Drexel or DeSales for PA

<p>Pl. help me decide for my daughter which school to choose.</p>

<p>Those are VERY different schools. What will your daughter be majoring in? DeSales has a very strong PA program [Medical</a> Studies - Physician Assistant degree - Department of Natural Science - DeSales University](<a href=“http://desales.edu/home/academics/divisions-departments/department-of-natural-science/majors/medical-studies-physician-assistant]Medical”>Error) and an excellent theatre program. I attend their productions every year. It’s semi-rural and a car would be handy. I live very close to it and know many grads and some people that teach there.</p>

<p>Drexel was one of the top choices for my son. He ended up not going there because it was not affordable but their iSchool seems just terrific. It’s a full-on urban campus. I know several students that graduated from there and currently attend. Their co-op program is a big draw. Housing can be tricky. </p>

<p>I can’t really see too many similarities between these two schools except that both are in Pennsylvania.</p>

<p>Oops, just realized that your daughter is going for the PA program. That makes it easy. I would choose DeSales.</p>

<p>I have no knowledge of the PA program specifically, but know two students who were very unhappy with their DeSales programs, saying they were completely inadequate.</p>

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Which is why I asked about the major. The PA program is a stand out at DeSales.</p>

<p>There is a lot of good information <a href=“http://www.physicianassistantforum.com%5B/url%5D”>www.physicianassistantforum.com</a> You can search by school and ask questions. I think DeSales might have a slight edge, but the difference between urban and rural would be the deciding factor for most students. It’s a great major! My son graduates in Aug. from another PA PA program.</p>

<p>DeSales is opening up a new building in a few months for their health care programs. They are tied into the two very large health care conglomerates in the Lehigh Valley.</p>

<p>My daughter considered DeSales. It is a little too quiet and isolated for most people, and many people go home for the weekend. Visit the college on a weekend before you decide. You can’t walk to any businesses from the campus. There is a bike trail nearby, but even with that, I doubt people bicycle to any businesses, which are far away. They do have more rules than most colleges, which is a point of pride for the President. </p>

<p>Drexel is in a very vibrant part of Philadelphia and is working on improving the attractiveness of their campus. There is a huge new highrise apt building being built for their students. Drexel has plans for major expansions in total enrollment, including big increases in their digital courses. Some of their health care offerings are at other campuses in the city. They took over 2 med schools a number of years ago, after the med schools’ parent institution went belly-up.</p>

<p>Excellent point about the deciding factor being urban vs. rural. DeSales is isolated, but I’ve found it to be pretty busy on weekends and there are quite a few out of state kids that attend. It may not be close enough to bike to local businesses (something that I’ve never heard of as a fun thing to do…) but it is within a couple of miles of the city of Bethlehem and several other local colleges, including Lehigh. In fact, DeSales is in a consortium with Lehigh and Lafayette: [Home[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Back to the bike trail - The Saucon Valley rail trail is a really nice running/biking/walking path <a href=“https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saucon-Rail-Trail/150379554997950[/url]”>Redirecting...](<a href=“http://www.lvaic.org/]Home[/url”>http://www.lvaic.org/)</a> and will soon be connected to the town of Coopersburg, which is just a few miles from Campus.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys for your valuable inputs. We are Indian and noticed that there are only 2% Asians enrolled. It does not look diverse. Any thoughts on that?</p>

<p>You will find much, much more diversity at Drexel and in Philadelphia in general. My kids went to HS in the school district where DeSales is located and I think the white population is something like 95%. If that’s an important factor to your daughter then she may want to choose Drexel. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to her…</p>

<p>Drexel reports an Asian population of about 11 percent - this likely also includes the many students who attend from overseas.
My daughter is a freshman at Drexel (not in a health profession major so can’t help you there) and has had a wonderful experience. But indeed it is very urban, in University City, with thousands of college students around. I believe at least some of the health majors attend classes both in University City and Center City. Have you been to an accepted students day?</p>

<p>Yes, we did go to the accepted student’s day today and loved it. It’s just a matter of accepting the admission at Drexel now :)</p>