Temple vs. Drexel

[Anonymous]

DS interested in Drexel and Temple for engineering. He's an average student with a few honors, IB classes and great ECs. Between Temple and Drexel, which one would you recommend? He toured Penn State too, was not a fan , wants a more city-bound school.

[Anonymous]

Pitt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

[Anonymous]

Drexel is a more fun part of town for sure...with it being right by Penn you have tons of college-focused restaurants, bars etc. I'd pick Drexel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

Well, Drexel's tuition is sky-high. Maybe you are counting on merit aid?

Temple and Drexel are quite different. Temple's neighborhood is terrible. Drexel's is a bit better in that Drexel + Penn create a huge student population and their neighborhood seems to support that population.

But since your kid wants a city school, I'm guessing you already know about the neighborhoods.

Temple is a WONDERFUL university. They had 9 Fulbright scholars this year! It's big, diverse, and fun. Full of talented, scrappy kids. Philly employers love it.

Drexel is much more tied to engineering in most people's minds. The co-op program is extremely well-regarded. Their academic calendar is a little unconventional. And the fact that most kids do multiple co-ops means your friends/roommates are sometimes just gone for a semester. This works well for some kids, less well for others.

Hope this was helpful.

[Anonymous]

Don't send him to Temple without a GUN

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

Well, Drexel's tuition is sky-high. Maybe you are counting on merit aid?

Temple and Drexel are quite different. Temple's neighborhood is terrible. Drexel's is a bit better in that Drexel + Penn create a huge student population and their neighborhood seems to support that population.

But since your kid wants a city school, I'm guessing you already know about the neighborhoods.

Temple is a WONDERFUL university. They had 9 Fulbright scholars this year! It's big, diverse, and fun. Full of talented, scrappy kids. Philly employers love it.

Drexel is much more tied to engineering in most people's minds. The co-op program is extremely well-regarded. Their academic calendar is a little unconventional. And the fact that most kids do multiple co-ops means your friends/roommates are sometimes just gone for a semester. This works well for some kids, less well for others.

Hope this was helpful.

I am not as familiar with Philly neighborhoods as my DS Can you speak more about Temple? As much as I would love for him to stay in state, no way he will get into VTech or W&M. I don't mind paying out of state tuition but I do want for him to be safe.

[Anonymous]

Temple is much cheaper and much more popular (I am in the Philly burbs), I’m sure largely because of price. But probably also size and breadth of majors. Drexel has an engineering bent and a co-op schedule and is $$$. It also has good autism support from what I hear. Drexel is in a safer area (it borders Penn).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

Well, Drexel's tuition is sky-high. Maybe you are counting on merit aid?

Temple and Drexel are quite different. Temple's neighborhood is terrible. Drexel's is a bit better in that Drexel + Penn create a huge student population and their neighborhood seems to support that population.

But since your kid wants a city school, I'm guessing you already know about the neighborhoods.

Temple is a WONDERFUL university. They had 9 Fulbright scholars this year! It's big, diverse, and fun. Full of talented, scrappy kids. Philly employers love it.

Drexel is much more tied to engineering in most people's minds. The co-op program is extremely well-regarded. Their academic calendar is a little unconventional. And the fact that most kids do multiple co-ops means your friends/roommates are sometimes just gone for a semester. This works well for some kids, less well for others.

Hope this was helpful.

I am not as familiar with Philly neighborhoods as my DS Can you speak more about Temple? As much as I would love for him to stay in state, no way he will get into VTech or W&M. I don't mind paying out of state tuition but I do want for him to be safe.

North Philadelphia, where Temple is located, is the most dangerous part of Philadelphia. It would be the equivalent of going to college in the most dangerous parts of SE and NE DC. It is about 5-6 miles North of City Hall Philadelphia which you might call the center of downtown Philadelphia.

Drexel is located in West Philadelphia directly adjacent to UPenn. Literally, where Penn ends, Drexel begins and they share some restaurant/social hubs. West Philadelphia is right over the river from downtown Philadelphia. Once you cross the bridge is where downtown starts and within a mile is Rittenhouse Square which is an upsace/trendy area of Philadelphia. If you keep heading West of the Drexel/Penn campuses, it gets sketchier (though it is gentrifying more than I expected) but there isn't much reason to go West.

