DePaul University Top Questions

I wish that I hadn't worried as much about "figuring out what I would do with my life". I was very concerned about declaring a major and taking the necessary steps toward my future career when I started my freshman year of college. However, my advisors, professors, and friends at Middlebury helped me realize that in placing such significant weight on my future, I was missing valuable opportunities that could lead me to the answer. Concequently, I wish that I had known that it's okay to enter college without a specific plan for the future.

What I wish I knew before coming to Depaul would be their downtown campus gym is a bit small.

I actually knew this, but it is something most people do not know. Go to their offices! The welcome center is great with majors and overall questions. The financial aid office is very helpful and they try to help their students a great deal. All offices help their studets a great deal. The only problem is that people do not try to contact these people, but they are extremely helpful.

The only thing I wish I had before coming to DePaul is a friend or a contact that I knew at the school, to hang out with during those first few awkward weeks.

I wish I had known how expensive city life is and how important it is to save.

I wish I had known more about the residence halls. Deciding on a dorm was one of the toughest decisions besides actually choosing DePaul as my university. I am not sure if I regret my choice in University Hall (the idea being that I would meet more freshman in that dorm.) Many people who are in the honors program dormed in Seton Hall, and it is very close to the Fullerton stop as well as the Dominicks. However, I am right across the quad from the library. So I am sure both choices have their good and bad qualities.

I had been told some valuable information. I would like to take the time now to pass some on...DON'T WASTE YOUR CTA PASS! Get using the CTA as soon as possible, and you will realize that you can go just about anywhere in Chicago with it! Learn how to use it in the first couple weeks, it's easy! Also, don't get behind in classes. 10 weeks goes super fast! If you chat with me, I can give you more helpful tips! :)

I cannot think of anything that I wish I knew before coming to DePaul. I guess the only thing would be that it is a bigger party school than most people think. Because it is located in the city, many students frequent the bars and clubs in the area, including those that are underage. DePaul also has strict drinking rules, so I hear the ambulance many times throughout the weekend coming to pick up incapacitated students. Besides that, though, DePaul met my expectations.

Before I came to school, I wish I would have known how to mix work and play. When I was in high school I rarely participated in anything that didn't involve school sports or schoolwork. I didn't have much free time, but the free time I did have was mostly spent at home with my family instead of having fun and getting involved with my classmates more. Although my focus had a wonderful turnout, I also regretted not having as much fun as I should have had during my senior year.

I wish I would have known to try to get on-campus housing my freshmen year. I made great friends in my off-campus building, but the students I knew that lived on-campus made a lot more lasting friendships. Also, I would have liked to know to get a meal plan my freshmen and possibly sophomore year because you do not always have time to cook your own meals and ordering food and spending your own money gets boring after a while. At least in the cafeteria, there was always different foods to eat every day.