Educated Quest.com

2012-13 Edition

First Impressions:Loyola University (MD)

1 Introduction to Loyola-Maryland

Background

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Founded in 1852 in Baltimore, Maryland, Loyola is one of 28 Jesuit col-leges and universities in the United States. Jesuit schools, including Loyola-Maryland use Latin phrases such as Cura personalis , the whole person, to highlight the value of their approach to education. With re-spect to academics this includes required courses in theology, philoso-phy and ethics, though not necessarily in the Catholic faith. Outside of academics Jesuit education includes an emphasis on community service and leadership development as well as fitness that complements the ex-tracurricular activities found at most other colleges and universities, ex-cluding fraternities and sororities. Study abroad includes service projects as well as academic study tours. At Loyola-Maryland, 70 percent of a jun-ior class studies abroad during a semester or a break.

With just over 4,000 students and a variety of liberal arts and pre-professional majors, Loyola-Maryland is similar to two other Jesuit schools, Fairfield University (CT) and the University of Scranton (PA). It is also similar in size and academic mix to Providence College (RI), the only U.S. school operated by the Dominican Friars. Other schools that are often considered by students who choose Loyola-Maryland, includ-ing Fordham University (NY), St. Joseph’s University (PA), both Jesuit, and Villanova University (PA) have some similar academic programs. However, these schools, which are located in larger metropolitan areas, also have larger student bodies.

All of these schools, whether they are Jesuit or affiliated with another branch of Catholicism, have long histories in their communities as well as strong alumni bases in their cities and states. These schools are also welcoming to all faiths and incorporate Judaism and other religions into their academic and social programs. These schools were founded to

Background

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serve their communities although some, like Loyola-Maryland and Ford-ham as well as Boston College, once regional brands, serve a much larger national audience today. Less than a fifth of the Loyola-Maryland undergraduate student body comes from Maryland according to the school’s 2014-15 Common Data Set. The University stills draws heavily from the Northeast and MidAtlantic states although its admissions efforts have extended into Virginia, Ohio, Illinois and Texas.

The geographic diversity of the University is good news for admissions. Maryland has several competitively-priced public universities that are larger as well as smaller. It is also the only state that has a public honors liberal arts college (St. Mary’s College of Maryland), a public honors uni-versity (University of Maryland-Baltimore County) and a highly competi-tive flagship research university (University of Maryland-College Park) as well as a highly-acclaimed private national research university (Johns Hopkins). Loyola’s largest merit scholarship awards do not reduce direct costs (tuition and fees, room and board) anywhere close to those as-sessed by the public institutions.

Loyola-Maryland is not a super-selective school. Of the nearly 14,000 people who applied to join the Class of 2018, nearly 8,300 or 59 percent were offered admission. Just over 2,300 were offered a place on the wait-ing list; slightly more than 400 accepted a spot and 150 were admitted. The middle 50 percent SAT range of the freshman class was between 1100 and 1270 (out of 1600). A test-optional school, high SAT scores are not really necessary to get in, though they will be needed for considera-tion for merit scholarships. Less than half of the entering class scored above 600 (out of 800) on the Critical Reading section of the test, though slightly more than half scored higher than 600 on the Math. Good

grades, however, will help. More than half of the entering class had a GPA of 3.5 or higher in a college-prep curriculum.

Loyola is divided into three undergraduate schools: Loyola College, the arts and sciences school, the Sellinger School of Business and Manage-ment and the School of Education that offer 32 majors as well as 48 mi-nors. The University, like Fairfield, Providence and Scranton, offers Engi-neering majors within the Arts and Sciences school. The University does not require applicants to choose either a school or major when they ap-ply. Nor will it impose caps on the numbers of students who can be admit-ted to a major as larger public universities do.

Loyola-Maryland does a very good job at retaining and graduating a freshman class. Eighty-eight percent of the freshmen who entered in 2014 returned for their sophomore year. Over three quarters of the classes that entered in 2007 and 2008 finished their degrees in four years. According to the NCAA, the graduation rate for Loyola-Maryland student-athletes has been an excellent 96 percent.

Notable Loyola-Maryland alumni include author Tom Clancy, Emmy-Award winning sportscaster Jim McKay, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (who works out in the University’s pool and filmed a Subway com-mercial there) and journalist Mark Bowden, among many others.

2 Tuition and FeesScholarshipsDebt

Costs

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Loyola-Maryland charges tuition and fees of just over $44,000. On-campus housing is expensive at $13,400 for room and board. The University estimates a Total Cost of Attendance, including direct charges (tuition and fees and room and board) as well as indirect charges (books, living expenses) of just over $59,000 according to Col-lege Navigator the U.S Department of Education’s search site. The estimate is rea-sonable compared to those provided by most schools. Loyola-Maryland increased tuition and fees by just under two percent from the previous school year. Room and board charges increased by about four percent. Loyola-Maryland requires the FAFSA and the CSS Profile as well as the family’s most recent tax return.

