Loyola University Maryland Visit Report by DougBetsy

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: No - This was an open house college day, approx 1,200 people. No interviews.

Information Session: Yes - General session for everyone in basketball arena. Then three periods of break-out sessions.

Campus Tour: Yes - Poor - see below

Classroom Visit: Yes - Psych, then Physics lecture. Clean, modern, bright.

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Campus:

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greeters and helpers were everywhere

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They were very polite, but clearly in a "crowd control" kind of way.

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Lovely campus

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My house should look this good.

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Lived up the rep as "best in the country."

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Better than I expected

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Off-Campus:

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Nestled between Baltimore's blue-blood neighborhood and Baltimore's blue-blood-wanna-be neighborhood. ;)

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It's Baltimore. All the pros and cons of a big city.

Campus Visit Notes for Loyola University Maryland

Visit Description:

This was Loyola's "College Day Open House." Jam packed from 10AM - 3PM. At least 500 prospective students attended and each one brought 1 or 2 parents. It was crowded, but generally well-run.

Everyone started out together in the arena for a 75-minute program including:
- 20 mins for mind/body/spirit video about Loyola's "whole student" education,
- general info from the dean of admissions,
- successful grads/place in the community/strategic plan speech from the president
- "why I love it here" remarks from the pres of SGA
All of it was impressive and accomplished that good feeling it was aiming for.

Next there were 3 break-out sessions in classrooms around campus. You could choose any major, or campus life interest. We attended...
1. school overview (in order to hear specifics not covered in the general session)
2. Psych as a major. Excellent. There's a 5-year BA/MS program that accepts 2 or 3 kids each year.
3. Study abroad.

Everything was going great and we were loving the school. From the break-outs it was back to the arena for complimentary lunch. Each lunch table had a current student assigned to it and that student conducted the tour. We chit chatted about general Loyola stuff while eating. Then it all fell apart.

Our student was a freshman with lingering high school "um, yeahs" and hair fiddling. She read from a script and followed a pre-determined path around campus. Unfortunately, nearly ALL the tours followed the same tour plan. With 1,000+ people trying to see the same things at the same time the whole place was a traffic jam. A veteran student guide might have been able to dodge the congestion. Alas, not ours.

To make matters worse, our guide had one of those tiny mouse voices, stayed at the front of our group and never turned around. We couldn't hear a thing. The final nail was when she freely admitted not knowing what happens in a certain building because she hasn't been there long enough to find out. As soon as we saw the dorm room (it was wonderful) we bailed on the tour. Found our own way to the Fitness and Aquatics Center, where we were blown away by how nice it was.

All in all, Loyola was great and it remains on Son's list, near the top. We'll chalk the tour up to bad luck. (Other groups seemed fully engaged.)

The Jesuit philosophy is clearly central to the Loyola education. But, as non-Catholics, (Episcopal) we saw that as a positive, not negative.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

N/A we drove from home, 30 miles away.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

N/A

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Parking was a mile away at one of Balitmore's cathedrals. There was a shuttle. Saw little to no parking on campus for staff or students.