I love Temple, but my experience is from decades ago. I have an acquaintance whose son is there now - he grew up on Capitol Hill and is going into his senior year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the university doing to make the campus or surrounding areas "safer?" There were parts of DC that you didn't want to visit in the 1980s but now are "better."

The university is not responsible for the surrounding areas, that would be the city and state domain. The university works to keep campus safe and offers options for commuting about the city safely. After that, it's just a normal urban area with pluses and minuses. Your kid either has enough common sense, street smarts and grit to make it, develops these skills, or they go home/don't apply. Of course, the university will work and engage the city/state on revitalization efforts and changes.

My kid visited Temple and liked it way better than Drexel because Template actually has a campus. Of course its not the same as the fully closed gates of UPenn.

Obviously it is very different as a public vs. a private but a school can be responsible for its surrounding areas. Penn has made a lot of efforts to gentrify the area around its campus to make it safer and more appealing. I'm sure some find this gentrification racist and offensive or whatever else, but I think it was smart. When the school's neighborhood is keeping away many qualified, otherwise interested candidates, you try to figure something out. And you can try to do it in a win-win way that also helps those already living in the neighborhood, rather than just displacing all of them.

I have a work friend who went to Temple as a commuter about 30 years ago - I think first in their family to go to college. I think they worked their way through school. They went on to get a grad degree from a very good private university and have gone on to have a successful white collar career (probably making $250k a year) - definitely well above where they came from.

Anonymous wrote:What is the university doing to make the campus or surrounding areas "safer?" There were parts of DC that you didn't want to visit in the 1980s but now are "better."

The university is not responsible for the surrounding areas, that would be the city and state domain. The university works to keep campus safe and offers options for commuting about the city safely. After that, it's just a normal urban area with pluses and minuses. Your kid either has enough common sense, street smarts and grit to make it, develops these skills, or they go home/don't apply. Of course, the university will work and engage the city/state on revitalization efforts and changes.

My kid visited Temple and liked it way better than Drexel because Template actually has a campus. Of course its not the same as the fully closed gates of UPenn.

What is the university doing to make the campus or surrounding areas "safer?" There were parts of DC that you didn't want to visit in the 1980s but now are "better."

Friend’s son went and left after two years. He loved it but didn’t feel safe and ultimately left.

It’s a rough part of Philly but that said, tons of kids from our affluent suburban Philly high school go there and like it. They aren’t unusually street smart or anything. The campus itself has a nice feel and doesn’t feel unsafe to me when I’ve been there. I know one kid who transferred because she felt unsafe, but also dozens who were happy.

My son really thought he wanted to go there until we visited, and he was shocked by the neighboring area, the homelessness and panhandling and drug use. And he grew up in downtown DC, east of the park). I was grateful when he decided he wanted to take it off his list because I would've worried about him every time he went out. Temple offered him the most merit aid.

We have a neighbor who just graduated. He crushed it there. Loved every minute of it. Took my son to see it. He hated it. The area is pretty rough. He couldn't see past it. It does have a campus. It is ok. Nothing special. Some of the buildings appear dated.

The academics are solid (imo underrated) but the campus is in the HOOD HOOD.

Have you visited the school? I don't have a kid there, but I did visit with my DS because they have a strong music program. I highly recommend visiting.

It was . . . OK? The surrounding area is pretty terrible. I've been to the Drexel/UPenn area and this was definitely worse.

The pros were:
-Music School definitely seemed strong
-Freshman have 3 types of dorm options (based on what you are willing to pay, but can have apartment style dorm as a freshman)
-They have another campus in Rome and I think one in Spain? Seemed easy to do a semester or even a year at the other campuses
-High level of student diversity
-Easy access to the rest of Philadelphia, and travel up/down the NE Corridor via train
-There are a ton of food trucks parked there all the time, if you like getting lunch from a food truck
-There is a real campus despite the urban location, but it is very compact
-High admission rate, if that's what your kid needs

Negatives
-The sports teams are D1 but they don't have facilities on campus. Football team plays at the Eagles' home field, basketball at the 76ers' arena. Results in less of a "rah rah" atmosphere. Even the soccer/lacrosse etc. facilities are not right on campus, they are a couple blocks away I think.
-Housing is only guaranteed freshman year, and I'm not sure what the nearby housing stock is like
-Neighborhood is bad
-Campus is not pretty
-It just didn't seem very cohesive. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a decent % of commuter students.

I don't know about the professional schools. There are a lot of good hospitals in the Philly area so the Med School is probably decent (ranked in the 70s-80s, depending on what rank you look at).

DS is a rising senior, on the fence about applying this fall.

People give U Chicago a lot of grief for being in a rough area, but Temple is way, way, way worse.

This thread here https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1274678.page may be the most recent and relevent about Temple.

Yes yes dcum doesn't think much of this school (located in Philly, second largest state school after Penn State) in their elite bubble. But if you have a kid who went to Temple within the last four years or so, can you give a review of the school? What did your kid like and not like? University has professional programs so if you have any experience with any of those programs (dentistry, law, medical...) please share as well.