Drexel --- Visit

[Blue Hen]

A few weeks back we did a tour through Drexel. While DS feels he would like their program and co-oping is appealing, he is not a city-dweller. It is not on his short-list but it is on his college list.

 

The tour began with a 'this is Drexel' presentation followed by a 90 minute walk around the campus. Drexel is in Philadelphia, lots of sidewalk, cars, trucks, very few trees and green space. We passed a lecture hall filled with a hundred students --- DS didn't like the thought of such a large class. Next we went over to the dorm. The room was a show-room, large in size compared to the one we saw at University of DE but tiny compared to my suite at OSU. The dining hall is across campus from the dorms (?), not that campus is that big but it would be a walk.

 

We did not get taken into the dining hall so its just a mystery as to whether DS could survive on the food. We walked the 15 blocks to Reading Terminal after the tour and he feels it would be a plus having that available to him. :grin:

 

It was our tour guides first tour --- guiet as could be. She and her sister commute to campus and personally I feel they should have tour guides who have at least lived on campus. She comes to school to go to her class and then goes home. She did once eat in the dining hall and found the food to be ok, and wasn't it so nice of her friend to let her go in --- :confused: She isn't in any of the clubs although she assured us that there are lots of them.

 

We left Drexel with DS feeling that he would go there only if forced to. I plan to take him back when the Engineering or Biology dept have an open house.

 

Carole

[JWSJ]

You might also want to visit Drexel at night. Phily is generally known for its high crime level, but at night the safety in the area is unacceptable.

 

One day I'd love to send my kids there. My father, grandfather, two uncles, two aunts, and numerous other relatives graduated from there.

 

But, with the safety issues we've seen lately, there will be no more family members graduating from Drexel.

[Sharon in MD]

When we visited Drexel I was not thrilled with the urban campus either, but ds loved it. I had to remind myself that it's not me going there, but him and if he likes the urban setting then that is okay.

 

I was concerned about safety issues since it is urban, but the area of the campus seemed safe enough to me. You can certainly get into areas that aren't good off campus, but the immediate vicinity is not troubling to me. I do think that you have to use your head and stay alert though as I would in any city environment, or even my own suburban areas at night, especially.

 

Ds spent three weeks there on campus last summer and said he felt safe...they went out at night but always traveled with a friend and he said they just kept their eyes open. They didn't go wandering off into the areas that they were warned to steer clear of either.

 

As for the campus tour....I am amazed that they had a kid doing the tour who doesn't live on the campus, or at least has not lived on the campus. The two times we had tours, both of our guides were super knowledgeable and talked a lot, solicited questions and so on. I'm so sorry your experience was quite the opposite.

 

From what alot of the kids I've talked to said, they come down from the residence halls in the morning and stay till they are done then head back up the hill. Thus the dining hall is located in the main campus/classroom area. I'm almost certain that there are a couple of other campus eateries up on the north side where the majority of the dorms are located.

 

The thing that made our ds so crazy about drexel is the co-op. That and the labs are the major selling point for him. He also was admitted to their honor's college so he is excited about that possibility as well.

 

We are waiting to hear back from them about some scholarship things and then ds will make his final decision.....we're hoping to send in the papers next week.

 

By the way, we'll be up there next week from late Thurs through Sat for a visit, including shadowing an honors engineering freshman and then going through the accepted student's day program on Sat. Ds hopes to get his audition in for Keyboards and maybe chorus as well.

 

Its a pretty exciting time!

[Brenda in MA]

By the way, we'll be up there next week from late Thurs through Sat for a visit, including shadowing an honors engineering freshman and then going through the accepted student's day program on Sat.

Its a pretty exciting time!

 

Sharon,

 

Best wishes to your son! I'm also surprised at the different experiences with Drexel. My son was also accepted there into the Honors Program. We went to visit last month, and the tour guides seemed knowledgeable, but didn't seem particularly helpful. My son wanted to see the honors lounge that they advertise in their literature, and two different tour guides went out of their way to tell us how it wasn't possible to see it because it "wasn't on the tour", and "and required card access". We also weren't aware of the opportunity to shadow an honors student; my son would have liked that.

 

Even though the dining hall was closer to the academic buildings, it was only 1 - 2 blocks from the residence halls, so that didn't seem like an issue. Their coop program did seem pretty attractive. Our tour guide had been on two coops and was getting ready to start his third. The coop experience really helped him to solidify his interests. Drexel is a great school, but I really did think they could have done a better job selling themselves and being more accommodating during our visit.

 

Brenda

[Sharon in MD]

We are serious believers in our family, and I tend to think that things fall into place to guide students to their best choice. We have visited the campuses of more than 10 universities, and the ONE that has stood out, and I mean really stood out, is Drexel. I cannot help but think that the Lord is pointing ds that way. Every door has been opened, every need met, every question answered...I don't mean to sound preachy, but for us, that is God speaking. Even though we have two excellent programs that he could attend within 30 minutes drive of our home, I feel more comfortable trying to find a way to send him to Drexel....it just seems like the right fit.

 

We have many engineer friends, they have all encouraged ds to pursue anything co-op that he can get into. I just don't think you can do better than hands on, if you are the engineer type.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for the well wishes! And good luck to your ds too!

