Working At Loyola – Page 3 – College Admission at Loyola

Loyola’s Peer Advisors

By | October 25, 2016

We help you with your college transition, point you to the different resources that you can avail of, aid in putting together your Four Year Plan; we are Loyola’s Peer Advisers. Located in the Office of First and Second Year Advising in the Sullivan Center; freshmen students are all assigned to an Academic Adviser and a student adviser (aka Peer Adviser). As a Peer Adviser, we help the Academic Adviser with different tasks that include: taking attendance, putting together presentations, facilitating class activities, and most importantly we provide our students with a student’s perspective of Loyola life and college life. In addition, it is part of our mission:

“We are the Loyola University Chicago Peer Advisers, committed to serving the university community as well as bridging the relationship between first year students and their greater Chicago classroom. We are focused on promoting social justice, directing students to the multiple resources available to them on campus (namely their academic adviser), and allowing them to flourish and grow in a college environment. Our goal is to allow students to be more informed and confident global citizens and promote Loyola’s mission in “seeing God in all things”.

Besides helping students academically, we work to uphold Loyola’s mission to “educate the whole person”. We educate you in finding your place at Loyola whether it be finding a club/organization that share your interests; involvement that students can be a part of both inter-campus to the greater Chicago classroom; and directing students to resources that might be helpful for their needs i.e. Tutoring Center, Writing Center, and Services with Students with Disabilities.

Being a Peer Adviser has many perks: this is a paid position, you get to register first for classes (which means you get to pick the professors and times you want to fit in time for your UNIV classes), and you get to see the rewards of your hard work.

For more information on First and Second Year Advising: http://luc.edu/fsya/about/

If you want to get to know the Peer Advisers: http://luc.edu/fsya/about/peeradvisors/

Baby I’m Back!

By Meredith Simmons | September 10, 2016

This time last year I was scared and truthfully pretty unsure about whether I had made the right decision in coming to Loyola. A year later I’m sitting here writing to you and loving my life. It’s crazy how different things are already as a sophomore, I couldn’t wait to come back this year and I wasn’t stressed about if my dorm would look like it came off Pinterest. A whole year away from home gave me a confidence that I never dreamed I would have, and a group of friends and sisters I wouldn’t trade for the world. Over the past year I changed my major, made new friends, lost new friends, lost a roommate, and joined a sorority. Freshman year your life is put on fast forward, and even though there were moments last year that tested my character and my ambition, I am so glad that it all happened.

This year I’m excited to be an initiated member of Chi Omega and have a better idea of what I want to do with my life. Last year, I decided that the business school wasn’t what I wanted to to be, so here I am switching to the School of Communication!

My advice for freshman would be to take a deep breath and chill out. Stop stressing about making friends and sitting alone in the dining hall. It’ll happen, you’ll find your people with time, and sitting alone in the dining hall means you can watch Netflix. Half way through first semester last year, I thought I would transfer out for sure. It only took one good friend to convince me otherwise. I remember the moment when I realized that there were people here who wanted me around, and that was the best feeling in the world. Even if it was only a handful of people, it was a handful of people who were my friends. So if you’re a freshman don’t stress out, and don’t think that if you don’t have a best friend by week two that it’s the end of the world. You will find your place and when you do it will be awesome!

I’ve hit the ground running this year and I’m so glad that I stuck with my gut and stayed at Loyola. I can’t wait to see what sophomore year has in store for me! Stay tuned, I’ll be back and blogging every week!

-Meredith

10 Things I Did Not Expect About Loyola

By Meredith Simmons | April 22, 2016

Every school is different, and for the incoming college freshman, they’re all unknown territory. Now you can read any number of student testimonials and pictures, but you’ll never actually know till you’re there. So why should you read my list? Well, because you still want to know what you’re getting yourself into before you actually move on campus next fall. So here’s a list of the aspects of Loyola that I never understood from the website, pictures, and even campus visits!

1). Loyola is NOT a state school – Yes, you’re thinking, I already know that idiot. But I say this just as a reminder not to expect a lot of the same campus trends as your friends who go to state school. You’re in the city, and even though you have a campus – it’s nothing like any school you’ve seen in the movies.

2). People “dress up” on campus – This is one of the differences between state school and city schools that I didn’t really expect. Students – practically everyone – actually get up and get dressed in actual clothes for class. This is different from what I had heard about other schools and everyone living in sweats and pajamas because on campus no one cares – people kind of care here.

