Alex

DePaul is situated in Lincoln Park on the near Northside of Chicago, which gives student easy access to any part of our cultural city. As I mentioned before, the student body and faculty represent many world cultures and there is a diversity of opinion that is very tolerated and accepted. In my years at DePaul, I've seen many conflicts of opinion handled with grace and respect by both the students and administration. Though DePaul is the largest Catholic University in the nation, diversity of opinion and background is of the utmost importance and the administration takes free speech very seriously. Recent clashes between Students for Justice in Palestine and conservative student groups on campus have led to important and necessary conversations about how we handle human rights and free speech on campus, allowing everyone to be heard while fostering tolerance and respect every bit of the way. DePaul is teaching us to be educated and aware global citizens, which is absolutely crucial in today's world.

Though we have over 25,000 students, DePaul is committed to keeping class sizes small (usually under 25) which allows for very individualized discussions and attention from professors. I've gotten to know many professors outside of class on a peer-to-peer basis, and it really encourages me to ask questions and go beyond simple homework assignments. I'm in the Honors Program, a more rigorous liberal studies curriculum that boasts even smaller class sizes (capped at 20) and is for students interested in delving more deeply into class materials. I have been appropriately challenged in many of my classes, but haven't often found it difficult to earn an 'A' and wouldn't have minded being more challenged in some classes, which I hope would've forced me to work harder to earn the grades I desire. That being said, my department and school foster connections with professors, the material and the real world and my experiential learning was second to none.

As I detailed earlier, there is almost every type of student at DePaul-- which is something I found necessary when choosing a college. The campus is small and cozy, but situated in a dense neighborhood. Regardless of your religious/political/socioeconomic position, most people who attend DePaul treat eachother as adults. We don't wear pajamas to class, ever. Campus is hustling and busting with Undergraduates who may live on campus or nearby, graduate students and professors co-mingling in our Student Center, Ray Meyer Fitness Center and the Library. There is every type of person, and I think we are definitely more fashionable and interesting than the average college student. Many students picked DePaul specifically because it is urban, forward-thinking and world class.

For a large school that is a member of the Big East, DePaul is quite unusual in the way student groups are structured. Because many students commute and/or live outside of campus, it it pretty quiet at night because many of us are hanging out in all parts of the city. Sports are big, but we don't have a football team and our men's basketball stadium isn't on campus, so sporting events are not a school-wide affair. We have hundreds of student groups but our Greek scene is not huge (under 500 total participants) because so many students are more interested in cultural groups like Gospel Choir, Black Student Union, Irish Dance Club, Hillel, Outdoor Adventure Club, Student Government Association, etc. This year I lead the Environmental Concerns Committee and we did all sorts of on-campus outreach events as well as a few trips outside of campus. DePaul is really committed to service-learning and we have opportunities all the time to go out and work in the Chicago community.

DePaul's Lincoln Park campus sites amidst tree-lined streets with beautiful brownstone houses and lovely gardens in every direction. Most of the streets are quiet and students intermingle with residents on a daily basis. Most of our buildings are large and beautifully constructed, but are four stories tall at a maximum, which makes for a comfortable, community type feel that isn't utilitarian at all. On a week day, the sidewalks and buildings are hustling and bustling with people of all ages and colors and there is always an event going on in the quad or the student center.

I've taken classes on many different topics like Irish Literature, Latin American History, American Radicalism, American Youth Culture, Arabic literature, etc. I've learned about so many different cultures, disciplines and ways of approaching the world. Most professors I've had are incredibly invested because we are not a research institution. Most of them truly enjoy learning from us as well, which makes for a conversation-based learning experience rather than dry lectures.