Loyola University Chicago

College Profiles
Written By Donna Mezey

Loyola University - Chicago

  • Jesuit University

  • Educate the ‘whole person’

  • Very welcoming community

  • Largest Jesuit university in US

  • 12,000+ undergrads

  • 41% students of color

  • 55% Catholic students

  • Urban campus in large US city

  • Hall of religions in student center

  • 2 campuses in Chicago

  • Main campus - Lake Shore Campus - traditional campus feel

  • 35 minutes from downtown Chicago

  • Lake on one side of the campus

  • Liberal Arts school

  • All students live on Lake Shore campus in 1st year and likely 2nd year too

  • Watertower campus - downtown Chicago - 6 buildings across 3 city blocks - school of business, the Law School, graduate programs, Schools of communication, education and social work - shuttle between the campuses

  • Basketball is huge there - moving on in March Madness

  • 1 dorm on the downtown campus

  • Very green campus

  • Top 50 most sustainable campuses

  • Student lead Farmers Market

  • 80+ majors

  • 45+ dual degree programs

  • 26 average class size

  • 14:1 student to teacher ratio

  • College of Arts and Sciences

  • School of Business

  • School of Communication

  • School of Education

  • School of Social Work

  • School of Environmental Sustainability

  • School of Health Sciences and Public Health

  • School of Nursing

  • Can do mix of majors - biology & theatre, pre-med & music

  • Nursing is direct admit - competitive admissions - 350 -400 students start each year.    2800 applications

  • Can transfer out of nursing but not into nursing

  • Other notable programs - Criminal Justice and Criminology, Forensic Science, Data Science, Engineering, Theatre, Dance, Environmental Science and Policy, Film and Digital Media, Pre-professional Programs, Undeclared Business, Sports Management, Multimedia Journalism

  • 250 student organizations

  • No audition for theatre

  • Well known as a pre-professional school - Medical and Law schools there too

  • Greek system

  • 1 in 3 students studies abroad (150 programs in 70 countries)

  • Campuses in Rome and Vietnam Center (Ho Chi Minh City)

  • Can start college in Rome if interested

  • Nursing students can study abroad (which is rare)

  • 3.78 = Average weighted GPA

  • Mid-50% - 1130 - 1320 SAT, 25 - 30 ACT

  • Nursing = Higher average GPA

  • 98% of incoming freshman receive grants or scholarships

  • Average financial aid package is $29,500

  • Total cost is %68,000

  • Applications up 40% this year

  • 67% female

  • 43% students of color

  • 65% admit rate

  • 120 Deferrrals

  • 45% test optional

  • Fall = Classes in person and virtual

  • Double occupancy dorms in the fall expected

  • Low rate of Covid on Campus

  • They don’t recalculate the WA non-weighted GPA’s.   Harder for WA students to get merit aid due to this.

  • Average GPA for nursing is 4.0.

  • Mastery transcripts are looked at by the person who evaluates home schoolers too

  • Counselors can add a weighted GPA to the letter

  • Still accepting t

  • Every student takes a class called Univ. 101 - about how to get tutoring, study abroad, career center, getting around Chicago, safety, etc.

  • Engineering is small there but growing (Computer, Biomedical, Environmental)

  • No applications are impacted at Loyola

  • Applications are growing there from western states - 480 from Washington state

  • Very welcome campus for LGBTQ+ students

  • Center for gender studies

  • LGBTQ Queer Studies

  • Can start taking classes in major right away along with core classes

Donna Mezey
Previous

Deep Springs College
Next

Rochester Institute of Technology