3). Greek Life is actually a thing – because Loyola isn’t exactly known for it’s greek life, I never imagined that being part of the greek community would mean anything. I was surprised to find out just how developed and thriving this community is. Check it out, it’s worth it.

4). A lot of students have on campus jobs – I clearly work for the university since you’re reading my blog post right now, but I was slightly surprised to find out just how many kids actually have on campus jobs with Loyola. You can get involved with these different opportunities at job fairs and through the information on the website.

5).Even though we aren’t a party school, people still go out – Yeah, finding weekend activities is a little more challenging here than at any big ten state school, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good times to be had. Once you find your friends or join a group on campus you will find that going out and having a good time becomes much easier.

6). Not everyone is Catholic/Jesuit – You might not be surprised by this, but I kind of was. I didn’t think everyone would be Catholic, Jesuit, or even Christian, but I didn’t really understand just how diverse Loyola would be. There is a place for everyone of every religious or cultural background on Loyola’s campus.

7). Taking the ‘el’ get’s 100% easier after the first time – I was really scared that I would never figure out the public transportation system, or be confident using it. Don’t worry though, after you do it once you’ll be much more calm and you’ll be able to start using it all the time. (pro tip – save a picture of the CTA train map on your phone for ref).

8). Living In Mertz isn’t all Bad – There’s a lot of hype surrounding the biggest oldest freshman dorm on campus, “Mertz till it Hurts” is everyone’s favorite mantra. But Mertz has the best community feeling of any of the dorms I know. I lived in De Nobili (loved it btw), but kids who lived in Mertz seemed to always know what was going on.

9). You’ll see people around campus constantly! – Because of Loyola’s size you’re going to see people in random places around campus and downtown like all the time. This isn’t a bad thing! It actually makes living in the city a little more homey! I love running into friends downtown, always a fun surprise!

10). College is what you make of it – Going to any school, whether it’s Loyola or a state school, is going to give you exactly what you put into it. What I mean by this is that there are a lot of stigma’s surrounding private schools and city schools that can seem hard to break through, but after a year at Loyola I can honestly say that whatever aspect of college you really want you can probably find at Loyola. If you really want to be in a sorority, you can do that; If you really want to be independent and never see anyone, you can do that; If you want to go out every weekend, you can do that; If you want to bum around your dorm 24/7, you can do that too. Loyola is unique, but it has a wide variety of activities and qualities to offer it’s students that you might not realize till you’re here.

Summer at Loyola

By | April 15, 2016

Although summer usually means a long clean break from school, many students at Loyola choose to spend their time on campus, taking classes online, studying abroad or pursuing an on campus job. This summer is the first summer I’ve decided to spend away from home.

I’m working for a Loyola department called Conference Services. In the summer, Loyola flips a majority of it’s housing into a hotel setting. This allows for large groups of outside people to stay on campus for events such as medical conferences, summer camps or weddings. (Did you know that Loyola’s chapel has a waiting list for weddings and it could take up to two years to get off of the waiting list?!?) As an employee, it is my job to check people in and out of the buildings and to make sure their basic living needs are met. I’m not quite sure what to expect from this experience but I’m excited to begin building my resume. I think this job will add to my growing customer service skills. Wish me luck!

Aside from attending my full time job, I will be taking two classes. At Loyola there are three summer sessions: A, B and C. Summer semesters A and B fall consecutively next to each other but C semester occurs during the last half of session A and the first half of semester B. During my first semester I will be taking an online Theology class. Online classes at Loyola will either have a class time where you have to be online at a certain time or there will be no online sessions. With the mandatory online sessions, they will give you a software that will allow you to actively tune in to a lecture from your professor.

In class summer sessions, that take up 3 credit hours will usually run twice a week for three hours each. During summer semester B I will be taking Environmental Ethics for my tier 2 Philosophy core (general ed.)

Loyola does offer classes at our Rome, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City campuses and they will run for about 6 weeks like the classes here do. If you do study abroad for the summer, I recommend only taking a maximum of two classes. There’s so much to explore while studying abroad, so you may as well take advantage of it while you’re there!

