North Park University

Date: May 05 2007
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
After coming from a big state school where I never felt connected, I've loved North Park. It's a small school, 1200 undergraduates, many of whom are commuters, on a small campus, but you're in the city of Chicago so there's always somewhere else to go.

Because you see the same people all the time, the students are very friendly and you'll pretty much recognize everyone. Unlike at state schools where people often keep to themselves when walking around, there's a much greater sense of community here. That being said, since you see the same people all the time, if you don't really like the people here, I'd imagine you'll get sick of it pretty quick. There's only one cafeteria on campus, so for the students who eat there 2-3x a day, it's a great way to make great friendships since you'll see all your classmates there around 5:30-6pm.

Maybe 25-40% are kids who grew up going to Covenant churches and camps, but it's very easy to find kids who don't fit this mold if you don't want to take part in the "Covenant clique". It's a pretty diverse school too. There is 9% African-American, 7% Asian/Middle Eastern, and 8% Hispanic students, and a solid number of international students. It certainly can be cliquish, between the various racial groups and the Covenant cliques and athletes, etc., but people definitely are still friendly to those outside of their cliques.

The school is pretty easy to get into, and the workload is standard for college, nothing much more than a typical college experience would give. For being a private school with the close access to professors, tuition and room/board are comparatively cheap. Tuition ($16k), food ($3k), and housing ($4k) will come up to $23k, which is a lot cheaper than most private schools. The dorms are pretty old and sort of falling apart, don't expect that to change anytime soon.

The professors here are so much more approachable than nearly any other college. The professors here don't do nearly as much research as big-school professors, so they care a lot more about teaching. Classes are very small, many having around 10-15 people in them. Professors often have students over to their house for meals. Because of this closeness, if you need help with assignments or deadline extensions, you're much liklier to get it here at North Park than at most other schools. Classroom settings are pretty laid back.

Regarding post-North Park life (internships and jobs), all the graduates I know from here are doing well in their careers. Even though it doesn't have the name recognition of most schools, with the sense of community, the willingness of professors to go the extra distance to help out students, and the many alumni in the Chicago area, getting a job out of North Park is not too hard.

There's a lot of clubs and social activism opportunities. This is definitely a Christian school in policy, but many students (at least 50-60%) aren't practicing Christians or are students of other faihts, so I don't know anyone who feels they're having Christianity shoved down their throat. For being a Christian school, North Park's more on the liberal side, particularly with its emphasis on social justice. There's twice a week chapel services that many students enjoy along with many active ministries. I appreciate North Park's approach to religion because it's like what religion is in the real world: the opportunities are there to make it the central part of your life, but so are the opportunities to completely ignore religion.

The students here genuinely want to have fun. Hardly anyone is overly concerned about academics. Parties on campus are nonexistent due to campus rules, which are otherwise pretty laid back for a Christian college. Lots of students drink, just in smaller settings or off-campus at numerous places around the city of Chicago. There's a general feeling of fun in the cafeteria, occasionally pranks, and almost always students that just seem very happy to be spending time with their friends.

There are a lot of varsity sports to play if you're interested. Even though it's Division III, there's still a lot of traveling involved and it's definitely a big time committment. IM sports are fun and a lot of people do them. The greatest addition to campus is the new recreation center, at 10pm on any weeknight, it's definitely the most popular place on campus to hang out, even if you're not working out.

In conclusion, for me, the best part about North Park is how most students feel a part of a close community. Going to school in Chicago is exciting, and North Park is a place where people are really nice and want to have fun.