DePaul University (DPU)

DePaul University is the nation's largest Catholic university, offering its 14,000 undergraduate students over 130 majors across two campuses, including the option for combined Bachelor's and Master's degrees. These various programs are anchored by a core curriculum that features over 1,400 course options and a Focal Point Seminar, in which students must investigate a significant person, place, event, or idea. Further supplementing that core is an ever-expanding series of options, as "each year [DePaul] strives to improve and add new programs to suit different future career paths of its students." Such offerings are only enhanced by the school's heart-of-Chicago location, which puts it "close to so many educational and vocational opportunities." There are thousands of internships available, as well as "peer-to-peer study groups" and study abroad programs. The administration rises to the task of "keeping the school's environment safe, clean, and well-educated," and "there are plenty of resources specifically set up to help students with pretty much anything," including "tutoring sessions every day, a writing center to help improve papers, a counseling center, [and] financial aid advisers."

Ninety-eight percent of classes are taught by the "highly professional" faculty, so "instead of only learning from a textbook, I am able to gain real experience from professors who have worked in the field for decades at a time." There's a maximum to each class size as well, which guarantees that "teachers actually get to know the students that are in the class." This also lends itself to an accessibility "like no other and it really helps the students that need extra help outside of the classroom." All in all, professors have so "many years of experience behind them, they are able to transfer all their knowledge to students in an effective and fun way." There "are museums, parks, guest speakers in the city that professors will often take advantage of by taking the class to them allowing us to learn the subject from a real-world perspective."

One in three people at DePaul is a first-generation college student, and the student body as a whole "is pretty diverse when it comes to race, gender, religion, and orientation of each student." Attendees find this to be a bonus, because not only are they learning from the professors, but they're also "gain[ing] considerable knowledge from [their] peers." This is especially true given the warm atmosphere, where it is both "easy to make friends and easy to get engaged with events going on around campus," regardless of socioeconomic background. "The campus is pretty liberal," students observe, but stress that everyone has "freedom and respect of choice for views [and] religion." This ultimately results in "a large sense of belonging in any classroom between all the students," and helps to ensure that everyone remains "very focused."

DePaul has "lots of organizations that cater to different causes and a lot of extracurricular activities," as well as 15 Division I athletic teams that students enjoy watching. The Chicagobased campus also ensures that there's not only a lot to do, but plenty of opportunity to put what's being learned to the test. In particular, students complete "a lot of community service in the neighborhood as well as throughout the USA," but many also just "enjoy going out into the city and trying out new restaurants around the city." That doesn't mean DePaul skimps out on campus offerings! There are "always events happening to increase student interaction," and these are "really creative and interesting." And even though DePaul is spread across two campuses, students note that activities are always planned in such a way "that there is enough time to catch a train to get to the other campus."