Loyola University Maryland

The social dynamic at Loyola, however, disturbed me. I use such a strong word to describe the culture here, because it completely contrasted "cura personalis" and social justice; virtues which Loyola professes to have on an social level. On the surface, Loyola is very active in the community, providing student volunteers to various functions throughout the city of Baltimore. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize the lack of diversity within the student body, and the enormous sense of self-entitlement that students exhibit on a daily, often unconscious basis.

As a previous student noted on this website, Loyola students are typically from the same private schools, recruited largely from NY, NJ, and PA. Social cliques are already developed, and extremely difficult to penetrate unless you more or less fit the "cookie cutter" of the socioeconomic background at Loyola - White uppermiddle class, private schooled, and from New England. Students quickly determine what YOUR background is, with a few innocuous questions. It also requires outings to sketchy bars off of York Road, and even then, it is not necessarily easy to blend in. As a transfer student and a commuter from Maryland, I found it extremely difficult to feel connected with others here - although I lived on campus for a year, I often felt isolated since I largely refrained from going out to the bars. I didn't have a fake I.D., and I never had an interest in obtaining one. Good luck fitting in, if you aren't comfortable conforming with the bar culture.

I would describe the typical Loyola student as bright, eloquent, and slick. A social Chameleon; attends volunteer service project on Thursday, gets stoned on Fridays and Saturdays, then goes to Mass on Sunday. Judgmental, guarded, and presumptuous. Students are very intelligent and motivated; but they lack interpersonal skills.

My grandfather was an English professor here, my dad was an undergrad. Loyola has and always will mean something to my family! But I think it lost something, somewhere along the way.