[Anonymous]

Drexel doesn’t give much aid and it’s expensive but students earn good money during internships.

[Anonymous]

Temple is in North Philadelphia which a rough area and has genuine safety concerns. For some kids, it feels too unsafe. However I know a lot of suburban kids there who go there and love it, so for a kid who is street smart I would not rule it out. I feel ok walking around the area in the daytime—there are tons of students around and it feels bustling and like any city campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

Well, Drexel's tuition is sky-high. Maybe you are counting on merit aid?

Temple and Drexel are quite different. Temple's neighborhood is terrible. Drexel's is a bit better in that Drexel + Penn create a huge student population and their neighborhood seems to support that population.

But since your kid wants a city school, I'm guessing you already know about the neighborhoods.

Temple is a WONDERFUL university. They had 9 Fulbright scholars this year! It's big, diverse, and fun. Full of talented, scrappy kids. Philly employers love it.

Drexel is much more tied to engineering in most people's minds. The co-op program is extremely well-regarded. Their academic calendar is a little unconventional. And the fact that most kids do multiple co-ops means your friends/roommates are sometimes just gone for a semester. This works well for some kids, less well for others.

Hope this was helpful.

I am not as familiar with Philly neighborhoods as my DS Can you speak more about Temple? As much as I would love for him to stay in state, no way he will get into VTech or W&M. I don't mind paying out of state tuition but I do want for him to be safe.

Has he ruled out VCU for some reason? Seems like the natural choice - In-state tuition, urban campus, solid engineering option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Temple is much cheaper and much more popular (I am in the Philly burbs), I’m sure largely because of price. But probably also size and breadth of majors. Drexel has an engineering bent and a co-op schedule and is $$$. It also has good autism support from what I hear. Drexel is in a safer area (it borders Penn).

Philly burbs here, too!

Drexel is in West Philadelphia, Temple is in North Philadelphia. (I am the PP at 10:21.) For a variety of reasons, West Philly, while a bit rough, has a lower crime rate than North Philly. There are many stable, working-class families in West Philly. Lots of families who are employed by Penn and Drexel.

North Philly has always had a testy relationship with Temple. The crime rate is HIGH, and sometimes it affects students. Google will tell you more than you want to know.

However, a lot of kids from my kids' high school go there and love it. The kids who seem to love it the most are eager to get out of the suburbs; highly motivated; ready to capture a lot of opportunities. For example, they have an excellent study abroad program. You can go for a semester, a year, a few weeks at winter or spring break. They make it pretty easy to get internships (though I feel like Drexel gets a lot more publicity for this with the co-op program.) I know really smart kids in the business program, media school, architecture program, art.

So ... if you have the kind of kid who loves cities and takes reasonable precautions, by all means, check it out.

[Anonymous]

Temple is in a dangerous part of town

Drexel has the Co-Op program

If this were my kid, I'd be recommending Drexel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt?

Love Pitt but tuition is just too high

Well, Drexel's tuition is sky-high. Maybe you are counting on merit aid?

Temple and Drexel are quite different. Temple's neighborhood is terrible. Drexel's is a bit better in that Drexel + Penn create a huge student population and their neighborhood seems to support that population.

But since your kid wants a city school, I'm guessing you already know about the neighborhoods.

Temple is a WONDERFUL university. They had 9 Fulbright scholars this year! It's big, diverse, and fun. Full of talented, scrappy kids. Philly employers love it.

Drexel is much more tied to engineering in most people's minds. The co-op program is extremely well-regarded. Their academic calendar is a little unconventional. And the fact that most kids do multiple co-ops means your friends/roommates are sometimes just gone for a semester. This works well for some kids, less well for others.

Hope this was helpful.

I am not as familiar with Philly neighborhoods as my DS Can you speak more about Temple? As much as I would love for him to stay in state, no way he will get into VTech or W&M. I don't mind paying out of state tuition but I do want for him to be safe.

Look at VCU for an urban school with engineering that's more forgiving test score wise.