Lots of Questions about Drexel

Colleges and Universities A-Z Drexel University
1

<p>I've been accepted to Drexel's Mechanical Engineering program and I wanted to visit the campus. The problem is that I live in South Florida and the cost for a flight there is too much right now for my family. So as much as I would like to visit the campus it just doesn't seem probable. A friend of mine suggested I call and ask to see if I could be flown up but I think it's mostly the Ivies that would do that.
Basically, I wanted to ask a lot of questions to hopefully make up (to the best of my ability) for not being able to see the campus first-hand. Also, I think I should mention that I've never left Florida in my entire life so any information about what Philadelphia is like and how it differs from Florida would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>What's the diversity on campus like? I attend a high school where the vast majority of students are minorities. I'm pretty sure there's cultural diversity even if it's not so large, but I just want some confirmation, I guess. I'm kind of worried about not fitting in.</p>

<p>I've been reading student reviews and perspectives, some of which have said the campus is in the bad part of Philadelphia. I just want to know how safe the campus and surrounding area is. It's in the city but I don't know much about living in cities. I've only heard that cities are noisy and dangerous and I'm worried that the city life isn't for me.</p>

<p>I also would really like to know what the Mechanical Engineering program is like. What courses would I have during my freshman year and what opportunities are on campus for engineering majors. For example, I read that there's a machine shop but I'm not sure if students have access to it. I also read that there's SolidWorks, Mastercam, and ProE for CAD/CAM. I'm certified at an associate level in the first two and I've had experience with CNC milling so basically will I have the opportunity to use the machines and software during my freshman year? I want to know how hands-on the engineering program is in general.</p>

<p>Does Drexel have any programs with UPenn? This won't sway my decision but it would be pretty cool to take some classes at UPenn if they aren't offered at Drexel.</p>

<p>I was also wondering about the astrophysics minor. I just kind of want to know how that would work out with a MechE major. I'm interested in Aerospace Engineering but it's not offered at Drexel but would a major in MechE and a minor in astrophysics be somewhat close to Aerospace Engineering? This sounds pretty ridiculous, I know, sorry.</p>

<p>Are there a lot of study groups? How accessible are professors? For engineering majors, what's the student to faculty ratio like?</p>

<p>Are there a lot of modes of transportation in Philadelphia? I won't have a car so driving isn't an option. I plan on riding a bike, but then again I don't know how safe that would be around the city, so at least around campus, if that's allowed. So what's the bus system like for the city?</p>

<p>Oh, are there good hospitals and doctor's offices near the campus? My health record isn't the best so just a precaution. I read that UPenn has a top notch hospital.</p>

<p>I'm really sorry for asking so many questions but I'm terrified of making the wrong choice. I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of my options. I know some of my questions can be answered online but I don't know how accurate/relevant those sources are and I would like to hear from a current student. I would like to ask about clubs and student life but seeing as how I've already written so much and asked a ridiculous amount of questions I'll just see how this goes. Don't worry about not answering all of my questions because answering any one of them would be greatly appreciated. Again, sorry for all this and thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>I’ll take a shot at some of your questions. I am a parent of a prospective Drexel student and I have lived in the Philadelphia area for 30+ years. </p>

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<p>Drexel is in University City, a neighborhood of Philadelphia that is home to Drexel, U Penn, Penn’s hospital complex. This neighborhood is generally safe and is well policed. However, it does border on some sketchier neighborhoods. So, care is necessary when walking at night. Philadelphia itself is a city of neighborhoods. As long as you stay in the good neighborhoods, and you take normal types of precautions, you should be safe. But, you may as well know there is a lot of gun violence in some parts of Philadelphia. Check out [Philly.com:</a> News from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly Sports](<a href=“http://www.philly.com%5DPhilly.com:”>http://www.philly.com) and <a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/indexfor[/url]”>http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/indexfor&lt;/a&gt; local news an dinformation. This will give you some idea of what Philadelphia is like. Also- there are some videos on Drexel’s website. [Life</a> at Drexel Video Resources | Undergraduate Admissions | Drexel University](<a href=“http://www.drexel.edu/undergrad/about/video/life-at-drexel/]Life”>http://www.drexel.edu/undergrad/about/video/life-at-drexel/)</p>

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<p>Philadelphia is one of the top bike friendly cities in the US. There are lots of bike lanes and paths. There are also buses and subways that stop right in the middle of Drexel’s campus to take you to Center City. You can walk from Drexel to 30th Street station for Amtrak trains to NYC and DC, as well as SEPTA regional rail trains which connect to the airport and suburban areas. [SEPTA</a> | Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority](<a href=“http://www.septa.org/]SEPTA”>http://www.septa.org/)</p>

