Academics
Serious-minded students are drawn to DePauw University for its “small classes,” “encouraging” professors, and the “individual academic attention” they can expect to receive. Academically, DePauw is “demanding but rewarding,” and “requires a lot of outside studying and discipline” in order to keep up. Professors’ “expectations are very high,” which means “you can’t slack off and get good grades.” Be prepared to pull your “fair share of all-nighters.” Fortunately, DePauw professors are more than just stern taskmasters. Though they pile on the work, they “are always helpful and available” to students in need. When things get overwhelming, “they are very understanding and will cut you a break if you really deserve” it. As a result, students come to know their professors “on a personal level,” making DePauw the kind of school where it is “common [for students] to have dinner at a professor’s house.” Beyond stellar professors, DePauw’s other academic draws include “extraordinary” study abroad opportunities and a “wonderful” alumni network great for “connections and networking opportunities.” Alums also “keep our endowment pretty high, making it easy for the school to give out merit scholarships,” which undergraduates appreciate. Student opinion regarding the administration ranges from ambivalent to slightly negative. One especially thorny issue is class registration; you “rarely” get into all the classes you want.
Student Body
Students feel their typical classmates are “upper middle class,” “a little preppy, a little athletic,” and “hardworking”; students “[party] hard on weekend,” and “usually become[s] involved with the Greek system.” Students describe their peers as “driven” and wearing “polos and pearls.” They “have all had multiple internships, international experience, and [have held] some type of leadership position.” Though these folks may seem “overcommitted,” they “always get their work done.” For those who don’t fit this mold, don’t fret; most students seem to be “accepting of the different types” of people on campus. Diversity on campus is augmented through the school’s partnership with the Posse Foundation, which brings in urban (though not necessarily minority) “students from Chicago and NYC every year.” These students are described as “leaders on campus” and “take real initiative to hold their communities together.”
Campus Life
Few schools are as Greek as DePauw, but students are quick to point out that “it is by no means Animal House.” The Greek system here is more holistic than that. It “promotes not only social activities but also philanthropic events.” That’s not to say there aren’t lots of frat parties here. There are. But “the administration has cracked down big time” on the larger frat parties, and “now there are just small parties in apartments and dorms.” One recently issued rule is that freshmen “will not be allowed on Greek property until after rush, which is the first week of second semester.” In addition to administrative regulation, students exercise their own self-restraint; for the typical undergraduate, “the week is mostly reserved for studying.” Beyond the frats and sororities, “there is always a theater production, athletic event, or organization-sponsored event going on,” and popular bands occasionally perform on campus. It’s a good thing so much is happening at the school because off-campus entertainment options are scarce: “If there is really any fun to be had, it’s not in Greencastle.” The situation could be greatly improved if there were just a few “more restaurants and stores in the town or a nearby town.” As things stand, however, students “have to go to Indianapolis (forty-five miles) to go shopping, watch a good movie, eat at a good restaurant, etc.”
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