DePaul University

Date: Aug 02 2014
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I would be entering my junior year at DePaul, but I plan on transferring in the fall to a different school. I don't think that DePaul is all bad; it works for some people. However, you need to have a very specific personality type to get the quintessential DePaul experience.

On the plus side, DePaul has an outstanding communications program, top-notch facilities, an extremely helpful internship service, a beautiful surrounding area, and offers highly educational seminars. When I finally found my niche in the communications department at DePaul, I ended up getting a lot out of their program. DePaul offers a wide variety of classes and the teachers, at least those in the communications department, are helpful, accessible, and interested in helping you succeed. They also offer a lot of helpful resources in the library, which is open until two in the morning. Thirdly, their internship service works somewhat like Monster, but gives an edge to DePaul students. You can find an internship on just about anything you would want to study through the school. Fourth, Chicago has everything you could ever want. As my Intro to PR teacher said,

If Chicago wasn't so cold, everyone would want to live here.

Lastly, DePaul offers seminars on topics such as LinkedIn and leadership. If you do end up at DePaul, use the resources that DePaul offers you and explore the city as much as you can.

Unfortunately, DePaul's negatives outweighed its positives for me. The school strongly lacks a social life, a sense of community, diversity, student involvement, and challenging core classwork. The little social life that DePaul has takes place at the bars, and if you don't have a fake ID, you're SOL. Students typically do not socialize in the dorms or in class. Since most of the dorm's doors do not stay open on their own, many students close theirs and do not socialize as they would at other schools. As for classes, on the other hand, students attend class and leave out the door as soon as possible.

Secondly, DePaul severely lacks a sense of community. The only people who wear DePaul gear are commuters, transfers, and "bros" who couldn't get into any state schools. Students rarely attend sporting events because the basketball team plays over an hour away and, anyways, most DePaul students do not care about sports.

Thirdly, DePaul advertises more diversity than they represent. Most of the kids are from upper-class families from the Chicago suburbs. For example, I get weird looks when I tell people I'm from Pennsylvania. If the diversity aspect is a selling point for you, think again.

Fourth, DePaul does not encourage student involvement in the slightest. When I discovered that DePaul had somewhere around 100 student organizations, I was shocked because no one participates in them. The only organizations that I know of that students participate in are greek life, religious organizations, and sometimes DAB, or the Activities Board. If you would like to join a sorority or fraternity or find other people to join in your spiritual journey, maybe DePaul is the place for you. If you want to explore other areas of interest that will advance you in your career, or simply in your personal life, I advise looking elsewhere.

Lastly, DePaul lacks challenging classwork. I felt more challenged in high school than I did in my requirement classes. The education was not worth the money I paid for it.

Overall, I disliked DePaul because it failed to give me what I wanted out of my college experience; however, I still think that DePaul is a good school. If you are an independent, driven individual, DePaul could be for you. If you want a college experience, look elsewhere.