Working At Loyola – Page 4 – College Admission at Loyola

Overnight Stays For Prospective Students

By | February 18, 2015

Overnight stays are wonderful ways for prospective students to get to know Loyola better before making their final decision on a school this spring! Prospective students can sign up for overnight stays through the Undergraduate Admissions Office and will get the chance to stay overnight in a Loyola dorm with a current freshman. This is an exciting way to be sure of your decision. In this post, I will be discussing overnight stays and the benefits of participating in one!

This past weekend, I hosted my first overnight stay from Sunday night to Monday morning. My roommate and one of my friends also hosted, so we were able to do things together and the students were able to meet some of their possible classmates! The night began when we picked up our guests from the Damen Den and went to dinner at the Damen Dining Hall. The guests are all given dining hall passes so they were able to get in and experience what dining at Loyola was like! Over dinner, we were able to talk with our guests more to discover what their interests and hobbies were. This gave us a great chance to bond with our guests and to make them feel more at home with Loyola. Our guests seemed to really enjoy the experience of eating at a dining hall, and were excited to see what else Loyola had to offer!

We then went to a scheduled trivia night held for overnight guests and their hosts. This was held in the Regis multi-purpose room and turned out to be really fun! There were about eight teams, all made up of overnight guests and hosts. There were six different rounds of trivia on a huge variety of different topics. Winners would win a Loyola blanket, so the game got to be a little competitive with all of the teams racking their brains to come out on top! Our team had so much fun trying to come up with the answers, and we bonded a lot over this activity. We ended up coming in third place out of eight teams! It wasn’t first, but I was happy! After trivia, we finally headed back to our dorms where we introduced our guests to the rest of the floor. Everyone was really welcoming, and our guests felt comfortable. Shortly after, we all headed to bed to get ready for class the next morning!

One of the best parts about overnight stays is that our guests get to attend a class with us Monday morning! This is so that they can get a feel for how classes at Loyola are run to get a better understanding of the school as a whole. I brought my guest to my core environmental science course, which was enlightening to them because they got a taste of a class that they would probably be required to take if they chose Loyola. She ended up really enjoying the class, even though it was all lecture and she just sat and listened intently.

When it was time to say goodbye to my guest at the end of her stay, she thanked me for a fun experience and told me her views of Loyola have bettered from the stay. This meant a lot to me, as I love being able to share the experience with others to help them make the best decision. There is definitely a huge benefit to participating in an overnight stay, for both the guest and the host! So, if you are still unsure of where you would like to spend your college years and need to experience Loyola more intently, I would highly recommend attending an overnight stay. The experience is beneficial, educational, and fun for everyone! I’m so excited to host another student this weekend!

30 Reasons Why We LOVE Loyola

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | February 11, 2015

With Valentine’s Day approaching and everyone talking about love, it only seemed appropriate to talk about what Loyola staff and current students have to say about their relationship with Loyola.

Here are 30 reasons staff and students love Loyola:

The ability to go abroad to the Rome center. – Ellen
The incorporation of social justice into academics. – Judy Kyrkos
The small campus feel with access to the city. – Lexy Rux
Being in Chicago. – Maggie
The small class sizes; it really feels like you get one-on-one time with the professors. – Patrick
Being on a beautiful campus with access to downtown. – Adam Buller
Living in Mertz and the chicken tenders from Damen Dining Hall. – Katie
The sense of community. – Ricky Mott
The beautiful campus and social justice focus in all of my classes. – Kara
The small campus feel. – Shaniqua
How the core classes make us a well-rounded person. – Elise
How self-aware the student body is. I’ve never encountered an impolite person on campus. – John
The community feel, size of campus, friendly/welcoming environment, and small class size. – Christy Vargas
How there are Vegan and gluten-free options in the dining halls. – Sarah
Dynamics of taking class on the lake shore campus and downtown. It’s nice to experience the best of both worlds. – Claire
Class sizes, pretty campus, and nice/passionate professors. – Carlee
Diverse community. – Samantha
Friendly environment on campus. – Brittney
Approachable teachers who seem to enjoy their jobs and always want to help you do your best. – Gabby
The view of the lake. – Shannon
I feel safe on campus. – Adrian
Loyola has always given me the opportunity to succeed. – Aaron Brunmeier
The architecture of campus. – Brian
The sense of community. – Aliyah Jervier
I love that Loyola offers something for anyone and everyone who attends so that they can be a part of something and feel included. – Hiba Abbas
I LOVE that every time I step outside and see our beautiful campus I get excited for my day no matter how stressful it is. – Lucy Mooney
I love that Loyola has so many things to offer to their students. Whether it be information on study abroad, fairs talking about feminism, or tutoring for certain classes, Loyola does an amazing job providing us with tools for success. I think that since there are so many resources offered, any type of student can feel like this school is a perfect fit for them. – Katherine Weir
Loyola fosters education both inside and outside the classroom enabling YOU to grow immensely. Upon graduating from Loyola in the spring of 2015, Loyola has taught me that the aim of my education is not the facts, but rather of values. –Joe Sadofsky
How connected students are to the Loyola community. – Callie Short
How Loyola shares the same values as myself. – Alyson Crutchfield

