Loyola University - Chicago

(This is long, but don't you think an investment as expensive as college should be thoroughly researched beforehand?) Before choosing Loyola, I was warned by someone who knew many people that went to Loyola. 5 out of those 6 hated the experience. I was stupid and ignored the warnings.

I?m going to get straight to the point here. If you were not raised around white people, if you are not from Chicago suburbs like Woodstock, Rockford, etc, and if you are not white, you will feel out of place. People act dress and speak the same. I have never seen so many people wear Rain Boots, North Face jackets/bookbags and wield iphones and camelbak water bottles all at the same time. Loyola must have broken a guinness world record with this one.

There is no spring or summer at this school. I?ve lived in Chicago my whole life so I can attest that yes, weather is shitty, but it is just EXAGGERATED next to the lake. This isn't the school's fault but more like their founders? fault for choosing the location. The weather is Chicago weather up the ass. When they decided to place Loyola next to Lake Michigan, they decided to have Chicago weather to the power of up the ass. When its cold, its cold up the ass. I have never experienced weather as shitty as when on campus. The IC library acts like a fucking wind facilitator. You'd think it'd block some wind coming from the lake, but it does the opposite. Oh, and for the days it hot, which are very few, its hot, you guessed it, up the ass. I came up to Rogers Park from the inner city, so I can tell you, the weather anywhere but next to the lake is 10x better. I can only remember days walking on campus with a heavy jacket on.

Now the professors. They vary greatly on your school/major. Some are good, some aren?t, as with any university. Although my share of business profs are disproportionately more awful than lets say my language/math teachers.

As for the dorms, I cannot attest, for I didn't live in them.
As for the food, for the times I ate in the cafeteria, the food was good (im not a picky eater) but the cafes are god-awful. The worst variety in the world. They assumed our diets consist of pop-tarts, rip-off sushi, and shit yogurt. Although the cafe in water tower has more variety than the rest. Still very rip-off though.

Now the people. As I said, most are white and from suburbs who think they are the absolute shit being in the city of Chicago (then karma kicks in and they get their phones robbed out in the street thanks to local residents). Diversity in racial terms is OK, but socioeconomically, not so much. Asians stick together and form cool-asian cliques as if reliving high school, or generally just stick amongst themselves. Korean population is a fair part of the Asian student body. Lots of internationals from China, Korea. Not many Hispanics. I do see a fair share of Blacks. Lotso Indians. Lotso Pre-Med people. Also, the out of state population is pretty good for a private school from my experience.

Clubs suck. Oh my god. I tried out so many but in the end they are not really worth it. Maybe the professional ones are but the leisure activities ones are just bad. Activities/events are rarely advertised. Rarely will you see organizations outside the library rallying for their club. And when they do, they are obnoxious. I was stopped to talk about abortion and pro-life stuff. Not my cup of tea.

And as for the campus being ?beautiful?, yes, it is quite aesthetically pleasing the first couple days you are here but... everything becomes an eyesore if your around it for long enough. Not a "traditional" college campus feel. The facilities, at least the newer ones, are good. IC has Mac and PC, but all the PCs look like they're from 2000. Computers in Cudahy often have lagging/nonworking mice. The tuition is so expensive, yet that can't update the PCs? They are also building a shit-ton of new dorms. So much goddamn construction. They already have a shit-ton of apartment-style dorms bought out around the area. There's a new student center. I can see they're really trying to pack in as much students and money as they possibly can.

The office peoples you'll eventually have to encounter whether it be financial aid questions or general questions have been very nice and helpful. That actually surprised me.

And as a commuter, social life will be virtually nonexistent. Classrooms are not very intimate. People do not try to make friends outside of their high school chums/people on their floor. I knew one girl who wouldn't stop talking about her high school best friends and how great they are. The school does not cater to commuters. They want you to live on campus; they want your money.

Most tour guides will feed you lies, how they've ?never felt out of place? and how everything is ?just great?. They have tours almost everyday, most are huge packs of people that really get in the way because they're leading them inside the library and its just too crowded. They want to convince as many people as they possibly can that this school is the school to be. THIS IS A SUITCASE CAMPUS. So many people go home on the weekends; campus is dead by friday afternoon/evening on a typical day.

Honestly, I feel like my bad experience wasn't because of Loyola, the school by itself but the students. But I feel my experience was a mix but the people here played a bigger role in my misery trip here. And yes, I talked to people, I talked to many many people, but cannot say I made any genuine friends.

Now, experience will obviously vary, don't give me BS saying how its all my fault blah blah blah, 'cuz the Jesuit lords really did not want me here. Everything that I dealt with here, every little attempt to find my place here, make friends, make it all worthwhile, all of it ended up with Loyola stabbing my will to go on. I have never ever been so discouraged in my life. My time at Loyola was the lowest low point of my life.Now I transferred and I feel a large chip has been lifted off my shoulder. Hurray smiles happy ending :)))))

1st Year Female -- Class 2016

Surrounding City: A, Extracurricular Activities: F