 

Sharon

[Brenda in MA]

We are serious believers in our family, and I tend to think that things fall into place to guide students to their best choice.

 

Sharon,

 

I totally agree with your statement here. I really hope that the financial stuff works for you and your family and that he can attend Drexel! I've been praying for everyone who has a child trying to make "the decision" round about now.

 

Brenda

[Gwen in TX]

It was a good program. The school area can be dicey - the 'beggars' are particularly forceful.

 

At my graduation, I was so embarrassed. The grads sang the Banana Boat song through the speaker's talk. They blew up inflatable nude dolls and bounced them overhead. They sprayed each other with champagne. They cheered long and loud when the speaker said, "and finally." They tore up their programs and threw the "confetti" everywhere. I wondered what these kids would be like out in the real world. My whole family had paid a lot to be there and this was what they got.

[Sharon in MD]

When did you graduate and have you heard about that kind of thing going on now? That would definitely be distressing!

[JennifersLost]

I second the opinion that everyone's experience will be different. I went to Penn, which is right next door to Drexel. My experience (20 years ago) in Philadelphia was that if your kid sticks to campus, doesn't go out alone at night and only ventures into the city with a group, they will most likely be fine and their memories will be of how safe and great it all was.

 

However....

 

There were three murders committed across the street from where my dorm room was during my freshman year. I was accosted by street people constantly (they lived on the grate outside our dorm door.) I was mugged once, but talked my way out of it. A friend was mugged at gunpoint within a couple of blocks of campus. Another friend was raped at knifepoint in the subway (she was alone) downtown the year before she attended college.

 

There was a lot of racial tension around Penn - (rich kids plunked down into the middle of a poor neighborhood). Again, I don't know if it's different at Drexel. I was very much into music at that point - attending live shows at small venue clubs in the city, so I probably ran many more risks than necessary.

 

There's no getting away from the fact that Philadelphia is a city and Drexel is located in the heart of it. Make sure you talk to your student about city life - all the ins and outs of it. I was fresh from suburbia and knew NOTHING about how to behave in the city.

 

In fact, one funny memory I have was of the first week of school. I was standing in line at a bank in order to open an account. The woman ahead of me was mumbling angrily. Every once in awhile she'd look right at me and let out a string of swear words. I was so taken aback; there were people all around me and no one was doing a thing!

 

Finally, I said, "Ma'am, I have no idea how I offended you, but I really didn't mean to."

 

Another woman took pity on me and said something like, "honey - that woman's insane. It has nothing to do with you."

 

Now I know she might have been insane, or on drugs, or just had Tourette's but at the time I was scared silly. If you send your kid to the city, at least prepare them for the amount of drug dealing, mental health issues, poverty, bad manners and racial tensions he'll encounter. Don't just throw him or her to the wolves!

[JWSJ]

If you send your kid to the city, at least prepare them for the amount of drug dealing, mental health issues, poverty, bad manners and racial tensions he'll encounter. Don't just throw him or her to the wolves!

 

Also trash - the Philly metro area has an absurd amount of garage on the street. It's filthy.

 

The other issues you mentioned are everywhere in some amount and form, but in Philly I've experienced that those issues are in your face all the time. It's hard to avoid them. And I wouldn't want to learn to be blind to them. It's an abrasive environment to say the least.

 

I'm not trying to knock Philly. I grew up there, but the environment is plain dangerous. I left because of this, and I wouldn't want my children learning to survive in that environment.

[Sharon in MD]

I do realize that it is a true city urban environment there. And it has dangerous areas, but so do all major cities. I live in the suburban DC/Baltimore area and the same can be said for going to school at American, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and so on. There are loads of areas I wouldn't want to be in in DC or Baltimore or Philly. But, as is the case in every city I have been in, the character or an area can change drastically in a couple of blocks and you have to know your territory and keep a sharp eye out with some city sense.

 

DS spent three weeks at Drexel last summer, and we have gone up there several times over the last year and a half. I do feel that you have to be careful, but I don't feel that the immediate University City area is particularly dangerous. ANd, both Drexel and UPenn have their own private police forces now that help with security in the area. Some would be put off by the schools hiring private forces, but I feel that is a sign that the Universities are being proactive about the safety of the students in an urban environment.

 

I'm glad that ds had the experiences last summer because I feel like he is going into the urban university environment with his eyes wide open and he already has learned a bit about city sense or street smarts from those three weeks and our visits. I just hope and pray that all of my husband's and my lectures to him about how to handle himself have sunk in.

[Gwen in VA]

A college having its own police department signifies little about the surrounding area.

 

The College of William and Mary has its own police department (not just a campus security department)! And as we all know, W&M is located in a major crime area -- one where I regularly let my 13yo dd walk about by herself! :001_smile:

 

So it's great to hear the Drexel has a police department. It's a helpful preventative and does NOT necessarily mean that Drexel has a crime problem.

[Sharon in MD]

I agree and it made me feel like they take the parents concerns about the city seriously.

 

Also, I'm grinning thinking about strolling in w'burg late at night myself!