Within a freshman class of just over 1,100 students in 2014, the University awarded need-based scholarships to slightly more than 600 and merit-based scholarships to 200 as well as to 34 scholarship athletes, according to the University’s 2014-15 Com-mon Data Set. The average need-based scholarship was just over $23,000, the aver-age merit award was around $14,000. Neither were high considering the tuition and fees were more than $42,000 last year. The largest merit scholarships, the Presiden-tial and the Claver range from $16,000 to $26,000 per year. The largest awards can make Loyola an attractive option for a student with a 1300+ SAT and a strong tran-script. In addition, if the University continues to limit tuition and fee increases, the merit awards will continue to have significant value. Thirty percent of entering fresh-men received merit scholarships starting at $10,000 per year.

Loyola-Maryland reported that it met, on average, 94 percent of the need for fresh-men who proved to have demonstrated need, and 91 percent for the undergraduate student body in need. This appears to be fairer than most private colleges and univer-sities, although Loyola reported an average indebtedness of just over $34,000 for 2013 graduates who took out loans,according to the Project on Student Debt. This is $7,000 more than a dependent student is allowed to borrow over four years through the Federal Stafford Student Loan program. Parents who took out Parent PLUS loans borrowed, on average, approximately $21,500 in 2011, according to the Chroni-cle of Higher Education Parent PLUS Loan database.This was comparable to the amounts borrowed by parents of students at Fairfield or Providence, both similar schools.

Costs

3 On-Campus HousingLocal Housing Market

Comforts

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Loyola-Maryland houses more than 80 percent of the undergraduate student body on campus in 16 residence halls and apartments. Butler, Campion Tower, Hammerman and Hopkins Court house first-year students. Butler, Ham-merman and Hopkins Court are traditional corridor-style halls. Students reside in double rooms; the floors have common bathrooms. Campion Tower pro-vides apartment-style housing. First-year students will be assigned housing based on their choice of Messina seminars, two multi-disciplinary classes linked together over the Fall and Spring semesters around central themes. In effect, every entering freshman will be part of a living-learning community, a unique arrangement for any college, but one that helps first-year students make friends and find an academic direction.

Loyola-Maryland also has one the largest and most impressive selections of upper-class living options for a mid-sized school. Substance-free housing is also available to upper-class students. Loyola-Maryland also allows students to live in select halls during the summer, making off-campus living a less nec-essary option for those who find a summer internship or research opportunity. It makes little sense for students to live off campus when the University offers academic-year and full-year options. Loyola allows all upper-class students to have cars.

Loyola-Maryland offers a choice of meal-per-week plans or semester plans, both using points and swipes. All first and second-year students (even those in apartments) must purchase a meal plan. Unlike most schools, Loyola-Maryland defaults to the least expensive meal plan in the event the student does not choose a dining option. Meal swipes are designed “one per zone,” for up to three of four zones between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM

Comforts

4 CampusEnvironsSchool Spirit

Community

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Loyola-Maryland has an attractive campus easily accessible to downtown Baltimore through public transportation or the Baltimore Collegetown Network shuttle that goes between the 14 colleges in the city. There are more than 120,000 college students in Baltimore and the immediate suburbs, especially Towson. The vicinity of campus has little to offer Loyola-Maryland students. Entertainment will be on campus, at other col-leges, or in the city. Transportation to Washington DC is also available by shuttle or connections through Baltimore’s Amtrak station.

While Loyola-Maryland might be considered an “urban” campus, it has a suburban feel. While there is no dominant architectural style, the academic center and the resi-dential centers blend nicely and there is plenty of green space in the residential ar-eas. But unlike other schools which have placed their most-used library near aca-demic buildings, Loyola-Maryland’s modern library is closest to freshman residence halls. This might not be intentional, as students from neighboring Notre Dame Univer-sity of Maryland, an all-female college, are also allowed to use the library. There are no security gates nor is there the appearance of acres of parking for commuters, em-ployees and visitors as there is at many city schools. Liquor law violations are, by far, the most reported crimes, according to the University’s Clery Report, and these trended downward from 2011 to 2013. There was only one reported incident of sex-ual assault in 2013, down from four two years earlier. This is surprising given the openness of the campus to the city.

Loyola-Maryland competes in the Patriot League in 17 varsity sports against several very selective schools including American, Fordham, Lehigh and Johns Hopkins, which are larger; Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross and Lafayette, which are smaller as well as Army and Navy. The men’s lacrosse team was NCAA Division 1 National Champions in 2012, the year before the University joined the League. Loyola-Maryland has also fielded successful women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer and men’s swimming teams.

Community

5 AcademicsHonors ProgramsExperiential Learning

Curriculum

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Loyola does not force incoming freshmen to choose either a school or a major when they apply as well as when they first enroll. All students must complete coursework in Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Writing, Literature, History, Ethics, Philosophy and Theology as well as the first-year Messina Seminars. It is fairly easy for a student to double major in two liberal arts (including Engineering) subjects or a liberal arts major and a business program (except for Accounting) because the distri-bution requirements are essentially the same. Students also have the option of a lib-eral arts major and one of five business minors.

