At
the time of this review, I am on my second
semester at Our Lady of the Lake University. I must
say that the first semester was incredibly tasking for my
nerves. Not because of the academic demands, but because of
the student body! I've had to learn to adjust to
a group of students who 1)still act like they're in
high school, 2)went through grade school at Catholic/Private institutions and
thus live in a narrow bubble, 3)form high school-like cliques,
and 4)are for the most part intolerant of alternate lifestyles
(homosexuality is a hot issue; many students are trying to
defeat a Gay-Straight Alliance group). It is not easy to
enter a university whose students (most of them) already knew
each other from elementary/middle school/high school and thus exclude others.
This makes them come off as arrogant and snobby, and
many are but of course not all. To top it
off, the student body is largely a bore. OLLU sponsors/hosts
many fun activities, concerts and festivals but most students do
not even bother to attend. The campus community lacks unity,
which is strange since the student body is less than
2,000 strong. Females make up more than half of the
student population so beware for cattiness and TONS of eyeballing. If you can get past the less-than-desirable student body,
the university is an affordable and worthwhile alternative to large
private universities. The Sisters who founded OLLU are socially progressive
women involved in pressing social and environmental issues such as
global warming, immigration reform, charity work and community improvement. The
campus does a lot to reach out to the poor
community that surrounds it. Opportunities abound for students who
wish to contribute positively to their society.
The
financial aid process is tedious and lengthy (your grant checks
won't come in until mid-semester no matter how early you
filed FAFSA), but OLLU does everything in its power to
pay all your tuition and leave you with enough money
for books and supplies (thanks to book vouchers).
All of my professors so far have been exciting, caring
and available to help me at any time. I've
built strong relationships with the faculty in my department; it
goes beyond student-professor bonds...I've made genuine friends.
You
take the good with the bad, as with anything else,
you just have to decide how much of the “bad
stuff” you can handle.
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