<p>Drexel stats for freshmen
Median SAT Verbal 580
Median SAT Math 615
Median ACT Composite 26 </p>
<p>Arcadia
Median SAT Verbal 555
Median SAT Math 540
Median ACT Composite 24 </p>
<p>From 2008 incoming freshmen,actually a tad closer then i thought</p>
<p>I don’t have direct experience, but I do know the PA program at Arcadia has been around for quite a while (back to when the school was called Beaver). </p>
<p>Another poster added some schools, like Ursinus, as alternatives. I know a few Ursinus students who chose to go to Arcadia/Beaver over the last 20 years to obtain the PA.</p>
<p>Someone else mentioned Drexel having access to city hospitals while Arcadia could be limited to Abington – I know of 3 PA students who did their time at Children’s Hosptial of Philadelphia and 2 from Arcadia outside the PA program in the Public Health program who worked at CHOP. OP may want to ask Arcadia directly the hospitals which the school has partnered with for rotations.</p>
<p>And I agree with JHS – The kids I know (and we are local) who consider Drexel are top notch students. These handful of kids don’t consider Bucknell, Ursinus or Lafayette because the kids WANT the urban setting. One (initial interest pre-med) visited both Ursinus and Lafayette and applied to neither because it felt isolated.</p>
<p>I really think Drexel and Arcadia each have wonderful things to offer. Personal preference on a visit may be more informative then the hard facts.</p>
<p>You can’t put Ursinus in the same group with Bucknell and Lafayette…Ursinus pulled the biggest scam on students a few years back, here is a link…talk about slimy</p>
<p><a href=“In Tuition Game, Popularity Rises With Price - The New York Times”>In Tuition Game, Popularity Rises With Price - The New York Times;
<p>Bucknell stats-2008</p>
<p>Median SAT Verbal 645
Median SAT Math 670
Median ACT Composite 29 </p>
<p>Lafayette stats-2008
Median SAT Verbal 625
Median SAT Math 660
Median ACT Composite 28 </p>
<p>Ursinus stats-2008
Median SAT Verbal 605
Median SAT Math 610
Median ACT Composite 26 </p>
<p>Lafayette 4 yr grad rate-86%
Bucknell 4 yr grad rate-84%
Ursinus 4yr grad rate-70.5%</p>
<p>" can’t speak specifically for the PA program, but I’d agree that Drexel has better name recognition in the Philadelphia area. Some of that is because Arcadia changed its name from Beaver College not terribly long ago. My opinion of Arcadia is that the location is nicer and safer, transportation isn’t terrible since it’s not far from the Glenside train station, but it is not very selective at all. Drexel’s engineering program is probably what gives it a better reputation for selectivity, though. I’m not sure how selective Drexel’s other programs are. But doing one’s training at a city hospital would beat doing it at Abington Hospital, if that were the case (have no idea).</p>
<p>The just-under-Ivy people who want to go to school in PA would probably have chosen the likes of Lehigh, Lafayette or Bucknell–not Drexel. "</p>
<p>as the parent of a just under Ivy (theres a new phrase) who is not in PA, but looked at lots of PA schools, we definitely considered Lehigh, Lafayette, and Bucknell as matches, and Drexel as potential safety. DD ended up applying to Lehigh and Lafayette, but not Bucknell. DW (who has lived in greater Philly) was down on Drexel - DD eventually decided on Temple as a safety, though she did not apply as she got acceptances from matches before the Temple due date.</p>
<p>Had she been more interested in Co-op, she might still have selected Drexel as her safety.</p>
<p>^^^^^ good thing you didn’t need Temple…Some schools give laptops to incoming freshmen,Temple gives kevlar vests…terrible area, Drexel is in bit better location,and,imho,a better school…Drexel really has done a fantastic job of rebuilding it’s reputation</p>
<p>well I didnt mean to threadjack this into a discussion of my DDs preferences regarding a safety school. Just to clarify that while it may look different in Philly, here in NoVa we (and I suspect others) have heard of Drexel, but not Arcadia, but don’t think of Drexel as just below Ivy, but rather as a tier down, “below” schools like Lehigh, Lafayette, and Bucknell. Again, my own view of Drexel was more positive than DW’s, who may be going by a Philly view of Drexel dating back to the early 1980’s.</p>
<p>^^^ agree with you!!!</p>
<p>Yes, Drexel has made all the right moves in the last couple of decades. It is bigger, richer, spiffier, and trendier than ever, and has a bunch of attractive focused programs (along with, now, professional schools in law, medicine, and public health, and a huge expansion of its business school underway). Its new president was Judith Rodin’s right-hand man when she was president of Penn, and he had a lot to do with her success in making Penn a more exciting and more admirable university. People expect he will have similar success at Drexel.</p>
<p>Arcadia is making right moves too, no question. 20 years ago, I wouldn’t have recommended either to anybody. Now there are all sorts of things that I like about each.</p>
<p>As for Temple, it has been doing a lot to make itself more attractive, and the Temple campus isn’t an uncomfortable place to be at all, even at night. But Drexel’s location is quite a lot more than a “bit” better than Temple’s. Lafayette and Temple may be in the same state, but apart from that they are barely in the same universe. It’s hard for me to imagine the kid who would have serious interest in both of them.</p>
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<p>I think there are just kids who want to stay close to home and pick among the colleges that are in their general home town area, and for such kids in Philadelphia, even DC just isn’t on the radar screen. As a former Philadelphian who is still often there and has business and personal ties there, I concur with JHS’ opinion that Drexel has upped its game considerably in the last few years.</p>
<p>For any program with a hands-on component like radiography or PT, you really have to look at the quality of that program apart from the overall quality of the school in which it’s housed. So the fact that Drexel is probably a better school overall is irrelevant. Which PA program is better-regarded? (I’m assuming the PA program involves external placements, etc., but I don’t know.) The local community college near my hometown was pretty mediocre in general, but they had the best dental hygiene program in the whole region!</p>
<p>I agree with GFG about choosing a college for the program but overall fit has to play a part in it too. Once my son figured out a major we visited colleges looking very closely at the program but he still eliminated ones that seemed to have a good program just because he plain didn’t like the college. Just like in real estate, you can have a beautiful house with all the bells and whistles but if the location is just NOT what you want or the price is too high, it’s off the table. We’ve gotten lots of mail/e-mail and phone calls from Temple and it’s program looks pretty darn good, it’s much more affordable, but neither of us felt comfortable with it’s location, even though it’s just a few miles from Drexel. Off the table.</p>
<p>I think it’s all about priorities. My son applied to Drexel for it’s co-op program - not the location. He also applied to RIT for the same reason. Another reason for Drexel is there just aren’t a lot of techy schools for B students and ones that offer co-ops are even more rare. Location so close to home was way down on the priority list, but a nice bonus. IRL, Drexel is not a safety school for many kids.</p>