DePaul University

Date: Jan 09 2010
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I am currently a Freshman student at DePaul and I must say, I'm kicking myself for going here. There are so many things wrong with DePaul but I'll start by listing the good things first.

1. The education quality at DePaul is very good. Classes are all small and taught by actual professors. No TA's or anything like that. However, I felt that many freshman level classes were extremely easy and felt like a review of high school. There is a high individual value, and students don't feel like just a number at DePaul.

Now the bad…

1. There is very little social scene at DePaul. I personally found it very hard to meet good people at DePaul because there aren't many opportunities to meet people. I spent the first month of my Freshman year walking to supposed parties, that turned out to not be happening. Your only bet at having a good time at DePaul is if you get a fake id and you can get into bars. One thing I will give DePaul is that there is an excellent nightlife for people over 21, or those pretending to be…Don't come to DePaul with thoughts of big raging parties with lots of people, it doesn't happen here.

2. The school spirit at DePaul is non-excistant. There is an on-campus spirit club, but they don't have a large involvement. DePaul basketball used to be a huge deal in Chicago back in the 80s but those days are long gone. The basketball program is going downhill fast. The basketball team doesn't even play on campus. They play about a half hours drive away at the Allstate Arena. Even if you do make it to a game, you will be one of the only people at the game.

3. Students aren't very connected at DePaul. Since it's a city school, it attracts a very diverse student population. Since it is so diverse, students don't have a lot in common and groups of friends are usually small and walled-off. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing a group larger than ten people walking around on weekends. Speaking of weekends, they are a favorite time for suburban students to leave. DePaul used to have a reputation as a commuter school, and the administration has done a lot to keep kids at DePaul by constructing lots of new student housing. But this has only shifted DePaul from a commuter school to a suitcase school. Dorms will be pretty quiet on the weekends because all of the suburban kids will be at home. Your best bet would be to make friends with out-of-state kids, because they have to stay. This makes it really hard to meet friends because they're always leaving to go back home.

I've been really unhappy with my experience at DePaul, I will definitely transfer to a larger state school next year. I want to be a part of something bigger. I'm only halfway through my Freshman year and I already feel like I've experienced everything that I can at DePaul. Don't come to this school if you want to make a whole new life for yourself at school or if you want to be a full-time student. Don't come here if you want to go to 'college', only come here if you want to just go to class and continue living life like you aren't a student.