For more information about summers at Loyola, Visit this Link

Multicultural Overnight

By | March 30, 2016

I decided to be an overnight host again for a Multicultural Overnight event. This was a little different from a previous overnight event I did. This Multicultural Overnight event focused on having high school students who identify themselves as people of color come together and meet other Loyola students who are students of color in order to feel comfortable and interact with one other. My overnight guest and I got along great and shared the same interests and had a lot in common.

Once she arrived on campus, I showed her around the Loyola campus and took a walk towards the lake to take pictures. Afterwards, we did several activities that the event provided, including performances from our fellow peers such as a sorority perform their salute and a Loyola student reading his poems. Also, we were able to learn dance moves from the Afro Descent team and performed it to the other groups. We even learned how to salsa from the Salsa club. This experience was so much fun because we got to meet other Loyola students we haven’t encounter yet and meet other incoming freshman as well. We even did some crazy poses to capture the moments of happiness and laughter. Some groups did a pyramid and others did funny poses, our group decided to spell out LOYOLA and it was lots of fun meeting new people. After this was over, we were pretty tired and wanted to go to bed to relax and reflect on the day.

The following day, I took her to a mock class that showed her how classes are taught and the experience of being a student at Loyola. Next, she really wanted to go the bookstore to get some Loyola gear to show that she had officially made the decision to attend Loyola next fall. I am excited that I will be seeing her next year and we agreed to keep in touch in case she needs any advice or just wants to hang out.

Where to Work as a First-Year Student

By Jessica Xi | March 19, 2016

Ooh, a job. For some of you, it might be a scary, new prospect that just a reminder of the incoming doom of life after school. For others, it’s something you’ve known for years. Whether you’re looking to get a job to help pay for this expensive (but worth it) school or just so you can get bopngrill every week, let me tell you about the state of jobs and Loyola, both on and off campus.

Even if you live just down the block from Loyola, things change when you get here. In the job quest, you might qualify for work-study – or you might not. Luckily, no matter your needs, Loyola is here to help! We have job fairs every single semester that host companies looking to hire college students and RamblerLink, a website that also connects prospective employers to potential employees.

Of course, there’s more than that, too. That’s mainly off-campus. Near-campus opportunities include working at The Coffee Shop, Subway, Insomnia Cookies, and so on, and so on. Businesses hire, and you don’t have to take the CTA to get to work! There’s also online freelance jobs perfect for students, like writing for The Odyssey.

It’s Chicago. There’s lots of job opportunities, if you’re willing to go out and get ’em! And if you’re not comfortable leaving the campus or your schedule won’t allow for a thirty-minute commute, then on-campus is for you!

On-campus has a lot, a lot of opportunities. Unlike other schools, our dining halls are run entirely by Aramark employees, so you don’t have to resign yourself to working to feed your peers. Instead, you can work at the Undergraduate Admission Office, like me! Or you could become a Desk Attendant, an RA, a lab assistant, or a tutor. You can work at the Phonathon, or with Campus Reservations, or even Conference Services. There’s also Orientation Leaders, Welcome Week Leaders, College Coaches, and on and on and on. You could be a security guard at LUMA if you wanted to give that a try. If you can dream that Loyola has a need, then there’s a job.

So where will you work? There’s so many choices, it’s really up to you, your circumstances, and your need. Trust me when I say that the job market isn’t something you have to worry about being too small here in Chicago and on campus. Happy hunting!

Farewell: A Final Reflection of My First Year of College

By | April 29, 2015

When I was looking for schools, I thought about my future, what kind of person I would become, how I could possibly fit in with everyone, and if the prestige and academic standards were too high for me. Nonetheless, I went with my guts and chose to attend Loyola. Still to this day, I have no regrets about that decision.

From the very beginning, every new student was required to go to an 2-day and 1-overnight stay at Loyola. Even then, I was incredibly nervous. I knew nobody and my social skills weren’t so good. Plus, I have never been in a dorm before nor have I slept elsewhere besides my own room. Anyways, on the first day of orientation, I was put into a small group of 10 other students and to this day, I still know 5 of them very well. We are close friends! That evening, night, and next day flew by so quickly because I had people to talk to which made everything else much more bearable for me.

When school started, I had to adjust to extended school hours (some classes ended at 3:46PM and others at 5:30pm for me). With that, I had to learn how to use my free time wisely. Never in my life did I have so much independence. I used my free time for getting school work completed, visiting teachers during their office hours, going to mass, eating outside in the quad, and more.