The Messina Seminars, tested among a portion of the current freshman class, will be required of all first-year students starting in 2015-16. These are better supported than most first-year seminar programs. In addition to living close to their seminar group, freshmen have an upper-class Big Brother/Big Sister, an “Iggy” (for St, Igna-tius of Loyola), through the two courses, Their seminar instructor is also their aca-demic advisor until they declare a major. In addition to a major advisor, upper-class students on a pre-health, pre-law or pre-med track are assigned a second advisor to help on the career decision and/or admissions process for further education.

Loyola-Maryland has considerable depth in its business and education programs, as much as public and private universities that have thousands more students, and it does not cap students out of these programs as larger schools do. The University offers a five-year Bachelors-Masters program in Accounting; the State of Maryland requires 150 credits of business and liberal arts education for CPAs. There are also six engineering programs including two in Computer Engineering, one for systems, one for software as well as a 3-2 Physics/Engineering option with Columbia Univer-sity. There is also a five-year option for a BA/BS combined with a Master of Arts in Teaching as well as Bachelors-Masters programs in Psychology and Theology.

Loyola-Maryland is a mid-sized school, yet only nine of 845 undergraduate courses enrolled more than 39 students last year according to the University’s 2014-15 Com-mon Data Set. Forty percent of all courses had fewer than 20 students. Loyola-Maryland students gave their faculty a rating of 3.70 (out of a possible 5) on RateMyProfessors.com. Among the similar schools Loyola-Maryland students rated their faculty about the same as students at Fairfield University (3.68) though lower than students at Providence College (3.76) and the University of Scranton (3.87) rated theirs.

Curriculum

6 Alumni RelationsCareer Services

Connections

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Loyola-Maryland has just over 30,000 living undergraduate alumni as well as 26,000 who attended the University’s graduate degree programs. Among the 29,000 alumni registered in LinkedIn.com, nearly 14,000 live or work in the Baltimore or Washington DC metropolitan areas, while more than 5,000 work in or near New York City and just over 1,600 are around Philadelphia. The base drops off considerable from there. The University’s Alumni Association has nine regional chapters in the Northeast as well as Chicago, Cleveland and Northern California. There are also alumni groups for Ac-counting, Law and Government and Pastoral Counseling. The University’s location, as well as the success of spring sports teams, makes it fairly easy for students and alumni in the Baltimore area to network. The University has also established the Loyola-Maryland Business Alliance to help students, parents and alumni in the New York area to connect for workshops, networking opportunities, mentorship and job search assistance.

Loyola’s Career Center serves all three undergraduate schools. It directs Fall and Spring Job Fairs as well as on-campus recruiting. The University also participates in several college career fairs in the Baltimore area, some through the Maryland Career Consortium.

For the Class of 2013, the Career Center reported, based on a survey of 85 percent of the class, that:

• Approximately 80% of the graduates were employed either full-time or part-time.

• Roughly 20% of the graduates were in graduate/professional school either full-time or part-time.

• Around 3% of the graduates were working and attending graduate/professional school.

• Five percent (5%) of graduates were enrolled in full-time post-college service.

Eighty percent of Loyola-Maryland graduates have had at least two internship experiences before receiving their degrees, high for any college or university.

Connections

7 Summing up

Conclusions

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Loyola-Maryland is a very good mid-sized school, much like other Jesuit colleges and universities, though it helps to be drawn to the Baltimore area.

It offers many of the pre-professional majors offered by much larger universities with fewer hassles at choosing an academic direction, or switching directions, if neces-sary. However, it helps to desire to discuss, if not develop a religious identity. While Jesuit schools are welcoming to students of all faiths, they also require additional credits in religion and/or philosophy that go above the more common liberal arts re-quirements in the humanities, foreign language, natural sciences and social sci-ences. While required courses comprise about a third of the requirements to earn a degree at most colleges, they comprise nearly half of the degree requirements at a Jesuit school.

Aside from costs, Loyola-Maryland has few downsides. It is well connected to its Bal-timore home while offering attractive living experiences and academic facilities on campus. It has even raised its athletic (and possibly its academic) profile by becom-ing the newest member of the Patriot League. However, those seeking a “party school” experience might want to look elsewhere.

Loyola-Maryland does what a “good” school is supposed to do: take “very good” and “excellent” students of varied abilities and high school experiences, though not neces-sarily the highest standardized test scores, help them to find an academic direction l graduate on time, and have a network for life. Those who know that they want their network to be in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor might want to take a long look at this school.

Ed Quest’s Report Card

Loyola University-Maryland

Four-Year/Six-Year

Grad Rates

Freshman Retention

Costs Comforts Community Curriculum Connections

A/A B+ B A A A B+

Conclusions

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The End