Deciding Which School is a Better "Fit" Drexel Towson

Parents Forum
1

<p>College admissions counselors told us that DD had virtually no chance to get into a direct entry nursing program. She is a B student that never really worked too hard. </p>

<p>Accepted and committed to Towson for pre-nursing. Students apply in Junior year for the nursing program. We were set. </p>

<p>Yesterday she got accepted to Drexel direct entry to 5 year nursing co-op. She was ecstatic. Wanted to go.</p>

<p>Drexel is a much better school. The first two academic semesters are identical course-work in both schools. </p>

<p>I was always the bottom student in the brightest class. I hated this, so I picked a college where I would be an average student. I thrived. </p>

<p>She is so torn, these schools could not be more different. City vs Suburban, etc. We were VERY impressed with Towson's administration. Haven't gotten a feel yet for Drexel. Regardless of the school, she would have to pass the nursing exams.</p>

<p>DD is not social and had a socially hard time in HS. She had no trouble finding a roommate at Towson. She has been speaking to potential roommates at Drexel and hasn't clicked with anyone yet and gets the sense that she might not fit in.</p>

<p>College prepares us for our future, therefore Drexel. However, there is a very big social aspect to college and a happy student has a greater chance of success so I think she will be better at Towson. </p>

<p>She is very confused. Nursing a sure thing at Drexel, but she may not fit in socially. Chance at nursing but will almost definitely fit in at Towson.</p>

2

<p>Leap mom. How is Towson for safety?</p>

3

<p>Although Towson is in a more suburban part of the city, all the shops, restaurants, ballgames are very easy to get to either in Towson or in downtown Baltimore. With all the schools in the area (Goucher, Hopkins, Loyola) there are college kids everywhere, shuttles available, rides. There are great hospitals in and around Baltimore for her to work.</p>

<p>What are the numbers for acceptance to the nursing program from the pre-nursing program? If the percentage is high, go with Towson. If they just call it pre-nursing and only a few actually can go on to the full nursing program, then she needs to decide if she’s absolutely sure she wants nursing, and then go to Drexel.</p>

4

<p>Towson and Drexel are both fine choices. I would think the fact that you don’t have to apply again to the nursing program at Drexel after two years would be a big factor in choosing between the two, but it’s not the only relevant thing. Anyway, I know more about Drexel, and some of it may be relevant, so here goes:</p>

<p>Drexel’s administration is not always popular with Drexel’s faculty, but I think it tends to be popular with students. In any event, Drexel has a relatively new president, John Fry, who was Judith Rodin’s right-hand man when she was President of Penn, and then he was President of Franklin & Marshall. He has a real record of making things happen and improving both quality and perception of an institution, and he’s a consensus-builder rather than a tyrant (recent Drexel leaders have been more the tyrant types). I think Drexel will do very well with Fry.</p>

<p>Drexel attracts a wide range of students, none (or few) of whom was the best whatever in his or her high school class. They tend to be focused and practical, which the college absolutely encourages. There are more engineers than anything else, but some of them are people who want to be sound engineers and tour with indie rock bands. (A friend of mine has a kid who found it so easy to make a living doing that that it was hard to get him back to Drexel to finish his degree.) And there are public health types, and my neighbors’ daughter was in their fashion business program (and loved it, and grew into quite the impressive young woman while doing it).</p>

<p>I’m not certain how one would not fit in at Drexel, any more than one might not fit in at Towson. Both places have a lot of corners in which to fit. Physically, Drexel is cheek-by-jowl with Penn – the only way you can tell the difference between the campuses is that the banners on the light poles change, and also a lot of the Drexel buildings have the same ridiculous orange-ish colored bricks. There’s a huge, diverse community of students in the immediate area. </p>

<p>Philadelphia is also a great place to be a student. Compared to other big cities, things are relatively cheap, and Drexel is actually walking distance from a lot of things to do in the real world. Other cities (Boston, New York, LA, Chicago) have as many or more college students as Philadelphia, but in Philadelphia their comparative economic importance is much higher, and they get catered to more. Philadelphia is big enough that it has lots of great things going on, but not so big that it’s overwhelming.</p>