Involved Student Perspective

Introduction
I chose SLU mainly because of its urban environment, it's right in Midtown St Louis, not outside of the city like many other schools that claim to be in the city. It has a great environment, because the campus is almost like a fenced in paradise of green grass, flowers, statues, and fountains, but once you step off campus, you're right in the city. This school is not for people who don't like the city or get freaked out by homeless people. This place has a great balance of city life and campus life--there's plenty going on within SLU which makes it different from some other city schools yet there's always tons to do in St Louis too.

Campus Life and Social Life
The partying here isn't as insane as you might find at a big state school, but it is prevelant nonetheless. There aren't really houses around here, so it's mostly apartment parties or greek parties for underage students without a good fake. There are 2 bars in the immediate vicinity of campus, but they are pretty strict about underage drinking. All greek parties are bused to bars and clubs around St Louis, they aren't really on campus. As far as sports go, the St Louis Cardinals are far more popular than any school sports, although our basketball team is gaining popularity. The soccer team is good, but people rarely go other than the first game during freshman orientation. There are several dance clubs around St Louis, and they are quite popular. Greek Life is popular here, but doesn't define our campus. The typical weekend here tends to include at least one party in the apartments, maybe some sort of St Louis excursion, and 10PM mass on Sunday night to end the weekend well! Academics
There are a TON of pre-med/nursing/physical therapy majors here. It sometimes feels like freshman year everyone is, and then half of them drop because it's pretty intense. Physical therapy is an amazing program here, you can get your BS in 4 years, and then your doctorate in only 2 more. The Parks College with the pilot and engineering programs is great too, although there's been controversy there recently because they've gone through several deans in the past few years and had a small financial crisis. Lastly, the business school is very popular too and has a great reputation throughout the city. The workload is higher for pre-med/nursing/PT students, and I'd say everyone else's is intense enough to make you feel like your going to a great school, but not unmanageable. TA's usually teach labs and discussion sections of classes, but professors teach every class I've ever been in. Professors tend to be very helpful and available outside of class. It is good to keep in mind that Theology and Philosophy classes are required for every major though, some students don't realize how many they have to take (it varies, Arts and Sciences take more than say, Parks College students)

Student Body
There is always a bunch of stuff going on here; I think its great that there's still plenty to do if you don't drink/don't want to drink on a particular night. We get great speakers coming to campus all the time. Living in residence halls is a great experience, there's always tons of stuff to do through that too. Students are involved in a wide variety of things, whether its campus ministry, student government association, student activities board, academic clubs, greek life, cultural groups, or other clubs. Everyone puts on great events, and I love that there's always stuff I want to go to. The cultural groups put on especially wonderful events, many involving food or dancing or great speakers. Students here are mostly well balanced, they want to get good grades and many are involved, yet they still want to go out on the weekend and have fun.

In Closing...
This place is the perfect city school. I looked at several others, but this is the only one that I thought offered the full package, at least in the Midwest. Overall a great experience, even if tuition continues to rise...