Esports Program Profile: DePaul University
DePaul University is a private, non-profit educational institution in Chicago, Illinois, with a Varsity esports program. The esports program offers one of the largest gaming rosters in any esports program in the United States, with 19 titles. These include League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Valorant, Beat Saber (VR), Fortnite, Super Smash Bros Melee, Call of Duty: Warzone, Counter-Strike: GO, Hearthstone, Dota 2, Players Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA, and NBA2K.
League, Overwatch, Rocket League, SSBU, and Valorant are all varsity teams.
Varsity team players from DePaul University participate in multiple esports tournaments through various developer and collegiate leagues, including CSL (Collegiate StarLeague), EGF (Electronic Gaming Federation), Big East Conference, and Conference One.
The esports program at DePaul University started as a result of the overwhelming student interest in gaming and esports due to the culture of co-curricular gaming activities on campus. The university administration, in acknowledgment of this gaming culture, held a survey to gauge potential student interest in a varsity esports program. The survey showed that up to 48 percent of the students were engaged in gaming activities and viewed gaming as a valuable part of their university experience. This prompted the university administration to start an official esports program for the students in 2018.
Esports Career Chats
DePaul University esports program has been a prominent presence in the United States esports community. The program launched a series of online Twitch and YouTube interviews called Esports Career Chats in 2019. Various esports professionals and industry experts were invited to chat about the different career opportunities available for students in the gaming and esports industry.
These chats aim to prepare students for careers in the ever-expanding esports industry in various capacities ranging from game design to esports management and more.
Esports Arena & Mobile Esports
The university has a state-of-the-art gaming arena where 13 premium gaming stations are available for students to participate in gaming activities. These stations are equipped with high-end Dell Alienware gaming PCs and accessories to facilitate gamers to outperform their competition in competitive esports matches.
In addition to the equipment at the esports facility, a mobile range of gaming equipment is also available for the students, including Dell Alienware laptops. This equipment is used for conducting esports events at the second campus (Lincoln Park) of DePaul University.
Leading the Way
In April 2021, the DePaul University Super Smash Bros Ultimate team won the 2021 Independent Conference by defeating several veteran esports teams, including Marquette University, Butler University, and St. John’s University in the semifinals and finals, respectively. Similarly, the Rocket League team also won the Illinois Esports Spring Showdown in April. The Esports team from DePaul also won third place in the Spring Collegiate Valorant championship, continuing the longstanding tradition of excellence in esports at the university.
Become a Part of DePaul Esports
With one of the largest gaming lineups in any university in the US and a wide variety of esports opportunities readily available to the students, DePaul University is one of the best esports programs in the country.
You can learn more about DePaul University and its esports program at Looking for Group. Visit the official website of the university here and the esports portal here for more information regarding recruitment in esports at the university.
(this article is provided by Looking For Group, a Checkpoint XP content partner.)