Loyola University Chicago Top Questions

Anyone at Loyola can find someone or a group that they can make a connection to. Even though the student body is made up of different groups and organizations, there is still a sense of unity among the majority of students.

Loyola is Jesuit. They welcome all faiths, which is wonderful. Everyone is equal here. There are lots of minorities and people of every sort. It is a very laid back campus and there is no need to get really dressed up for classes ever day. Most of the tables in the dining halls are people of all sorts just hanging out and having a good time. Most students are from Illinois, but you find people from all over the United States and the world. People are a little wealthier, but you see every type. Students do talk about how much they will earn. Students are not as politically involved as other colleges but more than others I have seen.

Loyola has a pretty diverse student body- for being a Catholic university! There are a lot of the typical "social groups" you would find anywhere, and I don't think most students would feel left out. Students range from studious to party animals, overachievers to slackers. And everyone in between. We have had a few issues with racism and discrimination on campus. This has really gotten the attention of the student body, especially minority students. It's kind of appalling, but all-in-all, it doesn't seem to threaten the livelihood of the student body too much. Or tear us apart. Most students are from a higher economic background, but a few have scholarships that they are dependent on. Most are from the Chicagoland area, but you can definitely meet people from all over the WORLD. There's a pretty good mix of liberal and conservative students on campus, but being a college campus, you will mostly find liberals.

The ethnicity is crazy here. Don't be mistaken there, first, is a huge difference in ratio between girls to guys. There are a huge number of girls here. Breaking that down further, the girls are either just really easy, or have boyfriends. The guys half of them are homosexual, actually 3/4ths it's ridiculous how many there are here. Then most of the rest have boyfriends then the rest are single. Personally, I'm a type of guy who wears collared shirts and dresses well to class. You don't really see that, you would think that since this is a private school there are a lot of nicely dressed kids who have a lot money but that really isn't the case. I would honestly consider myself a minority, that being guys who dress well, maintain themselves, come from money, or have been raised Catholic and to the right in values and ideals. Most of the kids are dress free-spirited and look like they just haven't showered in forever. You know who the athletes are especially the basketball team. Most students are from Chicago area, Cincinnati, Cleveland or St. Louis. There is a huge Indian and darker skinned ethnicity at this school. Just recently it seems it has greatly increased. Students are increadibly aware and most are Liberals (or left) here and voice their opinions openly. I'm personally conservative so I'm definitely a minority but I have to believe at most college students voice their opinions and for example have open forums rejecting the war in Iraq or supporting a democrat for president. The most recent outrage on campus was Loyola having an exclusive beverage contract with Coca Cola, despite the fact that there was some labor issues with there company in South America. Many students do attend church and are spiritual. Most students don't talk about how much they'll earn.

There is such a wide range of students at Loyola, that it is difficult to describe a typical student. Students come from all financial backgrounds; many students commute from the city or suburbs while other students come from different states to attend a private school in Chicago. I would say that the majority of students are middle-class, Caucasian, and hold both left and right political beliefs. However, many students are quite apathetic when it comes to politics. There are many groups of diversity around campus, from clubs about ethnicities to religious and feminist clubs. For the most part, these types of groups are greatly accepted on campus. I think it is safe to say that diversity is something Loyola is proud of, and students seem very open-minded. Recently, however, students have been protesting problems of racial profiling by campus security, and many racial minorities do not feel accepted or noticed. This raises a question about the acceptance of diversity at Loyola, and students are actively fighting to fix it. There is also a large gay population at Loyola, and their organization “Advocate” seems active and widely supported. Many straight students supported a previous fundraiser, buying “Straight is great, gay is fabulous” tee-shirts and wearing them around campus.

Loyola is located on the North Side of Chicago in Rogers Park. For those who aren't familiar with Chicago Rogers Park is the most racially diverse neighborhood of Chicago. That means a few things. There is awesome food. If you have the taste for Thai, Arab, Mexican, Italian, or Indian the area has you covered with a plethora of awesome mom and pop eateries. The area's diversity also means that there are many different kinds of people and with that comes new ideas and scenarios. The student body is fairly politically active and tends to be leftist. The school has its shares of protests in this vein. Last semester Loyola's contract with Coca Cola, which provides the beverages for its dining halls and vending machines expired. Before renewing it, Loyola surveyed the students to determine if a change was necessary. Many students objected to renewing with Coca Cola because they were rumored of exploiting child labor and unethical business practices in third world countries. The protest dragged on a semester, and now half the beverages are provided by Coca Cola, and the other half by Cadburry Schweppes; the makers of 7 up and Dr. Pepper.

I think that Loyola is true to its word in saying that it offers a very diverse campus. However, from what I see, most minority groups tend to be very cliquey as they all have their own different ethnic organizations. So the campus isn't in my opinion as diverse as it should be. I definetely do not see different types of students interacting. In fact it is one of the more annoying things about Loyola for me is that I feel like I'm living in high school again when I am in the dining hall amongst all the different groups. Most Loyola students tend to be from the Illinois suburbs from my experience. A lot. and I mean a lot of students at this school are commuters since it costs so much money to live here, let alone go here. I know a good amount of people who went back home after living in the dorms freshman year for this reason. I would not consider my school to be very politically active. From the way things are right now, nobody really even seems to care about this years upcoming elections which is kind of disheartening. I think that the school is more liberal in terms of its student body, but there are a lot of conservative students here as well.