Happy Valentine’s Day from Loyola University Chicago!

The Little Things Add Up.

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | January 27, 2015

Here’s a secret – this is really a list of common pet-peeves among admission counselors. Most of us really love our jobs and really love assisting you through your college search/decision process, but those of you who do the following will definitely make us loves our jobs that much more.

Research ahead of time. Most of the questions we get are easily answered by spending 30 seconds our our website or Google.
Ask the questions that actually matter to you. Don’t ask what the most popular major is at Loyola. Instead ask about experiential learning opportunities or about class offerings for a major (or majors) that you are actually interested in. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if our most popular major is Biology if you are interested in Business or History, those are great majors too. Skip the generic question and ask what you really want to know about.
Ask questions yourself instead of having your parents or counselors call or email on your behalf. This is your college search and decision process, not theirs!
Learn how to write a professional email. It should have a greeting, a body, and a signature. Your email address should also be appropriate. All text in your email should have proper spelling and grammar (don’t forget your punctuation).
Don’t send generic emails to multiple schools at once. This makes us question your interest in our respective schools, so take a few extra minutes to send us individual emails.
Spell Check. And double check that you have spelled the school’s name and the counselor’s name correctly.
Make appointments with us. Show up on time. Show up prepared. We love meeting with you but if you show up 25 minutes late and don’t have any questions, you won’t get the most out of this appointment and we’ll be scrambling to give you a ton of information in a short amount of time.
Remember that we are human beings. If we don’t respond to your email or voicemail within minutes, don’t panic, don’t send us 10 more emails. We’re busy trying to make sure we provide you all with the best support but that takes time, so be patient.

Even if you have already made some of these mistakes, it’s not too late to change! We’re quick to forgive and we’ll be pleasantly surprised by seeing any one of these changes made in your communications with us.

Thankful Loyolans

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | November 25, 2014

In order to show their gratitude and thankfulness this year, Ramblers took hundreds of post-it notes to a chalkboard on-campus to share what they were thankful for:

Happy Thanksgiving from our Loyola family to yours!

Student Working

By Therese Bennett | November 8, 2014

Besides being a full-time student and blogging for Loyola, I also work as a student-worker for Campus Reservations. Campus Reservations is responsible for booking all rooms on campus for student organizations and faculty events. I work in their office and my jobs includes answering phones, replying to emails, managing spreadsheets, filing, and other such things. It is a job all about customer service and I do my best to help everyone who contacts us!

Sometimes, it can be a bit stressful working two jobs on campus and also teaching piano lessons in the suburbs on weekends, but I love all my jobs! Being an English major, I love to write! So blogging for Loyola’s Undergraduate Admissions was the perfect choice for me. Being able to be creative when blogging to you guys is a lot of fun and I love how I get to explore more of Chicago in order to provide you all with juicy information about Chicago and Loyola. Working at Campus Reservations has taught me a lot about customer service. It has taught me how to always be friendly towards other and how to work in an office environment. Teaching piano lessons is also something that I love because I have played piano for 18 years and love love love love music!

