This weekend I had the wonderful experience of helping out at this year’s Loyola Weekend! It was a fantastic time, meeting all the new admitted undergraduate students!

Some of the most frequently asked questions of the weekend were some of those that seemed the simplest to me, and so I thought it’d be a good idea to share them.

1. Where are you from? (Nebraska.) Oh, my student is from (insert city here) and I’m worried about the distance. How did you adjust?
Honestly, coming to Loyola and getting acclimated was as easy as it probably could be, considering the 500 mile difference and knowing no one. There are tons, and I mean TONS, of opportunities for you to meet other students here. Your first week of school is also welcome week, a week devoted to getting adjusted to the school and getting you involved with your peers and surrounding community. Additionally, there is a class mandatory for all freshman to take, called UNIV 101, that will greatly help you adjust to college and you can meet your academic advisor, who will answer any questions you have.

2. What is there to do on the weekends? What does a typical Friday or Saturday night look like for you?
As much as I would have liked to answer with some super fun and exciting response, realistically I use my weekends to wind down from a long week of studying and tests. If you’re not planning on binge watching Netflix and hiding from everyone, there is a ton of things for you to do. Your ID gets you a TON of advantages around the city, some of the most popular being free access to the Art Institute of Chicago, discounts at a ridiculously good amount of food places, as well as access a lot of other museums and activities. If you’re not into museums, there is a lot of advantages of living in Chicago–there is always something going on.

3. What is it like to live in a residence hall?
This question always made me chuckle. I’d never really thought of it, to me it was just another place to study, eat, and sleep. However, I’ve really enjoyed living in a residence hall this year. It’s a fantastic way to meet fellow students and connect with people, some of my best friends live on my floor. There are lounges where you can cook, watch TV, or play pool, there are certain quiet hours, as well as 24 hour courtesy hours. It’s comfortable, and the rooms here at Loyola are not cramped in any sort of way. I’ve never felt like I’m in a small box and have no room.

4. (My student) is deciding between here and (insert other colleges names here). What made you decide Loyola?
I feel like a broken record saying this, but the thing that made me choose Loyola is the never-ending kindness of the staff and students. It is a scary thing to come to a school where you don’t know anyone, and even if you do know people, college is scary in general. The fact that I genuinely felt welcome at Loyola, regardless of racial/religious background, personal beliefs, or even being from 500 miles away made me say yes to Loyola. The fact that this kindness and accepting attitude is something that I have continued to see after committing and attending here confirms that I made the right choice. Loyola may not be right for everyone, but it sure is right for me.

Hi all!

Today, we’re going to have a talk about how to take 18 credits a semester and not feel overloaded with work. This semester, I decided to take 18 credit hours in order to be able to take all of the classes I wanted and complete the major and minors I want to. It’s not an awful class load, only 6 classes, but it’s a lot of commitment. You have to really want to take these hours.

This week, for the first time all semester (so it’s taken a while for it to be like this), I had 5 tests in 5 days. While I could have probably figured this out and probably excelled at this in high school, I wasn’t so sure about college. The curriculum is harder, more difficult, and advanced. So what do you do when you’re completely stressed out about 5 tests?

You plan.

With careful studying hours, a day-to-day schedule, and about 200 flashcards, I got it figured out. While that doesn’t sound remotely appealing, and I know it, it’s what got me through this week. This has also been the first time that it’s happened all semester, so realistically it could have been much worse.

So just know, that even the bad weeks are easy to get through if you put your mind to it and don’t leave it piling up.

Hey fellow and prospective Ramblers!

I wanted to take a few hundred words to tell you about an experience you should get involved in–Loyola Weekend. It is something I attended last year as a senior in high school (although juniors are welcome as well, I believe) and something that I enjoyed a lot. It’s a really good way to figure out if Loyola is the right school for you, which is a step in the right direction to figuring out where you’d like to go next year as the year comes to a close.