Commuting! Especially for commuters, things can and will get rough and challenging. Weather conditions can get in the way (mostly in the winter) and because you live at home, there are home obligations in addition to the academic obligations. If you would like to know more about this, I have two blog posts on my commuting experiences on my page.

From January onward, I hit a personal barrier. A family situation had come up and it affected my academic performance and physical and emotional state. Despite that, I sought out help through my academic advisor, psychologist from the Wellness Center, Dean of Students, and Financial Aid Director. I am happy to say that things are slowly getting better for me and hopefully by the start of fall semester, I will be completely up on my feet and ready to start anew.

Throughout the school year, I was a part of the American Medical Student Association, Vietnamese American Student Association, and Off-Campus Commuter Life group. It helped get me active within the Loyola community and along the way, I made more friends! I plan to continue joining all these groups next school year in addition to A.C.E., a group that pertains to students of low-income, first-generation, and more.

As I conclude this final blog post of this school year, I want to thank all of you readers for wanting to read my blog posts and go through my Loyola journey. Also, hopefully you had the opportunity to learn more about me, my hobbies and interests, and more. It was a privilege to blog and represent Loyola and I hope I have the wonderful opportunity to resume Rambler’s Pie: A Fresh Slice of Loyola starting next semester.

All the best,

Chris

(being eaten by a dinosaur at Loyola’s Scholars Night at the Field Museum)

Helping Out With Loyola Weekend

By | April 1, 2015

This past weekend, the Undergraduate Admissions Office here at Loyola held their biggest event of the year-Loyola Weekend! Loyola Weekend is held one weekend at the end of March each year, where prospective accepted students can spend a day or two on campus visiting various presentations and receptions that show all that Loyola has to offer! This weekend really helps in the final college decision of many students, and this year, I was so excited to help out! In this post, I’ll be discussing what it was like to help during Loyola Weekend and to meet a lot of prospective students!

I attended Loyola Weekend myself last year, and loved every minute of my experience! I attended presentations on financial aid, next steps, study abroad, choosing a major, and was able to tour all of the freshman residence halls! I also was able to meet my prospective roommate in person (we are currently roommates, and still good friends today!)

For all of these reasons, when the Undergraduate Admissions Office offered me a chance to help out with this wonderful weekend, I jumped at the chance! I was assigned to give room tours of my room in Mertz Hall. I worked from 8A.M. to about 4P.M. on both Saturday and Sunday with a few other tour guides also living in Mertz! As families and students would arrive in the lobby of our residence hall, us tour guides would take turns taking the families up to view our rooms and listen to all we had to say about how we love living here! We also showed the laundry rooms and little kitchenette. It was really great to interact with the prospective class of 2019, and the response I received back after my tours were wonderful and really rewarding! It made me feel great knowing that I may have helped influence someone’s choice to come to Loyola, or even to live in Mertz!

All in all, helping out with Loyola Weekend was definitely an amazing experience. I was able to make connections with prospective students, share my knowledge of Loyola, all while making new friends with people already living in my residence hall that I may have never seen or talked to before (the other tour guides)! I think that Loyola Weekend is a great idea, and it definitely was successful! If possible, I know I will be signing up to help again next year!

5 Reasons Why You CANNOT Miss Loyola Weekend

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | March 16, 2015

5 Reasons Why You CANNOT Miss Loyola Weekend:

EVERYONE you want to meet will be there. Are you looking to talk to a Chemistry professor, the Director of the Wellness Center, a Campus Ministry Chaplain, Directors of Loyola’s Interdisciplinary or Quinlan Honors Programs, the Dean of the School of Communication? We have faculty, staff, current students, and alumni from just about every department, major, minor and program on-campus. That’s a ton of awesome people from the Loyola Community who will be around all weekend to answer all of your questions.
You get an ALL-ACCESS PASS. Literally. It’s the only weekend the entire year when you can tour all 5 first-year residence halls, the Nursing Simulation Lab, the Engineering Science lab, a Chemistry lab, the Fine Arts Annex, the Newhart Family Theatre, the Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Campus Prayer Rooms, and Halas Recreation Center. This is, of course, in addition to our normal Lake Shore Campus and Water Tower Campus tours that are offered the rest of the year.
Get ALL of your questions answered. Are you wondering … How do I make the deposit? Where can I study abroad? How do I register for classes & orientation? What do I do with my AP scores? What do the dining hall menus look like? Well we’re here to answer those questions. The day is filled with presentations (on topics like Next Steps, Financial Aid, Study Abroad, Off-Campus Student Life, etc.) to get you answers for any of those questions floating around in your mind. It’s a one-stop-shop to get it all taken care of so you don’t have to schedule multiple appointments or call/email different departments at the University.
Figure out what that FINANCIAL AID Package really means. Don’t worry, you are not alone with this one. Understanding your financial award and responsibility is a tricky task, which is why we want to help you out with that during Loyola Weekend. Financial Aid counselors will be giving presentation and available to meet with you to answer your specific questions. Trust me, going to the presentation will be a life-changing and worthwhile decision.
Meet other future RAMBLERS! Each year hundreds of students come to campus this weekend to get their first chance to really see what life as a Rambler looks like. It’s a great way to confirm Loyola is the best fit for you and make some new friends for your upcoming collegiate years. And hey, maybe you’ll even meet your future roommate, teammate, classmate, or even your future best friend!

