How is Temple University these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

OP, what did they give? Run the numbers carefully. Our DS was offered $26-28 K for some colleges but it was still less expensive to go to Virginia Universities, especailly after calculating in travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

OP, what did they give? Run the numbers carefully. Our DS was offered $26-28 K for some colleges but it was still less expensive to go to Virginia Universities, especailly after calculating in travel.

PP here - depends on what VA school you are comparing it to, but post-scholarship Temple seems like it would be between the same cost and $5,000 less expensive. Travel would cost a bit more, but not that much - and I think there is a real benefit to DS being in a different place for college anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

OP, what did they give? Run the numbers carefully. Our DS was offered $26-28 K for some colleges but it was still less expensive to go to Virginia Universities, especailly after calculating in travel.

PP here - depends on what VA school you are comparing it to, but post-scholarship Temple seems like it would be between the same cost and $5,000 less expensive. Travel would cost a bit more, but not that much - and I think there is a real benefit to DS being in a different place for college anyway.

Great! sounds good. We're in the donut hole so every dollar counts. DC's choice came in between Ivy at 72K and UVA, Purdue, Ga Tech. Our of the blue came unsolicited offers from small LACs for the $28K because they wanted DC's ACT scores (and said so) but subtracting the 28K from the LAC's total package, UVA was still a better deal plus had the program DC wanted. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

The students I know at Temple are happy, especially those with good scholarships who won’t have loans to pay back after graduation. Philly is on the upswing right now so not a bad place to land post-graduation (or for work during summers).

The surrounding neighborhoods are still a bit of a mess but the immediate campus is not so bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be a bit worried about the neighborhood. I recall there were students beaten by a mob last year.....it was pretty scary to watch the footage on the news.

To be fair, the neighborhood around Temple is very similar to the neighborhood around University of Pennsylvania. They both are surrounded by lower income ares and have problems with crime. People are a bit more willing to overlook the neighborhood around Penn because it is an Ivy League school.

We just toured Drexel, and I can tell you that if the Penn neighborhood is worrisome, you need to get out more.

Temple has a solid reputation. congrats, OP.

[Anonymous]

Bump.

Congrats OP! We are in a similar situation.

DS was offered a scholarship to Temple, and right now our choices look like Temple and Pittsburgh -with Temple costing about $15,000 less per year.

I am hoping to see more input from others on this thread - so far seems like people are generally positive about Temple, notwithstanding concerns about the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

We visited Temple with DD this past weekend. We were impressed by the school and felt very safe on campus. Yes, it looked a bit sketchy right off campus, but that didn't seem to affect the on-campus feel at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

OP, what did they give? Run the numbers carefully. Our DS was offered $26-28 K for some colleges but it was still less expensive to go to Virginia Universities, especailly after calculating in travel.

William and Mary is at $38k all in for next year and UVA is at $32k - $40k depending on the year and the major. So, it's not that difficult for many private schools, like Temple, to compete on price if you've got the stats they're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

OP, what did they give? Run the numbers carefully. Our DS was offered $26-28 K for some colleges but it was still less expensive to go to Virginia Universities, especailly after calculating in travel.

William and Mary is at $38k all in for next year and UVA is at $32k - $40k depending on the year and the major. So, it's not that difficult for many private schools, like Temple, to compete on price if you've got the stats they're looking for.

PP, Temple is not a private school - it is a public school (well, technically a "state affiliated" school, but for tuition purposes, the same thing. So that makes it even easier for Temple to compete with other publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, DS applied early action and got offered a nice scholarship to Temple. He visited a few months ago and liked it. He thought there was a good energy, friendly, lots of academic and other opportunities, lots of school spirit, and kids that were happy to be there and working hard. And he liked its location in a big city.

We are in NOVA and DS probably does not have the grades to get into UVA or William & Mary, so other in-state choices would be James Madison, VCU, Va Tech (maybe), etc.

But with the scholarship, Temple would be about the same cost, or even a bit less expensive, than in-state options.

My sense is that Temple is not perfect, but is getting better - it is less of a "commuter school", the neighborhood around the school is improving, the school is growing, and the caliber of student is getting better. And for kids who are ready to take advantage (I think DS is ready) there are opportunities that are on par with any "elite" school.

I am curious about the DCUM view of Temple, and how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

Please share your thoughts.

Thank you!

I am from Philly and would feel slightly more comfortable having my son attend than my daughter. Sexist but it is how I feel. Especially like it if my son was over 6 feet and was athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Philly girl here. Penn is in West Philly. Temple is in North Philly. Neither are great but I wouldn't set foot in North Philly for any reason.

West philly is being rapidly gentrified. Penn is aggressively expanding west and there are no real issues if you stay east of 50th street within the Spruce-Market axis. north Philly on the other hand...well, no bueno.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

In terms of Virginia publics, Temple is probably most like Virginia Commonwealth University.

Somewhere in between Radford and VCU.

[Anonymous]

Our friend’s son is there now and loves it. Our friend is a police detective (drugs) and has no problem with it. So, I trust his opinion.

Many, many schools are very near to bad neighborhoods. Any school near a major city is going to have these issues. Miami, NYC, you name it. Your kid has to be smart and know where not to go and know to always stay with friends. Don’t walk at night with your $1000 iPhone in your hand lit up like a Christmas tree. Live with common sense and he will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friend’s son is there now and loves it. Our friend is a police detective (drugs) and has no problem with it. So, I trust his opinion.

Many, many schools are very near to bad neighborhoods. Any school near a major city is going to have these issues. Miami, NYC, you name it. Your kid has to be smart and know where not to go and know to always stay with friends. Don’t walk at night with your $1000 iPhone in your hand lit up like a Christmas tree. Live with common sense and he will be fine.

Gee, that sounds like a great way to spend four years......hiding your iPhone from the locals,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

how it compares to other public schools in VA or elsewhere.

In terms of Virginia publics, Temple is probably most like Virginia Commonwealth University.

Somewhere in between Radford and VCU.

No. Not anywhere near Redford on that continuum.