<p>My daughter’s roommate for the past two years has chosen to go the four year plan with one co-op ( health science ) and has regretted it because her first co-op was non-clinical , which will not benefit her at all for her ambition to attend med school…as it is for my daughter, she needs more clinical hours to apply to some ( not all ) physican assistant programs for the same reason…not a complaint by any means, we are very happy with her choice to attend NEU , and feel the co-ops put her over the top as compared to some of her hs friends who chose same path, other colleges</p>
<p>"It may not be a “requirement” but almost everyone does it, and life seems to revolve around the co-op rotations. " </p>
<p>That’s really good! When I studied Engineering at Clarkson, they offered a Semester In Industry program for the fall of junior year. I considered doing it, but it was a small program and would have messed up my housing and class sequences. (The students prep the summer before by doing 4 courses in summer session, but only a subset of courses are available.) </p>
<p>I did luck out by getting summer pre-professional jobs (paid internships) for two summers. But longer assignments are better for students and employers.</p>
<p>I’m not a mom. I am a transfer student from SoCal that just finished applying to both schools. I have done my research and have concluded much of what has already been talked about. </p>
<p>At Drexel, the co-op is not a requirement but if I remember right they said over 80% of the students took advantage of it. My opinion is that Northeastern is more rigorous that Drexel. If you go through the accepted forum there are quite a few people that have been accepted to Drexel (Including me). </p>
<p>I know that Drexel’s co-op program would suite me well but I am still crossing my fingers for Northeastern. I am majoring in business and one huge thing for me is that businessweek ranks Drexels job placement as an A+. </p>
<p>[Top</a> Undergraduate Business Programs 2010 - Businessweek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
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<p>lefthanded what is it that you prefer about Northeastern?</p>
<p>I wanted a school that was urban. I wanted to live in the city where a car was more or less not needed. I visited both schools about two weeks a part and both fit my urban campus preference. </p>
<p>When I visited Drexel I didnt really get a chance to walk around the campus the same way I did at Northeastern. While at Drexel I did not really notice a centralized space. At Northeastern I really liked that there was quite a bit of grass in the middle of downtown Boston. I felt that Northeastern was more or less a traditional college campus with green space and school buildings rather than sky scrapers or a collection of business buildings. </p>
<p>In addition, the tour guides made a huge difference. I went to Drexel first and really was not impressed much. It was not until I got home weeks later that I realized what the co-op program could offer me. Drexel’s tour guide had more fact about the campus and was able to name all the buildings and traditions. </p>
<p>When I visited Northeastern it was right after Boston College. BC made it pretty clear that it would be pretty tough to get in, so I was not excited at all to visit Northeastern and almost did not go. As soon as I walked on campus things changed. I rerally like the campus and was able to eat a pizza place across the street while waiting for the info session to start. The info session was very well done. It was actually run by a student on co-op working in the admissions office. It was her first presentation and there were probably 200 people. She did a great job. More of a students perspective of the school rather than the administrators. That attitude carried over into the tours. </p>
<p>I am a transfer and did not want to stick at the back and listen to freshman questions so during the tour I was at the front talking to my tour guide between stops. My tour guide did a good job of selling the school and making sure that I knew that I was qualified to apply. After the BC visit I was a bit worried so hearing the Northeastern info session was a relief. I actually think of the school higher than what some of the ratings say online. Coming from SoCal, the co-op program is a huge draw because (for ex. UCSB) getting an internship can sometimes be left up to the student. Having the opportunity to do it in school with help from the school to get it is amazing. </p>
<p>Oh and I’ve heard the Drexel is a “social nightmare”. Then again it is what the student makes of it but reading that was obviously not good advertising. </p>
<p>I feel that the campus allows for the additional socializing that I am really looking forward to after going to a JC for two years.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing all your thoughts, lefthanded! Are you willing to elaborate on what “social nightmare” means in reference to Drexel?</p>
<p>I’m just going off what I’ve read. I really have no experience with the school and know no one at the school. </p>
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<p>This website it a bit unreliable but when it works it shows pretty decent student reviews. Remember that reviews are usually people that hate the school or love it. There really is not much in between in the way of reviews. </p>
<p>If you search Drexel (It’s not working at the time of this post) it will bring up the schools profile. On there some students have written reviews. These websites are really all I had to go on for a while so I read up on a lot of schools. There are going to be good things and bad things said about each school. Sometimes things don’t match up. The “social nightmare” kinda stuck in my head because I could relate it to my tour guide. I didn’t really click with my tour guide like I did at my other schools. It was something I noticed. </p>
<p>I don’t really know about the term “social nightmare” but I do know that college is what the student makes of it. College can be about breaking out of that comfort zone from high school or staying in it for another 4 years. </p>
<p>I hope I didn’t scare anyone by using that term. It was just something I read (probably not an honors student). Drexel is a good school and will be hard to turn down with the co-op program.</p>
<p>I’d like to comment on the social scene at Drexel because I had heard that too and that (and the cost) may be what makes or breaks Drexel for my son. We’re going to an accepted students day program in a couple of weeks. In my son’s Junior year I started reading this thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/618537-any-drexel-questions-prospective-accepted-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/618537-any-drexel-questions-prospective-accepted-students.html</a> on the Drexel page here at CC. I thought the posters honest comments were helpful and positive. I appreciate your comments lefthanded4life (my son is also a lefty btw!) and like how you took the time to re-think Drexel. My son did the same with another school where the visit was so-so but after we were home we looked over the info and realized that it might just be a good fit.</p>
<p>When we visited there were two things that stood out. One is the living community they have for kids in the iSchool, which is really just a dorm wing as far as place goes but they also offer outings and social things if you are a part of that. For someone that is used to a small town and a small HS, I thought that would be good for my son. The second thing is that when I asked a Senior about the Professors and if their intent was to weed out the students that weren’t the best students, we were told emphatically that that was not the case, and that in fact, most of the Prof’s at the iSchool genuinely wanted to work with the students and help them figure out a future career. I like the three co-op programs to help with that future goal also. Because of their reputation with the business community the co-op program is thriving. </p>
<p>I like how close Drexel is to the downtown area and that the University city area itself has lots to offer. I’ve always listened to this public radio station [WXPN</a> 88.5 FM :: Public Radio from the University of Pennsylvania home](<a href=“http://www.xpn.org/]WXPN”>http://www.xpn.org/) and it’s broadcast place is within easy walking distance. There’s also live music there and a cafe’. Because it’s campus abuts Penn’s, there are tons of students and things to do on both campuses.</p>
<p>I too am going to an accepted students presentation here in socal in a couple weeks. I am looking forward to it. My parents were unable to visit with me an they know very little about Drexel so I guess you could say it’s for all of us. I am hoping to get a better feel for the student body because I visited during the summer and there was nothing going on anywhere on campus. </p>
<p>I glad to here about the learning communities and other positive things at Drexel. I was unable to these for myself during the summer and it’s really hard to judge a school just by things I’ve read online so anything helps. </p>
<p>As a transfer I am in a bit of a different situation. I’m not sure how to housing is going to work. Sometimes schools put transfers together and others don’t. I’ve got lots of questions to ask at the Drexel presentation and will hopefully have a better feel for the school after.</p>
<p>mathmom, I found this [SCDC:</a> Steinbright Career Development Center](<a href=“http://www.drexel.edu/scdc/index.html]SCDC:”>Explore Career Development Resources) and put it on the Drexel page too.</p>
<p>My son who is a junior is lookiing at the same career path. We are also looking at Drexel, Northeastern, Depaul, Carnegie mellon, RPI and Digipen. One thing to consider is how connected each school’s game program is to the industry. I would also think if a co-op is offered in the game industry that would be very beneficial as well. From what I have read, the industry is very difficult to break into without prior experiance. On a side note, there are many gaming companies in the Boston area. The Princeton Review ranked the top 50 game programs last year, so that might be worth a look as well. Drexel’s is ranked #3.
Another criteria to look at is which game programs entered and became finalists in the Independant Games Festival (on the GDC website). Northeastern has never entered this competition, but Drexel has. Digipen has won the most awards, but this school is primarily for game design and programming.</p>
<p>My S is a HS senior and visited both Northeastern and Drexel prior to applying. He didn’t like the environment in Philly and decided not to apply to Drexel. He did, however, apply to Northeastern. He is more interested in the artistic and level design sides of game development, so his other choices included RIT, Miami U (Ohio), Champlain College, USC and SMU (for the 5 year BFA/MIT program). While we were researching schools, we felt Drexel and Northeastern had very similar offerings and good co-op programs. For him, it came down to the environment at Drexel that influenced his decision not to apply.</p>
<p>I know this is the Drexel/Northeastern thread but does anyone have any thoughts on Drexel vs Fordham?</p>
<p>I like them both for completely opposite reasons.</p>
<p>I had the same problem of chosing betwee NEU and Drexel many years ago and have worked with many co-op students from both schools over the years. Either one is a good choice. It is the co-op opportunities that you should focus on and which will have the biggest impact on your academic and career path. Pick an industry and a region that you want to work in NOW and visit the co-op placement office when you do your school visit and see what they have available now in these areas. Do all your co-ops out of town and (learn a language before you go) and do at least one co-op overseas. </p>
<p>BTW I picked Drexel simply because I had more friends going there which did not matter after the first term … but I now live in Boston which is I think is the best place in the country to live and you can get to everything in the area from Northeastern.</p>
<p>I think Drexel is a great school with many opportunities, but I also think it has some “red tape” issues. Not enough to drop the school, but be aware that the student will need to be aggressive in meeting with faculty and being aware of what is needed to graduate timely.</p>
<p>I would also look into off-campus housing costs and areas at both. We are “Philly” folks and our family is fine with the area, however, it is a bit rough for many suburban families.</p>
<p>Either way, your student has amazing choices!</p>
<p>Since this is a 2 year old thread, maybe mathmomvt will chime in and tell us where he ended up!</p>
<p>My DS actually ended up at Cornell. Between Northeastern and Drexel, he found Drexel’s game design program to be a better for him than Northeastern’s when we looked at them closely. However he liked RIT even better than both of those schools, and they had said that they’d consider improving their merit offer since he had better offers from NEU and Drexel. RIT ended up being his second choice overall, but since he decided on Cornell we didn’t find out whether RIT would have actually sweetened the deal enough to be competitive.</p>
<p>He would have been in my S’s class at RIT!</p>
<p>Where else did your S consider, mamabear, and is he enjoying RIT? On round two with S’14, and Drexel, Northeastern, RIT are all back in the mix…</p>