<p>Hello,
I am planning on majoring in biological sciences in the premed track. How is Drexel University for this line? I know it is not as good as Penn for example, but how is it academic wise? Are there better options for me in the city of Philadelphia?
GPA: 4.01
ACT Scores: Math-33 English-28 Reading-32 Science-29 Composite-31
Class Rank: 11/704
Tons of Extracurricular and Community Service
Ethnicity- Pakistani (Asian)
Currently going to a Philadelphia public High School
Thanks!!</p>
<p>You can get into a better school.</p>
<p>Hi,
Thanks for the reply, but your reply is kind of vague. Could you please be a little more descriptive?
Thanks!</p>
<p>becuase maybe in phily drexel might be your best option, but you shouldnt pick schools based on location. There are a ton of better schools you should be looking at colgate, bucknell, holy cross, Boston College. Drexel should be a safety school for you.</p>
<p>Do you have to stay in Philadelphia? With your stats you can definitely get into some more competitive and prestigious schools than Drexel, and those schools might better prepare you for the medical school application process.</p>
<p>Hello,
The fact of the matter is that my parents don’t want me to go out of the city or live on campus. I wish I could, but I’m stuck. How’s Villanova in comparison to Drexel or Temple perhaps?</p>
<p>villanova is far superior to drexel and temple, but i am not sure how there med program is. You should really try and convince your parents to let you go away becasue with your stats you have a lot of opinions.</p>
<p>Trust me, every time I get the chance I try to convince them. I feel like I am almost wasting my high school effort by going to Drexel in some cases. However, I am only hoping that premed really is competitive everywhere as people say it is.
EDIT: How is USP for premed? I know they are mainly for pharmacy, but is the premed program better than Temple or Drexel?</p>
<p>You honestly could have coasted through high school, I would imagine that you studied for the act which would all be a waste of time if you went to drexel. I would keep trying to tell your parents that you are grown up and mature, need to experience life on your own. I would be ****ed if I was in your situation honestly.</p>
<p>Drexel has a reputation of being bad for financial aid. I also wonder whether the university has grown too fast (including starting a brand new law school) and whether they can maintain quality.</p>
<p>Convince your parents to take you to some colleges that are within a couple hours of Philadelphia “just for a look.” Chances are, they will be impressed. They will probably realize that there are many great colleges out there. There are plenty of colleges in the eastern half of PA that try to specialize in pre-med programs, such as Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster, Bucknell in Lewisburg, etc. I would definitely choose Villanova over Drexel if the finances work out.</p>
<p>(Not that it should matter, but Drexel has regularly won awards for ugliest campus)</p>
<p>Once again, thanks for the input everyone! Okay, so my list is shaping up to be Villanova > Drexel > Temple. Where does USP fit into the mix?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Are your parents saying that they want you to commute to save money? or is it to supervise you?</p>
<p>Are your parents ok with you going to a Catholic school (Villanova)?</p>
<p>If it’s to save money, then would they be ok with you getting a merit scholarship elsewhere so the cost would end up being about the same?</p>
<p>how much will they spend to have you go to school locally?</p>
<p>I don’t think cost is the reason at all. Its just supervision. I think they would be fine with Villanova as there aren’t any religious things or ideals upheld too much there from what I know.</p>
<p>How about asking your parents to let you try living away, and if you don’t do well, you’ll come home.</p>
<p>For merit money, you can’t do it the other way around. You can’t stay locally and then get merit for your last 2 years. Good merit is only given to incoming freshmen…not given to transfers.</p>
<p>You might try to make a deal with your parents…</p>
<p>let you apply to a few out of state schools with good merit…</p>
<p>and…you’ll demonstrate responsible behavior during your senior year to show that you can be trusted to go away…and if you get a lowish GPA while you’re away at college, you’ll come home and go locally.</p>
<p>I assume, if grades and SAT score are any indication, that you’ve done no significant behavior to warrant supervision in college?</p>
<p>If so, it’s pretty ridiculous that you’re expected to stay off campus during college. Definitely pursue this topic more with your parents.</p>
<p>In response to the original question, Drexel, to my knowledge, has a 7 year competitive medical program that you could apply to. Definitely try and apply for that. Also, Philly is a HUGE research center for the medical field, largely due to the PennHealth hospital system. The problem is, I dunno if research opportunities there are reserved exclusively for Penn students or are open to students from other schools. With that being said, I don’t recommend going to Drexel - as other posters have said, you can do MUCH better.</p>
<p>*
If so, it’s pretty ridiculous that you’re expected to stay off campus during college. Definitely pursue this topic more with your parents.*</p>
<p>I sent a PM to the OP about possible parent concerns. Some parents of good students are concerned about some issues…such as students getting up by themselves, knowing where their things are, taking care of themselves, etc. </p>
<p>A student can be an “A” student, but still need some maturing in a few areas that can be an issue if the student goes away. Seriously, there have been great students who’ve flunked out of college simply because they couldn’t get themselves up in the morning or keep track of their things. 
</p>
<p>I’ve advised the OP to immediately start working on any areas that concern his parents and to ask to be allowed to at least apply to some “away” schools in case he’s able to convince them that he’s able to handle going away to school by spring.</p>
<p>Tasveer - Are you a citizen or green card resident?</p>
<p>Uhh why are you guys talking down on drexel? It has a great co-op program:
Drexel offers a variety of educational and employment opportunities to students through study and internship programs in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and the co-operative education (“co-op”) program. The only mandatory co-op in Pennsylvania and one of three in the United States, Drexel’s program is among the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected. </p>
<p>It also has a pretigious Medical School
Drexel University College of Medicine has the largest medical student enrollment of any private medical school in the nation.</p>
<p>So don’t listen to these people…they are very biased and think that those “popular” schools are pretigious…</p>
<p>I’m sure Drexel has a fine med school, but I don’t know if I would call it “prestigious”.</p>
<p>It’s ranked 89th for research and not ranked at all for primary care.</p>
<p>However, it’s probably a fine med school. :)</p>
<p>And, I think the question is more about undergrad at Drexel. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info about it being the largest private med school. </p>
<p>Is Indiana U the largest med school in the US? It has about 1260 students. Drexel has about 1100.</p>
<p>Carribean, I have only heard bad things about drexel, my cousin went there said the campus was ugly, teachers didnt give one **** about you, the coop program is terrible. Honestly if his scores were lower it would be good for him but he might be the person with the highest scores going to drexel.Drexel has no where near the rep or prestige of a school like nova.</p>
<p>Oh ok. Well in Philly Drexel is a pretty good school. Evryone has a different experience at college…when I went to the summer program at Drexel, yeah i agree that it didnt really have a true campus & the dorms were weird. The dorm I stayed in, Millenium Hall had this unfinished look, it kind of looked like a jail, lol. But the building itself was amazing, on the 17 floor it had a stunning view of Philly.
The teachers seemed really helpful well at least the architecture teachers did anyway…</p>