<p>buzzardsbay,</p>
<p>TRIMESTERS
first of all they are quarters, not trimesters. Not everyone goes to classes in the summer. There's more information on the Drexel admission website, but basically there are three ways you can do any curriculum at Drexel. 4 year with no co-op. 4 year with one co-op. 5 year with three co-ops. I think something like 96% of all kids do a co-op option, most of them 5 year which is the best (maybe i'll get into a post later on about the plus and minuses of them later). Since the co-ops are 6 months long Drexel evenly distributes students between classes: fall/winter co-op: spring/summer AND classes: spring/summer co-op: fall/winter. All freshmen have a typical freshmen year however with a regular summer break between your freshman and sophomore year, its only your middle years where there is a difference. We also have a three week winter break (which is why I have the time to write this giant post), fall break (between summer and fall terms) and a spring break (between fall and spring terms). As I'm writing this I realize its pretty hard to explain so read about it here: Drexel</a> University | Undergraduate Admissions | Co-op Opportunities | Co-op Options - Drexel Undergraduate Admissions</p>
<p>There are many advantages of having school in session during the summer. There will constantly be events just like the other seasons. Some clubs are active, and there's always friends you know playing beach volleyball or something on campus. Even though I'm a 5 year co-op I've never taken classes over the summer since the spring/summer is when I'm working. Since Drexel lets you take one free class during your co-op, you can easily take a night class during the spring and during the summer. People usually take these classes if they are trying to squeeze in an extra minor, spread their classes out so they are not taking a full course load during school, or maybe even graduate a term earlier. Also, all the services that are offered to you during school are offered during co-op. The dining hall is open, the athletic center, just about everything. I think its a great setup to have an education. After all, the argument that since most colleges have semesters with a summer off so it must be the best way to have a college experience is an appeal to tradition fallacy.
(believe it or not, dozens and dozens of other schools are starting to mimic drexel's co-op program because of its huge success) Its kind of hard to grasp the concept initially since only a few schools in america work this way, so tell me if you have any more questions or its still confusing.</p>
<p>LIFE OUTSIDE DREXEL
Obviously the big attraction of coming to Drexel is beautiful Philadelphia. With an endless supply of restaurants, culture, museums, nightlife, shopping, malls, etc, its always your escape from campus. A walk to Center City from Drexel is about 15 minutes, or you can just hop on the trolley which has a station on campus, or take the subway, or the SEPTA bus, or one of Drexel's free shuttles, or a taxi, or a bike. At my time at Drexel I've known some people who'd go out and have fun practically every day and those who don't go out at all. When you get to college your going to have the tendency to get lazy and relax on a couch and watch TV during the weekends (at least for me). There is just so much stuff going on and Drexel makes an attempt to introduce you to the city of Philadephia.</p>
<p>All freshmen get a "cultural passport", which is an actual little passport and every page is a museum or some type of attraction. The cool thing is that its all free for you. That's right, an expensive ticket to the Philadelphia Orchestra, World Cafe Live, or Philadelphia opera is free. So is admission to the art museum, franklin institute, etc etc etc. You can see the full list on this website: Drexel</a> University - Cultural Passport - Home . in fact, every year if you get each page in your passport stamped (you go to all 31 attractions), I think you get like a $1500 scholarship in funds to the Drexel bookstore (or something like that). It seems like a win-win situation although I only ended up going to three or four during my freshmen year.</p>
<p>During freshmen year I was big on attending other events put on all around philadelphia. In fact there's an organization thats made up of the chamber of commercre and all philadelphia colleges that does that. It's called campus philly- check out there website here: [url=<a href="http://www.campusphilly.com/%5Dcampusphilly.org%5B/url">http://www.campusphilly.com/]campusphilly.org[/url</a>] . This organization is amazing, they put on events almost every day all over the place. From discounts at restaurants to huge college concerts. Every year they have a huge festival called college day on the parkway where thousands of students come from all over the place and its one big spectacle. Another example is "restaurant week" which usually happens twice a year I think where like 100 of the most expensive restaurants in Philadelphia offer all there meals to students for like $25 or something rediculous like that all week long. pretty crazy...</p>
<p>So to answer your question: There are many students from all different colleges that go all over Philadelphia and there are endless events, and opportunities. I know people who go to metal concerts every weekend, I know people that go to sporting events all the time, the girls who shop nonstop in center city, those classy people who go see operas... and everyone in between. and then there are those people that don't make an effort to go out and experience the full Philly experience. Center city is huge. I'm more of a late weekend sleeper person but the key is to just find a group of fun and adventurous friends.</p>