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Philadelphia has a wealth of hospitals. The closest to Drexel would be HUP. [Hospital</a> of the University of Pennsylvania | Penn Medicine](<a href=“http://www.pennmedicine.org/hup/]Hospital”>http://www.pennmedicine.org/hup/) </p>

<p>Hope that helps a little!</p>

3

<p>Hi! I’m not a student but I am very familiar with Philly and University City area so I can help you on that front.</p>

<p>I could walk around the University City area as a 14 year old girl and be just fine. That is, it was always daylight and I stayed within the neighborhood’s boundaries. UC is very safe. It is pretty much entirely made up of college students, grad students, hospital patients, and hospital workers. But as was said, if you venture out of the area things can get somewhat questionable. Still, there are parts of philly (Center City, Old City, Queens Village, Rittenhouse, Society Hill) that are wealthier and probably safer, but every area sees a little crime every now and then.</p>

<p>The campus and surrounding area is definitely ethnically diverse, but as far as ease of “fitting in” goes, I can’t be one to say.</p>

<p>As far as I know, Drexel does not have any strong bonds with UPenn. You will see many Penn students walking around and you could possibly get a co-op at a Penn facility, but you won’t be able to take classes there.</p>

<p>A car is not necessary for transportation. Many Philadelphians do not own a car.</p>

4

<p>Congrats on being accepted! Drexel has a crazy good engineering program so like, totally yes, you’re in the right place. ^^ I’m a current freshman here, in the Software Engineering program. So I’m not exactly an engineer but I’ll try to answer what I do know to the best of my ability. =)</p>

<p>Just to start I think Philadelphia is maybe… colder… than Florida. xD This year we barely had any snow, but that’s really rare. I keep hearing from the upperclassmen that Drexel very rarely cancels its classes (but usually, professors just send an email cancelling it anyway). There’s a little cute little joke: December 21, 2012 – Apocalypse. December 22, 2012 – Drexel still open. =D</p>

<p>That was random of me, I’m sorry.</p>

<p>The campus is definitely </p>

<p>What’s the diversity on campus like? I attend a high school where the vast majority of students are minorities. I’m pretty sure there’s cultural diversity even if it’s not so large, but I just want some confirmation, I guess. I’m kind of worried about not fitting in.</p>

<p>I’ve been reading student reviews and perspectives, some of which have said the campus is in the bad part of Philadelphia. I just want to know how safe the campus and surrounding area is. It’s in the city but I don’t know much about living in cities. I’ve only heard that cities are noisy and dangerous and I’m worried that the city life isn’t for me.</p>

<p>I also would really like to know what the Mechanical Engineering program is like. What courses would I have during my freshman year and what opportunities are on campus for engineering majors. For example, I read that there’s a machine shop but I’m not sure if students have access to it. I also read that there’s SolidWorks, Mastercam, and ProE for CAD/CAM. I’m certified at an associate level in the first two and I’ve had experience with CNC milling so basically will I have the opportunity to use the machines and software during my freshman year? I want to know how hands-on the engineering program is in general.</p>

<p>Does Drexel have any programs with UPenn? This won’t sway my decision but it would be pretty cool to take some classes at UPenn if they aren’t offered at Drexel.</p>

<p>I was also wondering about the astrophysics minor. I just kind of want to know how that would work out with a MechE major. I’m interested in Aerospace Engineering but it’s not offered at Drexel but would a major in MechE and a minor in astrophysics be somewhat close to Aerospace Engineering? This sounds pretty ridiculous, I know, sorry.</p>

<p>Are there a lot of study groups? How accessible are professors? For engineering majors, what’s the student to faculty ratio like?</p>

<p>Are there a lot of modes of transportation in Philadelphia? I won’t have a car so driving isn’t an option. I plan on riding a bike, but then again I don’t know how safe that would be around the city, so at least around campus, if that’s allowed. So what’s the bus system like for the city?</p>

<p>Oh, are there good hospitals and doctor’s offices near the campus? My health record isn’t the best so just a precaution. I read that UPenn has a top notch hospital.</p>

<p>I’m really sorry for asking so many questions but I’m terrified of making the wrong choice. I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of my options. I know some of my questions can be answered online but I don’t know how accurate/relevant those sources are and I would like to hear from a current student. I would like to ask about clubs and student life but seeing as how I’ve already written so much and asked a ridiculous amount of questions I’ll just see how this goes. Don’t worry about not answering all of my questions because answering any one of them would be greatly appreciated. Again, sorry for all this and thanks in advance.</p>

5

<p>O.o Something went wrong. And I can’t edit my post. Whatever. I’ll deal with it later.</p>

