<p>I got into Villanova's chemical engineering program, and Nova is in my top three schools, along with RPI and the University of Rochester. How does Villanova's ChemE program compare with these schools, since Nova's program is only regionally ranked? What companies hire from Villanova. Also, what is there to do at Villanova, what is the nightlife like? What is there to do for non-drinkers? Also, what is there to do walking distance from campus, and how easy is it to get transportation to go to Phily or KoP? Is it true that Villanova is a suitcase school, and that people go home for weekends? Please be honest. List as many pros and cons as you want.</p>
<p>It is very hard to rank regional schools with national schools. Villanova obviously is not as large of a research institution and does not offer many Master’s/PhDs as the other schools so it is a completely different atmosphere. That being said, that has many pros and cons. Not having that massive research grant makes the engineering program not as known (though it is well known on the east coast). However, having the undergraduate focus shows in the teaching at the university. There’s very few (2 to be exact) foreign professors in Chemical Engineering that could be slightly hard to understand, which is probably a large difference than other universities. Also, since there aren’t many graduate students, many of the undergraduates get to work in the laboratories and start research - some as early as freshman year.</p>
<p>As for companies recruiting, Air Products is definitely the largest recruiter of Chemical Engineers on campus. However, you will see students get internships and jobs all over the place. Ones that I have heard recently for internships or full time positions include large companies like Merck, Dow Chemical, and Procter & Gamble. Many will also go to REUs, med school, or down the business track.</p>
<p>I’ll reply to the other questions later when I have more time.</p>
<p>To continue, the nightlife for Villanova is similar to any other college. There’s obviously parties going on like any other university. Because of the close vicinity of other colleges, some people will also go to parties at places like UPenn and even Temple. There’s plenty if you want to drink and even if you do not want to. Campus Activities Team (CAT) comes up with events just about every weekend for little trips if you want to do that instead of partying. I know this weekend they went laser tagging, and they’ve also planned trips to places like the Aquarium, New York City, Washington DC, Phillies games, etc. There’s also weekly movies playing at the Connelly Cinema that are free. Finally, it’s a train ride into Philly so there’s always stuff to do there.</p>
<p>That leads into the next stuff. Getting to Philly is a train ride. There’s two trains on either side of campus that both go into Philly. I think Villanova still runs a shuttle to KOP on the weekends (Friday and Saturday) that leaves like every hour so that’s easy as long as you want to go on those days. Otherwise, it’s not the easiest place to get by public transportation…I think you can take a train and then a bus to get there, but you could also find an upperclassmen to borrow a car from if you needed to get there.</p>
<p>In terms of walking distance from campus, there isn’t all that much. It takes a good 15 minutes of walking to get to anything useful, but even at that point, there isn’t all that much there. A lot of people will walk down to CVS and Hope’s Cookies (both 15-20 min away) as well as the few restaurants next to campus on the other side (Campus Corner, Nova Grill), but other than that, most people don’t really walk to places around campus. If you are trying to go farther, it’s usually easier and faster to go by train or to cab it.</p>
<p>Not sure where you heard Villanova is a suitcase school. Very few people actually go home during the semester when it isn’t break. And from the people that do, it is mostly only the people that are close or people going for job/internship interviews or something like that. There’s a lot of people from all over the country (though it sometimes does seem like half the school is from New Jersey). It also discourages people from going home by having two breaks each semester. In the fall, we get a week-long Fall Break in October as well as Wednesday-Sunday for Thanksgiving Break so people typically only go home for those breaks and stay the rest of the semester. In the spring, we get a week-long Spring Break in early March and Thursday-Monday for Easter Break.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, feel free to ask here or PM me. I’m a current ChE student if that helps.</p>
<p>You are a current villanova student? What is the school sprit like? Do you feel pride for your school? Is community service prevalent? How is the sense of community? (Sorry for bombarding you with questions)</p>
<p>If that first question was not rhetorical, yes.</p>
<p>As for the other ones, that is one of the main reasons why many pick the school. You may not believe me until you visit, but school spirit and community service are probably about as high as you can get at a college. When you have things like Day of Service and can get 3000-4000 of the 6600 students to show up, you see the amazing commitment that Villanova students have to things like service. Special Olympics is also a HUGE thing on campus with hundreds, if not a thousand, people involved.
You’ll be able to see it on a smaller scale with the number of people that volunteer with prospective student events such as both the Candidates’ Days and Open houses or whatever else is going on.</p>
<p>As for school spirit, it is basically the same thing. People love the school and it really shows. And if you are considering sports games, we do not have as big of a football following as other schools do, but the majority of the school goes basketball crazy, making sure to fill the stadium for every game. I think we get more students at some other sports than many other schools our size. Things like soccer, volleyball, etc. don’t get that bad of followings.</p>
<p>I hope that answers your questions.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! I’m very excited for my visit next weekend!</p>