyola...so not a bad price at all! The only thing I don't know is if the partying is as out of hand at Madison as it is at U of I...do you know?

UW Madison definitely has a big-time party atmosphere (as is any Big Ten school), but the academics are top-notch. You can't beat that place as a college town.

If college financing is an issue for you, though, then unless you're getting a great financial aid package from either Loyola or UW, I'll have to reiterate what JasmineFlower said: STRONGLY consider U of I. In-state tuition for U of I, even though it's increasing, is still a relative bargain for what you get in return. If you're concerned about too many people from your high school going there, I went to Champaign with over 70 high school classmates and rarely saw any of them over the course of 4 years. The WORST reason to not to go to U of I is to avoid high school classmates - it's a school with nearly 30,000 undergraduate students, so you will find every single type of person/group out there. Take that from someone that was worried about the same thing when he was looking at colleges.

As I've worked over the past decade, my belief is that private university tuition is only worth it if it opens up extraordinary career opportunities for you (i.e. certain prestige industries or firms that may ONLY hire from Ivy League-type schools). Otherwise, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend other schools that might be more expensive that aren't even as highly-ranked as the public flagship that you can pay in-state tuition for.

If you want to work in Chicago after graduation, you're honestly going to get a ton more job connections going to school at U of I because of the stronger alumni network and career placement in the area even though it's located in Champaign. In fact, I'd even say the same about any other Big Ten school compared to Loyola. Living in a smaller college town compared to Chicago for 4 years may not be appealing for some valid reasons, but the flip side is that those Big Ten-type schools generally foster very strong school connections compared to urban schools with more commuters, and that's reflected by how strongly people in positions that hire people try to recruit from their alma maters. The last thing that you want once you graduate is (1) have worse job opportunities AND (2) higher student debt.

Even if you want to go to grad school after college (as I did with law school), that makes minimizing or eliminating undergrad debt that much more important. It would be one thing if U of I was a podunk public school, but we're talking about a US News top 40 school overall (top 10 among publics) with top 10 programs in engineering, business and a whole host of other programs. Only a handful of other states offer that type of opportunity at an in-state price, so I think there needs to be some incredibly compelling academic reasons to pass that up and willingly pay more tuition.

[eureka1]

CNN website last week had a list of overpriced colleges. Loyola Chicago was on it.