<p>The campus is definitely diverse, I’d say half white, half minorities. There’s a lot of international students, mostly Chinese. And a lot of Indians. Asians in general, of course, as to be expected at a college. African Americans and Hispanics too, but to a lesser degree. It’s not strange at all to hear different languages, walking around campus. Not strange at all. There’s also a ton of cultural organizations, if that’s your thing. Fantastic, spectacular way to meet new people. =D</p>

<p>[Freshman</a> Engineering Courses - Drexel Engineering](<a href=“http://drexel.edu/engineering/resources/prosp_students/FreshmanEngineeringExperience/FreshmanEngineeringCourses/]Freshman”>http://drexel.edu/engineering/resources/prosp_students/FreshmanEngineeringExperience/FreshmanEngineeringCourses/)
So there’s the general course schedule for a freshman engineering student. For any freshman engineering student, it doesn’t matter if you’re Electrical, Mech, Computer, Biomed. Except well… it does matter if you’re Software Engineering. Which I am. So I don’t take those classes with everyone else. But uh, yeah, from what I hear from my friends, it’s a lot of CAD, MATLab, working in groups with NXT robots, just general engineering fundamentals before you get into your actual major courses. And you have to understand that there’s a lot of engineers at Drexel. In fact, you could say that on a whole, generally speaking, Drexel is an engineering school. And it’s a good one. And there’s lots of engineering-centric organizations and people and all of that. If you like engineering, you’ll fit in here. I don’t know what a machine shop is, nor can I make any sense of what else you’re talking about in that paragraph. xD Hopefully an actual engineer can come around and actually answer these questions. =P Always good to get different perspectives.</p>

<p>Drexel’s relationship with UPenn is like… the middle child’s relationship with their much more successful older sibling. xDDD UPenn is very close, literally a block away, has lots of pretty buildings, lots of nice college-y restaurants, is generally the place to be if you want to hang out with a bunch of friends for lunch. There’s a little rivalry going on, but just a tad bit. I’ve heard that on the first big snowfall of the year, there’s an epic snowball fight on the border street between Drexel and UPenn. Yes, it would be pretty cool to take some classes there. But as far as I know, there isn’t such a program. But as for public events at UPenn, it’s just a block away, it would be a shame not to go, yes? =D</p>

<p>Oh, so I found this:
[Concentrations</a> - Undergraduate - Current Students - Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department - Drexel University](<a href=“http://www.mem.drexel.edu/current/undergraduate/advisor/Concentrations.php]Concentrations”>Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Programs | Drexel Engineering)
So there is an aerospace concentration in the MechE major. And that’s kind of like a minor. I don’t know where astrophysics will take you. But this site might interest you:
[Mechanical</a> Engineering and Mechanics](<a href=“http://www.drexel.edu/catalog/ug/coe/mech-index.htm]Mechanical”>Drexel University < 2023-2024 Catalog | Drexel University)
The “Required courses” and “Recommended plan of study” links are the ones that tell you what courses the major requires you take, and when you “should” take them. And you can even click them to see their pre-requisities and course descriptions. Nifty, right? I have no idea why Drexel doesn’t advertise this more to prospective students. I like, spend my life on that site.</p>

<p>Not really, but it is very orderly and helpful. xD</p>

<p>Study groups…? Like… like in Community? Oh man, I love that show. xD Sorry. There are lots of groups of friends… who study together… and a lot of students who study… in like, the library… or around campus… well, there’s a lot of students in general. xD As for professors, the grand majority of the ones I’ve had were absolutely fabulous. They love love love to teach, and they love when students ask them questions during or before or after class. And they all are required have office hours, a few hours once or twice a week when they are guaranteed to be in their office. As my English professor said, “Every Monday and Wednesday I sit in my office playing solitare and looking up classic rock on Youtube, just waiting… waiting a student to come ask me a question!” And emails too. They all pretty much live on email, and so reply to them in a relatively timely manner.</p>

<p>As for engineering majors, well I told you already that all freshman engineers have generally the same classes, so you’re all generally in the same boat. I actually do take PHYS 101, mostly with other engineers. There’s about 800 of us, and 4 actual professors. Every Tuesday and Thursday, they have lectures every hour on the hour, from about 9 am to 2 pm. In my lecture, there’s about 80 of us that actually go. Once a week, I have recitation with a TA (PhD candidate), with about 7 of us who actually go. Every other week, I have lab with another TA, with about 16 of us. If ever you have a question about the homework or anything, there’s like a… physics helpdesk, run by the professors and TAs. There’s also helpdesks/tutoring for Math, CS, Writing, like… everything. So while I don’t know the ratio and while I do know there is a ton of engineering majors, my point is that if you ever need help, there’s some way to get it. You might not be in contact with your actual professor in such large general engineering classes, but that’s okay, because sometimes you don’t actually need to talk to the professor. Of course, your classes will start to get smaller as you get into your individual majors and as more and more people drop out. But really, there really is nothing to worry about. =P They take course evaluations here very seriously, and I feel as though, as a result, the classes are very well-managed.</p>