What Loyola Weekend is, is a two day event where you are encouraged to explore Loyola, see the campus, and talk to the current students. Find out what it’s all about, find out where you would fit in, or even find out what major and minor choice is right for you. (Although in my experience, you’ll mess around with your major and minor so much that you’ll just start to tell your family and friends that you’re undecided.) Come and meet current students and hear their stories, ask them your questions, and discover your new favorite things about Loyola, whether it be Madonna, Halas, or Mundelien’s many hidden treasures.

I am a little hazy on the details, but I do believe that you may also see the freshman dorms and go inside some of the buildings. There will be walk around tours and plenty of people to help you find your way, so come out and see Loyola!

As a college student, it’s a well known fact that a lot of us don’t have a bunch of extra spending money. While this doesn’t really stop us from going downtown, just a few block away from our Water Tower campus, and doing a little retail-therapy down on Michigan Ave, it stops us from being able to drop everything and return home for a weekend.
It’s well understood that we can take a train or even a Megabus home, but sometimes the 10 hours sitting in a bus for only a short while isn’t worth it. With travel time, you’ve nearly wasted an entire day! They are the cheaper options however, for those who live out of state or even on the other end of Illinois.
It’s not always doable, but finding flights home is generally the quicker option. Depending on where you’re from, or where you would like to go, there may be an opportunity for you to get home fairly cheap while flying.
While I was taking one of those retail therapy sessions down on Michigan avenue, (guilty as charged) my cashier was talking to me about a recent trip he’d taken to NYC for only $60–ROUND TRIP. Immediately curious as to what kind of genie he had to bribe for that kind of deal, he informed me of Spirit Air — an airline that will take you from one major city to another for what is generally fairly cheap. This works best if you’re flexible with your arrival and departure dates, but if it’s a big price difference, you can always talk to professors about missing class that day and getting the notes elsewhere. While it will not work for everyone, as not everyone is located in the airports that they work with, it could nevertheless provide a good travel option for breaks or vacations.
It’s easy to travel home if you know how to do it, and cheap but reliable airlines are always a good option.

Safe Travels!

Just like every other holiday post, I’m going to start this off with a hearty HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

This is one of my favorite holidays of the year, and it makes me so happy to see all the green everywhere. Being in Chicago presents amazing opportunities for Saint Patrick’s Day, and you should take advantage of them. Go to the parade downtown, or check out one of the many Irish restaurants and pubs that Chicago has to offer!

With the good news and celebration comes responsibility, and as Loyola students, we are responsible to take care of each other (and really anyone) if we see someone that needs our help.

For Loyola students themselves, brush up on the Good Samaritan Policy. Always take the opportunity to help a fellow Rambler and make sure that they can get home safely. Keep your ID on you at all times.

Be aware that there will be a lot of people at the festivities, and although this is a really great opportunity to make new friends, it’s also a very good opportunity for theft. Don’t carry purses that can easily be gotten into, and make sure that you’re not waving money around infant of people. Be careful, and be aware of your surroundings.

Have a good St. Patty’s Day, stay safe, and wear green!!

This week has been sort of a learning experience for me. Monday-Thursday, I have had friends come into Chicago for their spring breaks as a vacation. Living in Chicago, they wanted me to show them around and hang out with me. While I was appreciative to have friends that wanted to see me, it wasn’t exactly easy, especially because they stayed for more than one weekday.

In honor of others’ spring breaks, and in hopes that you’ll see some familiar faces coming to visit you these next few weeks, here are some things that I think will help you get through 6 of your friends and family members visiting you all at once.

1. Make a plan.
Easier said than done, but ask them what they want to do when they get into the city. It’ll make you planning your day a little bit easier.

2. Go to classes.
While I by no means have perfect attendance, I genuinely tried to go to classes while my family and friends were here. They’ll understand that you go to school here and that even if it’s their spring break, it’s not yours.

3. Don’t stress.
Your life and their life will both be harder if you worry about being with them every second of the trip. Work around obstacles like classes, and if they’re down for it, you can even ask your professors if they can come to class so you can show them what a typical day is like for you!

4. Get guest passes early.
If they’re staying with you, make sure that you get a guest past 24 hours in advance of their stay if they’re planning on staying with you and you’re a freshman.

Good luck showing your guests around!

