Sad Excuse for a College

Introduction
My advice to anyone considering this school: stay away. Don't allow the beautiful campus or the fact that it is in Los Angeles persuade you to put up with all the disadvantages to going to school here. I chose this school because I was just another Midwesterner who wanted to get out of Ohio. California is a great place, but LMU as an institution is not. If you want to go to school in L.A., then go to USC or UCLA if at all possible.

Campus Life and Social Life
Social-life-wise: there is nothing going on here. Everyone goes home on the weekends and all the food places close on weekends around 8. Frats don't have houses and Sororites can't have parties. Sports teams own homes in the surrounding neighborhoods and try to throw parties but they all get busted up by the cops around 11 or 12. Relations between the community and the university are sour at best. There are bus parties, which consist of paying $40 to get on a bus to go to the lamest clubs in LA. Most people who go to these are Freshmen in their first semester, and no one has a fun time nor does anyone end up staying for very long. The girls all go to SC and UCLA to party, but the guys won't be let in by the Fraternity members at those schools. There is no school spirit or support for any LMU sports, not to mention no Football team here. Frats and sororities are a joke too. Activites on campus are scarce. Many clubs are inactive, including quite a few that I wanted to join when I came here, which are still listed as viable organizations. Unless you have the support of someone in a very high place, don't count on being able to start your own club or organization.

As far as meeting people is concerned, everyone here is too into themselves and too superficial in choosing their friends for you to find anyone worthwhile. Basically, if you make the mistake of coming to LMU, don't expect to do anything except eat, sleep, go to class, study, and get rejected by everyone you try to make friends with. I am a people person and I had a lot of good friends in high school but now I spend most of my time alone because I have not been able to find any good and meaningful friendships. People here are casual, but not friendly. People don't have friends, they have social circles where people will stab people in the back at any time just like junior high school.

If you have a car, the entire world of L.A. is available to you. If not, you will be trapped on campus unless you want to take Metro, which I do not reccomend because it is very unsafe. If you want to go to school in L.A. then go to UCLA or USC. Didn't get in either of those places? Wait until you graduate from college to experience Los Angeles. L.M.U. will only ruin it for you. Academics
Strict attendance policies in most classes force students to take classes over again because they had more than 4 absences. Even if they would have had an A in the class, if they miss more than 4 classes for any reason, then they automatically fail the course. The film department here is a joke, desperately trying to compete with USC and UCLA to no avail. For the most part, classes are easy if you put forth minimal effort.

Student Body
The typical LMU student is wealthy, white, and obsessed with themselves. Not everyone is from California. Many students come from Washington, Arizona, Hawaii, and Texas. No matter where they are from, however, they are all generally unhappy with where they are at and are generally stuck up and rude. It isn't a California thing, it's just a human thing. You will get these type of people anywhere you go to school, but elsewhere, you can avoid them. Here, EVERYONE is like that. It's like everyone who is rich, white, and stuck up is attracted to this school. The boys all ride skateboards to class wearing typical California fashions. The girls walk around in designer clothes at 9AM carrying oversized designer bags. The campus is 70% female, but if you are a guy, don't see that as an advantage. Girls here typically go off campus to look for boyfriends, forcing guys to do the same. Even if this weren't the case, there are no girls here worth dating. Sure, they are all beautiful....on the outside. Once one girl labels you a creep, you will forever carry that label, which is given out very liberally. Pretty much, unless you are Stephen or Jason from Laguna Beach (and many students here are from LB) or Matt Lienart from USC, you will not find a girlfriend here. The student body is very small, and you will see the same 100-150 people everywhere you go. If you piss someone off, you won't be able to avoid them, and the drama from it will drag on all year.

The administration doesn't see the student body as mature adults, but rather as children. All people are required to check into their residence halls after 8 PM and all guests must be registered. Orientation consists of sharing your favorite colors and other icebreaker games we all played in junior high school. Overnight guests are not permitted. Sexual intercourse on campus is prohibited and can get you kicked out of school if caught. Residence halls and building are all locked up like fortresses because they don't believe we can be trusted for any reason. RAs are unfriendly and won't hesitate to write you up for anything. They are like once-free minds that have since been brainwashed by the administration to enforce incredibly rigid rules and regulations. As mentioned before, the school has set attendance policies that often force students who would have passed or done well in a class to drop out and retake it rather than take an automatic failure for more than 4 absences.

In Closing...
I went into LMU a confident and happy person. I will come out with confidence shaken in both personal and academic matters. I am transferring after this semester, and only hope that I will be able to go back to my old way of thinking and get back my old confidence over the summer so I don't go to my new school thinking that people in general are not interested in talking to or being friends with me. If you are from the Midwest or anywhere outside California and you are considering coming to LMU, DO NOT! It will be the worst year of your life. I say year because if you come here, YOU WILL transfer back after your first year. LMU has one of the highest outward transfer rates in the nation, and rightfully so. Loyola Marymount Univeristy is a sad excuse for a school that ruins a person's experience in one the greatest cities in America. If you know what is good for you, then STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!