Post by W.T.Faulkner on Feb 3, 2023 18:34:37 GMT -5
Good: Drexel is known for its engineering and comp sci majors, but also has a good business program. Co-op program is awesome. They are organized, efficient, and communicative. Housing and course selection are easy as a result. Dorms are nice. Unlike other area colleges they actually give a shit about diversity and award full scholarships to Philly HS students, so I’ll love them forever for that.
Bad: $70k sticker price this year. Campus doesn’t really look or feel like a traditional college campus, which might be good for some but not everybody. And I hate to say it, because I work 10 blocks from there and I love this city, but Philly just isn’t as safe as it was pre-pandemic. That will be true for every major city you visit, though.
The previous post reminded me re: sticker price. Look at each place’s endowments and grant/scholarship policies. D’s school has a sticker price around 70k but she receives enough school-funded grants that we pay about 1k less per year than we paid for our son’s state university (17 -18k. Still expensive, but no more than the state U)
Drexel is a great school! But anyone I know who attended is probably more than 20 years post-degree so probably not helpful. What degree is your DD thinking about?
It's funny you posted this, I kept starting and deleting a thread this week about when everyone started thinking about colleges with their teenagers. My son is (understandably) all over the place, and I was thinking about maybe doing a tour or two this summer since we will be road-tripping anyway. It's really early for him (he will be a rising sophomore this summer) but I was thinking that if we can work it without too much effort it might give him a baseline idea of what he might like in a college.
our counselor recommends narrowing down/getting tours in before the end of junior year. The thinking being you spend the summer between Junior and senior year you focus on applications/you know where you are applying, and that takes the pressure off them fall of their senior year that they aren’t doing applications and schoolwork and sports. Obviously this timeline isn’t always possible, but the reasoning makes sense
I just went to a thing for my freshman, a college prep talk, at his high school. The college placement counselors said the same, not to worry about touring until end of junior year, and that a lot of colleges won't even allow kids that aren't juniors/seniors on tours. But they did say if you are in a town with a school you would like to visit to drive or walk around it on your own and then go back for a tour when it is time.
I know a few "kids" who've graduated from Drexel in the last 5-10 years. It's a great school for computer science and engineering. In addition to the high tuition, I believe their undergraduate programs are most 5-year.
The coop program is great, but one of DS's friends who attended was very stressed about getting a coop match the first 2 times. I don't know if this is an issue with so many internships being unpaid now or if he's just kind of neurotic (I heard the story from his mom is a little nutty) He was in engineering, but I'm not certain what kind.
our counselor recommends narrowing down/getting tours in before the end of junior year. The thinking being you spend the summer between Junior and senior year you focus on applications/you know where you are applying, and that takes the pressure off them fall of their senior year that they aren’t doing applications and schoolwork and sports. Obviously this timeline isn’t always possible, but the reasoning makes sense
I just went to a thing for my freshman, a college prep talk, at his high school. The college placement counselors said the same, not to worry about touring until end of junior year, and that a lot of colleges won't even allow kids that aren't juniors/seniors on tours. But they did say if you are in a town with a school you would like to visit to drive or walk around it on your own and then go back for a tour when it is time.
In theory this is ideally a great plan. I don’t know that we will get an opportunity to visit again. We are going at the end of her sophomore year. We won’t likely do another tour for a while. We are getting a list of schools she wants to research further.
Good: Drexel is known for its engineering and comp sci majors, but also has a good business program. Co-op program is awesome. They are organized, efficient, and communicative. Housing and course selection are easy as a result. Dorms are nice. Unlike other area colleges they actually give a shit about diversity and award full scholarships to Philly HS students, so I’ll love them forever for that.
Bad: $70k sticker price this year. Campus doesn’t really look or feel like a traditional college campus, which might be good for some but not everybody. And I hate to say it, because I work 10 blocks from there and I love this city, but Philly just isn’t as safe as it was pre-pandemic. That will be true for every major city you visit, though.
Quoting everything WTF says on the city, but especially the safety issue. We live here, my kid (11) commutes to school on Septa every day, they’ll probably wind up in college here- but walking around alone or at night makes me more nervous now than it did a few years ago. University City is just rebranded West Philly, there’s a lot of gentrification issues and socioeconomic disparities between students and residents, which does exacerbate things.
