Loyola University New Orleans
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- Sending my students abroad.! One third of my students will study abroad, be it for a summer or a whole year. Some of them stay for the summer, some for the whole year.
- Music, especially the business and industry side. You wanna be a band manager, a music contractor, ora songwriter? I've you covered.
- Night life. I live in New Orleans, for Pete's sake—it's sort of a requirement.
- Mass Communications. My newspaper, The Maroon, is nationally recognized as one of the best college papers out there.
- Quidditch. This is one of the only sports my students take seriously.
- The humanities. I wouldn't be a real liberal arts school if I wasn't full of poets and hipsters.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- Shorts. Summer in New Orleans goes from March to September, so no matter the semester, you need to dress light.
- A bottle opener. I think this one's a bit self-explanatory. Your purple, gold, and green. They're the official colors of Mardi Gras, after all.
- A big appetite. Seafood fest, Strawberry fest, Po-Boy fest—New Orleaneans will find any reason to party, and they always bring food.
- Crowd tolerance. I may be a small school, but the city likes to party. We have festivals based on food (see above #3), music (Jazz fest, Voodoo), and a month-long party season invented just so Catholics could have fun before Lent. If you plan on attending any of these, get used to feeling like a sardine once in a while.
- A sturdy bicycle. If you want to live in New Orleans without a car, you'll need a bike that can handle monster-sized potholes.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- Touchdown Jesus. If you've ever been to New Orleans, I'm the school with the Jesus statue and cathedral in front of it, right on the streetcar line.
- Harry Connick, Jr. went here. Not sure who I'm talking about? Ask your mom.
- I'm next-door neighbors with the more prolific Tulane, so if you've looked into him, you've probably heard of me, and we do a whole lot of sharing.
- I offer up a Jesuit education.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
I'm probably letting the good times roll at one of the many bars in New Orleans. In the winter semester, I'll be out enjoying Carnival, especially since I'm just a walk away from the main parade route.
The Boot is also pretty popular, particularly amongst freshman. Even if I'm not out on the town, someone's nearly always hosting a party somewhere on any given night. I'm never in want of company on the weekends.
When I don't feel like partying, though, there's still plenty to fill my evenings. Between touring artists and student bands, there are all the concerts and shows I could want.
Favorite Hangouts:
- Audubon Park across the street, where you can go for a walk/run, visit the zoo, admire all the pretty live oaks, or just bask in Louisiana''s brain-melting heat.
- Since my campus is on the streetcar line, you just need $2.50 for a round-trip ride into Downtown Nola. You can party it up in the French Quarter, grab beignets at Café du Monde, or play tourist for a day and check out some of the more historical sites.
- Dat Dog, where you can get an alligator sausage covered in eètouffeè, which is basically the most Louisianaian meal possible.
- In the warmer months, you might go get a snoball from Plum Street. (These are not snowcones. Do not call them snowcones.)
Quirks:
- I have a Quidditch team. Like, for real. And we're good.
- You'll have to take some religion courses regardless of your major, but good news—they don't have to be Catholic.
- My Honors College has a therapy dog you can check out for stress relief.
- All of my syllabi have to include an emergency plan in case of a hurricane. Every few years, I get a storm bad enough to cancel class for a week. Stay safe, and enjoy your hurrication.
Famous Alumni:
- Harry Shearer, a voice actor on The Simpsons
- Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints
- Singer Harry Connick, Jr.
- Sean O'Keefe, former Secretary of the Navy and Administrator of NASA
- Drummer Jason Marsalis