Loyola offers jobs for students on campus if they are interested in working while being at school. You can work as a tutor for any subject. You can work as an English tutors for people who need help learning English. You can work at Loyola’s Phonathon where you work with donors and alumni of Loyola. You can work at Halas in the gym. You can work at an office job as a student worker, like I am for Campus Reservations. You can also work for the Undergraduate Admissions and write blogs just like I am doing now! There are so many jobs on campus for students who are looking to gain experience in a working environment. All the jobs on campus understand that classes come first, so they will work for you to make a schedule that fits in with your academic life.

Working while being a student is not for everyone, but it works well for me because I can still get good grades and earn some money at the same time. Even with having a hectic schedule with

Open House Recap

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | October 22, 2014

Open Houses are some of my favorite events of the year. They are simply fantastic, and I’m not just saying them because I coordinate them.

Here are my TOP 5 Reasons for LOVING Open House:

1. Reconnecting with prospective students – I absolutely love recognizing students from college fairs and high school visits and seeing them explore our beautiful campus for the first time. It’s even more exciting when they recognize me and stop by to chat for a few minutes about questions or to share their latest thoughts on Loyola. I was lucky to have several of these interactions throughout the day.

2. The Department Fair – where I get to catch up with some of our fantastic faculty members. As an alum, I have the pleasure of knowing many of the faculty on campus, but I don’t get too many opportunities to catch up with them. Fortunately, the department fair not only gives me an opportunity to say hi, it also gives all of our prospective students and guests the unique opportunity to meet with faculty from all 80+ majors and minors!

The department fair at Loyola's October Open House. — The department fair at Loyola’s October Open House.

3. The food – who doesn’t love free food?! And there is a TON of it at Open House. My personal favorite though is just being able to enjoy Loyola’s hot apple cider on crisp fall day.

4. Spending a Saturday morning on Campus – Rain or shine, there is no location I love more than the Lake Shore Campus early in the morning. It’s simply impossible to find a better view than the sun rising over Lake Michigan as we are getting ready for the thousands of guests at Open House.

5. The Undergraduate Admission Student Workers – they are the best. Seriously, how many people do you know that are willing to work overtime on Friday night and Saturday morning? They not only do this, but they do it with a smile on their faces because they genuinely love Loyola and having the opportunity to connect with our prospective students. It’s great to be able to spend time with current students who are loving their Loyola experiences. They also seem to have fun with the hundreds of balloons we had this past weekend.

Student Workers pose with balloons while prepping for Loyola's October Open House. — Student Workers pose with balloons while prepping for Loyola’s October Open House.

THANK YOU to the nearly 2,000 guests we had on-campus this past Saturday! We’re so thrilled you had the opportunity to join our Loyola community for the day.

For those of you who were unable to join us, it’s not too late! You can still register for the Saturday, November 8th Open House by clicking here or you can register for a traditional campus visit by clicking here.

Find Yourself at Open House!

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | October 7, 2014

As the on-campus event coordinator in the Undergraduate Admission Office, some of my favorite weekends of the year are coming up – our Fall Open Houses! This year we will be offering two Fall Open Houses on Saturday, October 18th and Saturday and Saturday, November 8th on our Lake Shore Campus for High School Seniors, High School Juniors, and Transfer Students. Open Houses are a great way to spend some time on campus to see if Loyola is the best “fit” for you. All of the different tours, sessions, and activities are designed to introduce you and your guests to the Loyola community.

Open Houses at Loyola differ from our daily campus visits in that they offer students, parents, and guests insight into the entire Loyola Community.

We offer presentations on: Freshmen Admission/Scholarship, Transfer Admission/Scholarship, Financial Aid, Study Abroad, Pre-Health Advising, Career Development & Experiential Learning, and Residence Life.

We offer tours of the Lake Shore Campus, all first year Residence Halls, and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability.

We also offer a Department Fair where guests have the opportunity to meet with faculty, staff, or students from every major at Loyola.

Click here to register for Open House!

Click here to view the full agenda for Open House!

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to bring anything to Open House?

You are not required to bring anything to Open House. Though we do recommend that you spend some time looking at the schedule before hand so you can select which sessions you would like to attend. Also, be sure to come prepared with any questions you have for admission counselors, financial aid counselors, or faculty members from your major/program of interest.

Do you have hotel recommendations for the weekend?