Now that you’re dying to go to Loyola Weekend,
click here for a full schedule & registration!

9 Loyola Myths

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | March 10, 2015

Over the past 3 years in admission, I have noticed there are A LOT of misconceptions about Loyola University Chicago. I am going to use my blog this week to set the record straight. Here are what I consider to be the top 9 Loyola myths:

We are not the same school as Loyola Maryland, Loyola New Orleans or Loyola Marymount. We are all completely separate schools. The only thing we have in common other than our name are our Jesuit background and values. So no, you cannot study at another Loyola in the U.S. However, you can Study Abroad at other universities all over the world or at one of our three campuses in Rome, Beijing or Ho Chi Minh City, which are in fact run by Loyola University Chicago.
You do not have to be Catholic (or even religious) to go to a Jesuit University. About half of our students identify as being Catholic and as a Catholic University, we do offer regular masses, Taize prayer, resources and mentors for our Catholic students. Loyola has the only student-run mosque in Illinois and we have an incredibly strong Hillel Community on campus. We also have several different prayer spaces in our Student Center including a Puja Prayer Room. We are a home to all faiths and encourage interfaith dialogues and for students to lead their own spiritual path with assistance from Campus Ministry which provides resources, services, and mentors on-campus. I also want to throw out that you do not need to be Catholic to attend one of our Retreats at the Loyola University Retreat and Ecology Campus, these retreats are awesome and open to everyone.
We are actually in the city of Chicago (not a suburb) and are right next to Lake Michigan (not a block away, our buildings are a foot or two from the lake).
We are not a commuter school. Yes, in the past, a lot of students did commute to Loyola, but not in recent years. Now all first and second year students are required to live on-campus and while upper-classmen have the option to live on or off-campus, most stay on campus or live within a block or two of campus. However, the students exempt from the housing policy still have a community and home on campus thanks to Off-Campus Student Life.
Housing is not hard to find on or around campus. As mentioned above, we require that 1^st and 2^nd year students live on-campus and we have several upperclassmen residence halls at both the Lake Shore Campus and the Water Tower Campus. There are also hundreds of non-Loyola owned or operated apartments near campus.
Our acceptance rate is not 92% or 98%. It is closer to 63%. This is one of those cases where you can’t believe everything you read on the internet so if you’re questioning something you read, call or email your admission counselor!
We are not a school that lacks athletic success, spirit, or history. We are a Division One school in the Missouri Valley Conference and last year our Men’s Volleyball Team won the NCAA National Championship on our very own campus. Go Ramblers! We are also the only D1 School in Illinois to ever win a NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship, which we did in 1963, but we are still proud of the win and of our contribution to NCAA history via the Game of Change.
Chicago’s weather isn’t always horrible. Our fall is actually warmer than most of the Midwest thanks to the wind blowing warm air off the lake. Most of the time, we don’t see snow or really cold days until late December when students are already home for Winter Break. Yes the beginning of the spring semester is cold and has some snow, but harsh winters build character and stories you’ll be telling the rest of your life. And don’t forget how much of the year (typically March – November) brings truly amazing weather to Loyola. During these nice months you can find our students hanging out at street festivals, enjoying the great outdoors that you CAN find in the city, and by hanging out at “Loyola Beach” (really called Hartigan Beach).
We are not “the wolves”. We are the Ramblers! However, Lu Wolf is indeed the name of our mascot.