DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the country and it does not feel like it. That is because it is really two schools: a traditional, tree-lined campus in Lincoln Park with dorms, quads and a student centre, and a set of towers in the Loop where business and computing students arrive by train, take a class and leave. Your experience of making friends at DePaul depends almost entirely on which of those two campuses your timetable puts you on.
The good news is that Lincoln Park is one of the most sociable neighbourhoods in Chicago, and the Loop is fifteen minutes away on the Brown Line. You have more options than almost any student in the city.
What the campus is actually like
- Lincoln Park campus has the quad, the Student Center, the residence halls, the athletics and most of the traditional undergraduate life. It is walkable, green and genuinely pretty in autumn.
- Loop campus is vertical: elevators instead of paths, professionals in the same lifts as students, and a crowd that scatters after class.
- The intercampus shuttle and the Brown Line mean you can and should use both. Students who only ever see one campus have half the social surface area.
On campus: where friendships actually start
The Student Center and the quad
The Lincoln Park Student Center is the default meeting place — food, study space, club tables and a constant flow of people. Between classes, sit there rather than in a study room. In warm months the quad does the same job outdoors.
Student organisations and Vincentian service
DePaul runs a large slate of student organisations, and its Vincentian service tradition means volunteering is unusually well organised here. Service days and community programmes put you beside people for several hours doing something that is not small talk — one of the most efficient friendship contexts that exists. Pick one service commitment and one interest club.
Club sports, intramurals and the Ray
The Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center runs intramurals and classes. Club sport at DePaul is competitive enough to feel real and casual enough to join without a background.
Loop campus specifics
If your classes are downtown, use the student lounges in the DePaul Center rather than heading straight for the train, and lean on your programme: business and computing cohorts run their own professional societies, case competitions and hackathons, which are where downtown students actually meet each other.
Off campus: Lincoln Park is your campus
Few universities sit inside a neighbourhood this well supplied.
- Bars. Lincoln Park runs on them, and the crowd skews young. Our best bars in Lincoln Park guide picks the ones where turning up as a pair is normal.
- Parks and the lakefront. Lincoln Park itself, the free zoo, the lakefront trail and the conservatory are all a walk away — see the best parks and green spaces in Chicago.
- Coffee and study spots. Fullerton, Halsted and Clark have enough cafés to rotate for four years; the Chicago coffee guide has the standouts.
- Comedy. Improv is a Lincoln Park institution and a genuinely good way to meet people — start with the best comedy clubs in Chicago.
- The full neighbourhood picture is in making friends in Lincoln Park.
If you commute
A large share of DePaul students live at home or in another neighbourhood. Three habits make the difference: schedule one long campus day rather than several short ones; always accept the invitation that happens after the meeting; and build a second social base near where you sleep — a run club, a book club or a social sports league that meets weekly all year.
Grad students, transfers and international students
Graduate and Loop-campus students should treat the cohort as the primary friendship unit — a standing coffee before class beats any all-university event. Transfers tend to arrive after the dorm-floor friendships have formed, so aim straight at clubs and service programmes where everyone is new every term. International students will find both cultural organisations and the service programmes unusually welcoming, and the Brown Line makes the whole North Side reachable without a car.
Your first term, in order
- Weeks 1–2: involvement fair, two commitments, one of them service or sport.
- Weeks 3–6: attend every meeting, learn names, be the person who suggests food after.
- Weeks 7–10: keep one commitment through the slump.
- Weeks 11+: move it off campus — a bar on Lincoln, a comedy show, a Sunday walk on the lakefront.
Common questions
Is DePaul a social school?
The Lincoln Park campus is, in an ordinary undergraduate way. The Loop campus is not, unless you make it so through your programme, professional societies and lounges.
Where do DePaul students hang out?
The Student Center and quad between classes, the Ray in the evenings, Lincoln Park bars and cafés at night, and the lakefront whenever the weather allows.
Is Lincoln Park expensive for students?
It can be, which is why the free things matter: the zoo, the lakefront, the parks and the free evenings listed in our free things to do in Chicago guide.
I only have Loop classes. What should I do?
Join a programme society and one Lincoln Park–based club, and go up on the shuttle once a week. One foot in each campus is the best position at DePaul.
How do I meet people in Chicago beyond DePaul?
Start with the Chicago city guide and the best apps for making friends in Chicago.
