For anyone who has seen the Drexel campus, is it more a condensed campus or more spread out across the city? For example, is it more like Boston College or Boston University in the sense of its campus?
It’s spread out like Boston University. It is not a defined campus.
I disagree somewhat with the first response. First let’s just talk about Main Campus. When Drexel acquired a Medical School it created a second campus which is located in Center City. Main Campus is located in University City right beside UPenn. If you major in something related to Medicine (Nursing, BioMed Engineering, etc) then you’ll have to travel between the 2 campuses (free shuttle) so it would be spread out to you.
So talking about Main Campus only it’s basically defined and not that spread out. Academic buildings are located between Chestnut and Market and between 33rd and 31st. Residential and some Academic and Sports Facilities are North of Market up to Powelton Ave between 32nd and 34th. It’s not nearly the size of BU. You could say Market Street goes down the middle but it’s not nearly as intrusive as Commonwealth.
Drexel is an open urban campus. You can take a look at the campus using google maps. Drexel owns a large swath of University City realestate. The core of campus is 100% Drexel occupied. 1 st year dorms are grouped together. Students apartments are more on the edges of campus. Directly to the south is Upenns campus. So there is some intermingling. Directly to the north is a neighborhood of townhouses mainly occupied by Drexel juniors and seniors living"off-campus". The Drexel /penn security zone, cover the campus and extends few blocks off campus. Even tho Drexel is an open campus, with public streets (walnut being the busiest) it has very college vibe. The medical school is in center city. Unless your medical major or graduate med student you will never go to that campus–unless you choose to ride the free Drexel shuttle into center city instead of walking.
Realizing it is an urban campus would you all consider it safe?
Yes. Extremely safe. University city, the home of Drexel and Upenn are patrolled by philly PD and Drexel PD and Upenn PD. You really can’t cross a street inside the Drexel “zone” (zone = campus proper + private student housing and retail area) without seeing a yellow security jacket. The area is crawling with college kids. It’s welcoming and friendly, yet supporting a lively urban vibe.
No college is as spread out as BU.