Our student body runs the gamut where wealth is concerned. Traditionally, DePaul is a first generation school meaning many of our students are the first people in their families to go to college and sometimes to even graduate high school. Rather makes sense, then, that some of our students don't have wallets bulging. On the other hand, we do have quite a few Lincoln Park Trixies. "Trixies?" you ask. Picture a thin bleach blonde wearing high heels $200 jeans and giant sunglasses...on her way to class with a Starbucks in hand. That, my friend, is a Trixie. That isn't to say that Trixies are bad or even always living off of Daddy's credit car. I have student loans and financial aid but I still rock the giant sunglasses. They just hide a multitude of sins, you know?
Believe it or not, Chicago is definitely a college town. We're just a few miles from Northwestern, Columbia College, Loyola, The Art Institute, Robert Morris, UIC, U of C, etc etc and people in the city love to hand out a college student discounts. And I am always willing to accept. DePaul also does a great job of getting its students involved in the city from day one. All students are required to take what is known as a Chicago Quarter course in one of two ways: Discover Chicago or Explore Chicago.
Discover, in my humble opinion, is by far the most rewarding experience of the two. Students move in to their residence halls (if they are living in them, it's not required or available for all freshmen) a week early and spend the next five days in an immersion course based on some element of the city. Titles I can think of include The Chicago Cubs, Theater in Chicago, Chicago Jazz, and my personal favorite (because I took it and it changed my life), the Diverse Faces of AIDS. I know it sounds depressing, but believe me it's phenomenal and it lead me to become an AIDS activist in a way. The course acclimates you to the city by taking you all over - always via your own two feet and public transportation - and in the meantime you get to know your fellow terrified freshmen. Piece of advice: strangers our age always bond over classic Nickelodeon.
Explore is the same concept only it doesn't start until school officially does and you don't get the same intensive opportunities to travel or get to know one another. If you're coming to DePaul and you're already familiar with the city and how to get around it, Explore could be the best option for you. If you're coming and know not a single soul nor the difference between the Green line and the #8 Bus North (my favorite bus by far), then Discover is definitely the place for you to be.
We're not very into our sport spirit, though Lord knows we're trying. As a rule of thumb, the girls do better. Our Theater and Music Schools (both conservatory programs) are amazing. Our administration is great for the most part but I do have one qualm. Perhaps its the aforementioned AIDS activist in me, but I have a problem with the fact that the administration does not allow for the distribution of condoms on campus because it does not align with our Catholic values. Loyola is Catholic and historically more conservative as a campus than we are...they hand out condoms.
This does lead me to an important point that needs to be made about DePaul: yes, we're associated with the Catholic Church. Yes, you'll have to take at least one religion class no matter what your major or home college. No, you don't have to be Catholic. The second highest religious population at DePaul is Muslim - not something you'd expect from a Catholic school, right? We're open to all beliefs or non-beliefs for that matter. As long as you respect others and can articulate yourself well, more power to you, your religion, or lack of it. I'm only genetically Catholic and I've done quite well here. My religion courses didn't even discuss Catholicism. One was about how Judaism came to be what we know today, the other about women's roles in five of the world's religions.
The thing that surprises people the most about DePaul is how big we actually are. We're the largest Catholic university in the nation (take that Notre Dame) and the ninth largest private university in the nation. We have two urban and four suburban campuses (the suburbs are mostly for graduate and non-traditional students, I've never even seen them) but a student to teacher ratio of 16:1. Quite honestly I recognize almost everyone in my major classes if I don't already know them by name and our general education classes have almost as many familiar faces. It's a big school by numbers but the community is small. I love it.