<p>I don't hear Philadelphia University talked about around here, which leads me to think there must be something wrong with it. They have a major in which my D would be interested, and Philly appleals to her. But from another web site it appears that the quality of students they take isn't very high. Opinions?</p>
<p>I have never heard of it before, which is odd since I’m from the Northeast, and am familiar with many colleges/universities that aren’t known that well outside of the Northeast.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter goes there for fashion design, which is one of the school’s strengths. She and her family have both liked the school a lot. She did a semester abroad, in Italy. I had never heard of Philadelphia University before this girl matriculated. Sorry I don’t have any other details.</p>
<p>It’s interesting as I recently came across Philadelphia University. I had not heard of it previously and even grew up in the Philly area. I think this may be due, in part, that the school has some specialty majors and not the same wide array of liberal arts majors as most schools. The way I came across it was looking for a specialized graduate degree for my daughter and it came up in searches. I’m sorry to not know more about it. I don’t know your D’s area of interest but if it is an area that is not offered by many regular colleges, it may be worth a good look at the program at Philadelphia University.</p>
<p>I graduated from Phila University many moons ago. It’s a small, somewhat specialized school, which is why you don’t hear about it. If you’re a fashion merchandising, textile design, interior design etc. type of major, it’s a wonderful, wonderful school. It’s very similar to F.I.T. The ‘regular’ majors are also nothing to sneeze at. The president of Verizon Telecom is an alum who graduated with a degree in accounting. The campus is beautiful and the proximity to downtown Philly is great. It’s also located next to Manayunk, which is a very trendy neighborhood.</p>
<p>Philadelphia U had a name change. It used to be the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences. It has always been a smaller, specialized college. Don’t quite remember when the name change came about…must be going on 10+ years at this point.
It was well respected for its speciality areas & I imagine still is, but would only attract attention from those who are looking for such degree programs.
Another name changer was the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia , which used to be College of Pharmacy & Science.</p>
<p>Hm, I haven’t heard of it either (I’m just one state over).</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s necessarily indicative of anything negative, though as you can see from your own post sometimes a school without any name recognition can be perceived badly (“I don’t hear anything about it, which must mean there’s something wrong with it”).</p>
<p>Judging from the other two posts it seems like it’s not talked about on CC much because the programs it specializes in aren’t necessarily common major choices (esp. among the CC set). Perhaps it is more well known in the major your D is interested in, then it is overall. </p>
<p>Though it’s so cool that already 1 alum has responded, so perhaps CC is a better resource than one would expect! </p>
<p>Otherwise, you can always look at the hard data (job placement, student work in fields of fashion/design, etc.) to determine whether the caliber of the education and students are up to par.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong at all with Philadelphia University, as long as you are interested in what it has to offer. It is formerly Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, a relic of a time when Philadelphia was a significant textile industry manufacturing center. It had – and has – good programs in everything related to the textile industry, ranging from fashion design to fabric engineering to textile chemistry and physics to fashion marketing to business administration. Over the years, as the local textile industry declined in importance, it has branched out to be less specialized, and to serve other local industries with more vibrant employment prospects (e.g., health care, architecture), and it changed its name to the anodyne “Philadelphia University” just before the millennium. I don’t know how strong those newer programs are, but I know that for anything relating in any way to textiles the faculty was excellent. </p>
<p>There is quite a lovely campus in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. (That’s where Grace Kelly grew up.) It definitely has dorms, but I think it mainly has a local student base, and would come across as something of a commuter/suitcase school. The neighborhood itself offers few if any student amenities – it’s mainly residential, although immediately adjacent to the campus are the almost-equally extensive campus of one ritzy private school and the athletic fields for another. It is a little awkward to get there or back on public transportation, but is served by some bus lines and is about a mile away (along bus routes) from two different commuter train lines.</p>
<p>Philadelphia University’s men’s basketball coach, Herb Magee, just passed Bobby Knight for most number of NCAA career wins this season (although not Division I). All or almost all have been at Textile/PhilaU – I think he’s been coaching there for 50 years.</p>
<p>What interests me is that they have Fashion Merchandising in the Business School, rather than the dept of life sciences or communications.</p>
<p>I live in the Philadelphia area and I first heard of Philadelphia U. when my oldest daughter was in high school. It is very specialized, but strong in the area of fashion merchandising. Every year at least a few kids from our high school enroll there.</p>
<p>“Fashion Merchandising in the Business School, rather than the dept of life sciences or communications.”</p>
<p>That seems like a good thing.</p>
<p>Of course. That’s what the Business School WAS for generations – it taught fashion marketing, management of manufacturing, and some accounting and finance. If a student knows he or she wants a career in the fashion industry, PhilaU definitely deserves a look.</p>
<p>If you are interested in fashion marketing, by the way, Drexel University has a relatively new program that has been very successful in attracting students (and probably has the PhilaU administration gnashing their teeth).</p>
<p>
<strong>shudder</strong></p>
<p>I visted Phila U with one of my girls who was interested in Architecture at the time.<br>
It is in a lovely neighborhood, rather upscale, and out of the inner city. Pretty far from the other colleges in Philly though and some kids find it “isolating”. For those from Philly it is in Manayunk.</p>
<p>I know a few kids who went there and really liked it. They do give good merit scholarships based on your high school transcripts.
They have some unique programs that are not readily found at many other colleges - one is Textile Engineering and Textile Design - which is where the Fashion majors come from - and they do some neat things.
They also have a physician’s assistant program.
I think of it as more of a professional or pre-professional school rather than liberal arts based.</p>
<p>I know a young man pretty well who is finishing up his sophomore year at Philly U. He is in the Industrial Design major and loves it. It’s great for the student that wants hands on learning.</p>
<p>It’s not in Manayunk. If it were, there would be something to do nearby. Manayunk is the nearest place to have any fun, but it’s probably more than a mile from any of the dorms to the beginning of the fun part of Manayunk, and two miles to the heart of Manayunk.</p>
<p>The neighborhood is also less crime-free than it looks. While the immediate area is absolutely lovely and upscale, there are some crowded, tough neighborhoods near by. Students need to feel comfortable being in a city.</p>
<p>correction - should have said “near”</p>
<p>I know a young woman who attended there and transferred out as quickly as she could (for soph year). She was not happy with the school at all. She transferred to Bucknell, which tells you a little bit about what she was missing!
Missypie- I can put you in touch with her if you would like. I know she would be glad to share her experience. She is a very well-grounded young woman.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter who was interested in Fashion Merchandising was accepted with merit money to the school. She was pretty interested until she visiting on a Saturday and found an empty campus. I think it is a suitcase school as someone else mentioned.</p>
<p>I said it was something of a suitcase school. However, to be fair – if you were there on Saturday, you would go someplace else, too. It’s a small college with a pretty campus, but it’s right there in a big city next to a huge park, and with many places to go play. Or work. It doesn’t surprise me that people were doing something!</p>
<p>If you’re talking about Philadelphia University of the Sciences, it’s actually fairly tough academically (pharmacy studies etc.) as its science curriculum is known as a ‘weed out’ program. I understand that the admissions standards are not that restrictive but the attrition rate is significant because they produce top notch graduates, many of whom have jobs in hand (and medical school acceptances) before graduation. The survival of the fitest. Through its multiple names over the years, the University of the Sciences remains the oldest school of its kind in the U.S.</p>