Rambler Living Like a Yellow Jacket

During the last week of winter break, I took advantage of a chance to go ‘undercover’ for a week as a Georgia Tech student. For several days, I stayed at my sister’s sorority house, ate on and around campus, and sampled various resources available to students. Having had this unique opportunity to juxtapose these two seemingly contrasting schools from an insider’s perspective, I decided to share what I gleaned from the experience, comparing my campus lifestyle at Loyola with my sister’s at Georgia Tech.

In terms of general differences, the two institutions present distinctly different public images. Loyola is a private Jesuit university embracing service and a broad core curriculum as a key aspect of its educational mission, while, Georgia Tech is a public university that is highly recognized for its strong engineering programs but that is still working on being seen as anything more than that (I have never been surrounded by so many engineers!). Although the undergraduate student body size falls into the same range for both schools, the size of the physical campus differs significantly. At Loyola’s Lake Shore campus, walking from one end directly across to the farthest opposite side will take at most fifteen minutes. By contrast, Georgia Tech’s campus covers such a huge land area, a complex network, comprised of six on-campus buses and trolleys, is utilized to take students where they need to go.

This spring at Loyola, I plan on going through sorority recruitment. One of the reasons why I am especially fond of sororities at Loyola is that they are largely focused on scholarship and philanthropy. Ironically, at Georgia Tech, because a majority of students are so focused on academics, sororities are almost obliged to focus on the social aspect of student life. Although characteristically different, I think both types of sororities are well-suited for each respective type of university.

Since Georgia Tech is located in the South, the university takes on a more southern culture. Personally, I think I am more suited for what many Yellow Jackets call “Yankee” culture.  While I love seeing different cultures at different universities, the best part of the experience is the confirmation that I have chosen a school that best fits me.

 

 

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