Loyola University Chicago

Private · Moderately Selective · IL

Photo: w_lemay (CC BY-SA 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationIL · Midwest

SettingUrban

Undergrads11,737

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate65.7%

6-yr grad rate73%

Drop-out rate18.3%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$54k

Out-of-state tuition$54k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity52.8%

Gender diversity69.2%

International2.1%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

Loyola is a Jesuit university with its main Lake Shore campus set directly on Lake Michigan in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, plus a second, downtown Water Tower campus near the Magnificent Mile. Its identity blends a genuinely collegiate, lakeside campus feel with full access to a major American city, all shaped by the Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person and an explicit institutional emphasis on service and social justice. Ramblers maroon and gold, and a 2018 Final Four basketball run that made Sister Jean a national figure, gave Loyola a burst of visibility well beyond its usual Midwest, Catholic-university profile.

Academics

Nursing, pre-health, and business are especially well regarded, with the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Quinlan School of Business both carrying real regional reputation, and the Stritch School of Medicine — located separately in suburban Maywood — extends Loyola's health-sciences reach further still. The Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person shows up concretely in required core coursework around philosophy, theology, and ethics that every student takes regardless of major. The John Felice Rome Center, one of the longer-running American university campuses in Italy, gives Loyola an unusually deep, well-established study-abroad tradition.

Campus & student life

Students split time between the lakefront Rogers Park campus, with its more conventional, tree-lined college feel and direct lakefront access, and the downtown Water Tower campus used heavily by business and communication students for internships and classes alike. Service and social-justice-oriented student organizations are genuinely prominent here, not just a mission statement, reflecting the Jesuit emphasis on community engagement. Ramblers basketball, especially since 2018, has become a real unifying point of school pride that reaches well beyond the team's usual student following.

Getting in

Admission is holistic, and Loyola is known to value demonstrated interest in its Jesuit mission and service orientation alongside academic preparation — essays here often invite genuine reflection on values and community engagement rather than a generic personal statement. Programs tied to health professions or business may involve additional program-specific review, but general admission emphasizes fit with the university's mission as much as pure academic metrics.

After graduation

Graduates place well in Chicago's healthcare, business, and nonprofit sectors, and the university's Jesuit affiliation provides connections both within Chicago and through the broader national network of Jesuit institutions and their alumni, a genuinely distinct advantage over a purely secular regional university. Nursing and business graduates in particular benefit from Loyola's deep, decades-long relationships with Chicago hospital systems and corporate employers.

Worth knowing

The two-campus structure means the day-to-day experience can differ meaningfully by major — business and communication students spend real time downtown at Water Tower, while most other students live their college experience almost entirely at Rogers Park. The required core in philosophy and theology is a genuine, non-negotiable part of every Loyola degree, not an elective students can easily avoid.

luc.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate81.6%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1170–1360 · ACT 27–32

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying