Well, well, well… shows how much I know as I have an update to add. Saw a graduate of 2017 this afternoon as she’s back home on break - and she goes to Drexel! She loves it - loves the city, etc, so I stand corrected at not knowing anyone recently who has actually gone there.
To be a wee bit fair to me, last year is one I hardly spent at school due to my mom’s health issues and she’s not a student I saw a ton, but still, I always try to look at the final list so I should have known.
I didn’t ask about finances. I never do. I only find out about those when students tell me reasons why they chose their final pick if they volunteer the info. It’s common for finances to have a play in the final choice, but if it doesn’t come up, then I have no idea.
Drexel is in a very cool part of the city and is tricked out to the max - sand volleyball courts, rock climbing wall, nice natatorium. Lots of events and the school is extremely involved in the community so lots of connections and possibilities for students. It’s right near the train station so an internship in New York or DC wouldn’t even be far-fetched if they paid travel. It is a lot more competitive to get in than it used to be and admissions people have told me they are bursting at the seams. They really are on trend right now - urban, pre-professional focus, work experience. The students can get paid for coop so that softens the tuition blow a bit. At the same time, they are still focused on the imperfect student. More the B student than the A student.
Wow, I know this thread is not about Drexel (except that Drexel has dual admissions with cc’s). But look at this article from 2018. Between 2016 and 2018 Drexel added 1000 students to it income class, going from 2300 to 3300. That is a huge shift. My thing with Drexel is I’ve always felt they’ve been growing too fast but I did not realize just how fast. https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2018/September/Facts-and-Figures-Behind-Drexel-Incoming-Freshman-Class-2018/
Google tells me the admission rate is 75% (some sites say higher), so did they used to be open admissions? We’re rural and true city schools turn off several of our students when compared to “campus bubble” schools. GW is another that turns many off for the same reason. CW too. It’s all personal preference. What one student loves another hates.
Their reported yield (14.8, down from 14.9 last year so pretty constant) seems to match the fact that most of ours who are accepted there choose elsewhere.
Other things you mention are found in several schools.
@Creekland they were never open admissions but I looked at average SAT scores from a few years ago and from this year and it was striking. They say openly that the student they are looking for is a B student. At some point they will have to respond to having way more students and less room and become more competitive? Other schools in the area seem a lot more competitive now than I remember - Villanova and St. Joe’s, for example. Temple used to be open admissions pretty much and now people are sweating acceptances. Drexel is a preprofessional school and not super academically engaging from what I can gather. My daughter has taken three classes there as a HS student and the students are reportedly super checked out from gen eds.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with attending a community college for the first two years of college because it will allow you to get a lot of your gen-ed courses out of the way. Most community colleges are usually pretty good with transferring credits to four year colleges and you can save a lot of money by taking classes at a community college. It is definitely a practical choice!