<p>Ditto to whatever was previously said about transportation in Philly. You wouldn’t want a car, you would have to pay for parking and your friends would always beg you for rides… xD Lots and lots of people ride bikes here, and there’s lots of bike racks all around campus. And like, bike lanes on the streets I suppose. I take the SEPTA subway usually, and from there you can ride it straight East into Center City, City Hall, Chinatown, etc. $1.55 for a one-way token, or $2 cash. There’s also a free Drexel shuttle for students, that loops around the main campus and the Center City campus (which is where a lot of the nursing/medical students have some of their campus). So that’s a great alternative if the traffic’s not bad and you’re not out too too late. I’ve never been on a SEPTA bus because I’ve never had to. So I can’t tell you what it’s like. =P</p>

<p>I don’t know about hospitals. I really don’t. I’m sure UPenn has a fantastic one, and Drexel itself has a pretty good medical school, but most of that stuff is in the Center City campus and… I… had a point but I lost it.</p>

<p>OMG DON’T BE SORRY FOR ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS! You’re trying to decide where you want to live for the next 4/5 year, don’t be sorry! Especially since you can’t visit, which is really unfortunate. =/ Ask as many questions as you need to, seriously!</p>

6

<p>Hi Magypsy…one question for you. You are from south Florida so why did you select Drexel? There are so many other good engg schools in warmer ares - like Georgia Tech, UVA, etc. So really keen on knowing why you are planning on attending Drexel.</p>

7

<p>I am a graduate of the Drexel university School of Medicine although it was known as MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine when I received my MD. There are many excellent hospitals in Philadelphia. UPenn would probably be the closest but since you would be a Drexel student they may prefer for non-emergencies you use one of the ones they are affiliated with and train their medical students and residents at. The closest would be either Hahnemann University Hospital or Graduate Hospital in downtown and Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital a little to your north. Other medical schools in Philadelphia which have teaching and research hospitals are Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine and Temple University School of Medicine. </p>

<p>So, Finding a hospital and doctors in Philadelphia would be one of the last things you need to worry about.</p>

8

<p>Thank you so much everyone! This is all really helpful and I really appreciate it!</p>

<p>@Jerseyshor I like Pennsylvania and I really want to move away from my family. It’s more a matter of independence than not liking my family, though. They’re a bit overbearing and overprotective, especially since as long as I stay in-state I would have someone following me around. Of course I applied to schools in-state and I like them but I have also been able to visit most of them. So I feel like if I don’t learn more about Drexel I wouldn’t be making an unbiased decision. Another thing is that I really want change. I’ve had a rough time in high school because of all my health issues preventing me from performing to my potential and I kind of want to start over somewhere new. Also, I’ve liked Pennsylvania for a few years. I was originally shooting for Carnegie Mellon but my grades weren’t good enough so I didn’t bother applying. Almost applied to Penn State but I made a mistake with deadlines (which I will probably regret for the rest of my life). There’s a lot to do in Pennsylvania and it’s a nice change after living in South Florida for seventeen years. To be honest, this year I’ve been switching a lot between giving up/accepting the fact that I’m staying in-state and feeling like I’m going to finally get a chance to leave. When I was finalizing applications I was going through one of the “I give up and accept my fate” phases and the only out of state school I applied to was Drexel. I like the co-op and it’s a good engineering school, better than most schools here in Florida (and seems to be better than all the ones I applied to).</p>

<p>And again, thank you to everyone that has replied and helped answer my questions!</p>

9

<p>I am an alum, and my D was accepted last year, but attend another school. Last year, Drexel offered a discount for travel to visit the school. I am not sure of the details, but you may want to contact admissions to find out about it.</p>

10

<p>Our S attends Drexel and as an Engineering undergrad. He is an RA in Millineum and is from the west coast. Although, it hasn’t been perfect I believe that he is satisfied with his experience at Drexel to date. Engineering at Drexel is a rigorous curriculum and being on a quarter system doesn’t allow you much free or downtime so you learn to work around it. The biggest change for you I’d expect would be the weather, there are four seasons and it does get on the cold side. As far as safety Drexel campus police are rated tops in the country for security. As Matt puts it “you get out, what you put into it at Drexel”. I do believe that they have a reimbursement visitation package for potential students that live in excess of 200+ miles away from Philadelphia, I would give your Financial Aid advisor a call. It sounds as if you would enjoy going to Drexel, good luck!</p>

11

<p>can anyone comment on the co-op program in detail?</p>