Yes, click here for recommended lodging options nearby.

Is parking available on campus?

Yes, we recommend that all visits park in our main parking structure on campus. Parking will be free on both Saturdays.

If I cannot attend Open House, is there another time I can visit campus?

Yes, you can attend a campus visit at our Lake Shore Campus on Monday – Saturday and our Water Tower Campus on Monday – Friday.

If you have any additional questions, give us a call at 800.262.2373 or email us at admission@luc.edu.

Loyola’s Newest Tour Guide

By Tanner Walters | January 24, 2014

Blare the trumpets, because I have an announcement! I just got hired as a part of the newest batch of Loyola tour guides! I figured since I love Loyola, walking, and hearing myself talk, it was kind of a perfect job for me. Two of my closest friends, Shawn and Lauren, are current tour guides and had a really good experience with it, and encouraged me to apply. To be honest, ever since on my Loyola tour I’ve wanted to eventually give a tour myself, so it did not take much convincing. Because I’ve got a break from theatre for the semester, I’m glad it will give me something to do throughout the week. My training starts soon, and soon I will be chalk-full of Loyola trivia. I hope to see some potential Ramblers on the tours!

I know I have harped on this before, but this is yet another example of great paid positions Loyola offers to its students. College is not all about the degree. It’s hard to find jobs without some kind of experience before you apply, and Loyola offers opportunities for its students to get relevant, paid career experience without even having to walk off campus. I’d like to emphasize the paid part as well-paid internships can be hard to come by, but they are plentiful here on campus. This is my THIRD job I’ve had since my freshman year on campus, and all have been invaluable experiences. Loyola offers a website called RamblerLink to its students that allow easy searches for internships and jobs all across the city. Obviously Chicago itself is full of opportunities, but students here find jobs without even leaving their dorms.

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Explore Campus!

By Lindsy Fagerstrom | October 14, 2013

Only 26 days until the first Undergraduate Admission Fall Open House of 2013 at Loyola University Chicago! This year’s Open Houses will take place on Saturday, November 9th and Saturday, November 16th starting at 9:00 a.m. Many students & parents have been asking questions about the event, so hopefully this post will provide some answers!

What is Open House?

Open House is an opportunity to explore campus, tour the residence halls, learn about academic programs, find out about admission and financial aid, and connect with current students and faculty! There will also be presentations on experiential learning, residence life, study abroad opportunities, pre-health advising, and the new Institute of Environmental Sustainability. Click here for a full schedule.

Who can attend Open House?

High school juniors & seniors, transfer students, and their families are invited to attend Open House. Click here to register online!

Do I need to bring anything to Open House?

Do you have hotel recommendations for the weekend?

Yes, click here for recommended lodging options nearby.

Is parking available on campus?

Yes, we recommend that all visits park in our main parking structure on campus. Parking will be free on both Saturdays.

If I cannot attend Open House, is there another time I can visit campus?

Yes, you can attend a campus visit at our Lake Shore Campus on Monday – Saturday and our Water Tower Campus on Monday – Friday.

If you have any additional questions, give us a call at 800.262.2373 or email us at admission@luc.edu.

Freshman Year: Check

By Tanner Walters | May 2, 2013

It’s crazy, but I have two days left of my freshman year of college!

It’s funny, because in high school, I always counted down, eager for the year to be over and summer to start. Now, it’s honestly more sad than happy.

I’m so happy to attend a school I don’t want to leave. The experiences I’ve had this year and the friends I’ve made have transformed Loyola into a second home.

I recently got the offer to stay over the summer and work full-time with my internship at Loyola’s University Marketing & Communication Department, and I am thrilled to accept it. I will be subleasing an apartment close to school from a friend for June and July, and I am pumped to spend part of the summer in the city. A lot of my friends who were as reluctant to leave as I was are staying as well, so I know I’ll have a blast.

Of course, I’m even more excited to see my family and friends back home for a month, with nothing to do but visit! While it will be hard to end my freshman year, it makes it easier going back to a place you love just as much.

I’ve realized that my life is always going to be split. No matter where I am, in Cincinnati or Chicago, I’ll always be missing someone. But, as my mom always tells me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

So, goodbye freshman year-sophomore year, I’ll see you soon!