Hi guys, before we get started: a reminder to make sure that you set your clocks an hour ahead due to Daylight Savings Time!

Additionally, a gentle reminder that we have school starting again tomorrow. Although this means that we have to start classes and homework again, look on the bright side! We’re back in the city, back to exploring new things and adventuring around us.

Make sure to check Sakai (sakai.luc.edu, or you can just go to luc.edu, find the search bar in the top right corner, click on the menu near it, located sakai and click it there) so you make sure that you’re not missing any homework assignments that may have been assigned over break.

While a lot of professors don’t assign long over-break assignments, some might. (Especially if it’s a writing class, papers can get heavy over breaks depending on who is your professor!) Just make sure you’re safe and give it a check. Forgetting an assignment over the break happens to the best of us.

I hope everyone had a great spring break and that getting back to classes is an easy and relatively painless thing for all of us, and I’ll see you around campus on Monday!

Something that I was pretty late to the game on as a freshman was Facebook groups. Facebook groups are a GREAT way to connect with your peers at your newfound college, and they’re great tools for finding roommates, friends, or even just people that live in the same building as you or share the same hobbies!

I found my first college roommate on the Facebook group–I posted a short paragraph with things about me: where I was from, what I wanted to major in, where I would preferably be living (it’s good to have an idea!), why I came to Loyola, etc. I ended up talking to a few people, but then I chose the one that I felt I would work best with. It was a really good way to find and connect with people, whether I ended up living with them or not.

If you need help finding your class, try typing “Loyola University Chicago Class of 20__” in the search box. (Write your expected graduation year, of course.) Other groups on Facebook include a Loyola Buy/Sell/Trade group, a Loyola Jobs and Internship page, and even a “Thing Loyola Professors Say” page.

While you don’t have to follow or ‘like’ any of those pages by any means, they are a really good way to get involved with your future community!

 

If any of you are high school students or parents and are SO close to committing to your college, but not really sure, here are some things to help you make a choice and make sure that the college you’re paying for is the right one for you/your family.

1. Can you see yourself happy here?
Pretty simple, right? Is there something that intrigues you about the campus, is there something that really stands out? If you don’t feel a connection to the college right away, don’t fret-just make sure to close your eyes and imagine yourself at the college. Can you do that, and does it work?

2. Do my AP/IB credits transfer?
Definitely, definitely check this if you have already spent the money on the credits. This can be a huge contributor to where you want to go, but most college do accept them. It’s always good to double check if you’ve spent the money, however.

3. Can I graduate in time?
If you’re trying to triple major (hard, but possible) is there a way that you can fit everything that you want to do into four or five years? Make sure that you talk to an academic advisor and see if there is something that you can do to get everything you want to have done accomplished.

4. Will I be comfortable at this college, especially living here?
There is so much more to living on campus than just living on campus. Check out the school’s resources, and even local business around the college to see what kind of specials they offer or to see what life at that college will actually be like. Also, ask students about this–it’s always a good idea to get an inside perspective.

 

Happy Committing!

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that housing registration started yesterday for upperclassmen.
(Note–everyone that is not a freshman is considered an upperclassmen here at Loyola).

The way it works is on a lottery system–all student’s names are entered in and they are randomly assigned numbers, ranging from 1 to what I believe this year was around 1600. While you will get a reminder email that you can start registration for housing, keep an eye on the time your chosen day. Housing spaces go fast–so here’s also a reminder to have a back up plan or two. Maybe even three.

If you’re like me and have no idea what any of the other residence halls that you live in look like, no fear. Loyola offers a solution for that, on their res-life page. (I will post the link at the end of this article.) Know the different styles of rooms that the halls offer–for example, Georgetown Hall is all quints, meaning that you will HAVE to have 5 people at registration when you attempt to get a room.

Another reminder–make sure that you have your roommate’s roommate pin (a four number code that they will have made up to ensure that whomever is trying to room with them has thei

A list of all of the residence halls with pictures and possible videos: http://www.luc.edu/reslife/currentstudents/halls/
Loyola’s Explanation and step-to-step guide on housing: http://www.luc.edu/reslife/currentstudents/apply/