Bright lights, big city: Niemeier heads to Loyola

Maura+Niemeier

Maura Niemeier

Maura Niemeier is ready for the big city. She was recently accepted into her dream school: Loyola University Chicago.

“Moving to a big city has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Chicago seemed like the perfect place for me since it’s just far enough that traveling home isn’t a major inconvenience, but I still get to experience all the freedoms that come with living alone,” Niemeier said.

She visited Loyola for the first time in October of 2021 and “immediately fell in love.”

“The campus is right on Lake Michigan and only a 10-minute drive to downtown,” she said. “Although it’s in the city, I felt completely safe on campus which was a big deal for my parents and me.” She said the campus was “beautiful.”

Loyola is a private Catholic university and is one of the largest Jesuit institutions in the country. It has a 14:1 student/faculty ratio.

Niemeier plans to major in either nursing or environmental science, which makes a key feature of the campus really appeal to her: “My favorite part was the massive student greenhouse right in the middle of campus.”