I just went to a thing for my freshman, a college prep talk, at his high school. The college placement counselors said the same, not to worry about touring until end of junior year, and that a lot of colleges won't even allow kids that aren't juniors/seniors on tours. But they did say if you are in a town with a school you would like to visit to drive or walk around it on your own and then go back for a tour when it is time.
In theory this is ideally a great plan. I don’t know that we will get an opportunity to visit again. We are going at the end of her sophomore year. We won’t likely do another tour for a while. We are getting a list of schools she wants to research further.
I do appreciate all the advice and insight.
Oh definitely do it then! I was just saying that parents shouldn't feel like they are behind if they aren't touring in 9th and 10th grades.
My kid is a senior and we are very late to the party with college tours. They've been accepted to 2 colleges and a community college already and have 2 more applications they are waiting to hear back from. They are really, really hoping to get into the University of Utah but that is one of the schools they are waiting to hear back from. I'm waiting to schedule a tour because it's 8+ hours away and I don't want to make that trip if they don't get in. We'll also plan to tour their plan b school and maybe even the plan c school. I have a feeling once we visit U of U, they might change their mind about it... Salt Lake City is huge and might be overwhelming for them, but we'll see what happens.
Good: Drexel is known for its engineering and comp sci majors, but also has a good business program. Co-op program is awesome. They are organized, efficient, and communicative. Housing and course selection are easy as a result. Dorms are nice. Unlike other area colleges they actually give a shit about diversity and award full scholarships to Philly HS students, so I’ll love them forever for that.
Bad: $70k sticker price this year. Campus doesn’t really look or feel like a traditional college campus, which might be good for some but not everybody. And I hate to say it, because I work 10 blocks from there and I love this city, but Philly just isn’t as safe as it was pre-pandemic. That will be true for every major city you visit, though.
Good: Drexel is known for its engineering and comp sci majors, but also has a good business program. Co-op program is awesome. They are organized, efficient, and communicative. Housing and course selection are easy as a result. Dorms are nice. Unlike other area colleges they actually give a shit about diversity and award full scholarships to Philly HS students, so I’ll love them forever for that.
Bad: $70k sticker price this year. Campus doesn’t really look or feel like a traditional college campus, which might be good for some but not everybody. And I hate to say it, because I work 10 blocks from there and I love this city, but Philly just isn’t as safe as it was pre-pandemic. That will be true for every major city you visit, though.
Holy shit. 72k a year! That's insane!
Colleges are stupidly expensive now. I’m very concerned about how we will pay for anything. The good news is her grades and ACT scores. We are hoping she gets scholarships
Good: Drexel is known for its engineering and comp sci majors, but also has a good business program. Co-op program is awesome. They are organized, efficient, and communicative. Housing and course selection are easy as a result. Dorms are nice. Unlike other area colleges they actually give a shit about diversity and award full scholarships to Philly HS students, so I’ll love them forever for that.
Bad: $70k sticker price this year. Campus doesn’t really look or feel like a traditional college campus, which might be good for some but not everybody. And I hate to say it, because I work 10 blocks from there and I love this city, but Philly just isn’t as safe as it was pre-pandemic. That will be true for every major city you visit, though.
Quoting everything WTF says on the city, but especially the safety issue. We live here, my kid (11) commutes to school on Septa every day, they’ll probably wind up in college here- but walking around alone or at night makes me more nervous now than it did a few years ago. University City is just rebranded West Philly, there’s a lot of gentrification issues and socioeconomic disparities between students and residents, which does exacerbate things.
We were wondering about the name change. Some of the AirBNB were saying West Philly while others a few doors down would say University City. Gentrification is happing here too. I go from sad to enraged when I drive through areas or hear stories. The socioeconomic disparity is astounding here too. Safety is a concern for us. We will take this into consideration while walking around and staying in Philly
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Colleges are stupidly expensive now. I’m very concerned about how we will pay for anything. The good news is her grades and ACT scores. We are hoping she gets scholarships
There are definitely drawbacks to working in higher ed (culture, low $ etc.), but when I worked at Penn, they had the best tuition reimbursement policies for dependents. I've friends who've stuck it out working there for the long haul for this benefit.
Colleges are stupidly expensive now. I’m very concerned about how we will pay for anything. The good news is her grades and ACT scores. We are hoping she gets scholarships
I've friends who've stuck it out working there for the long haul for this benefit.
Ditto. We actually plan our long term hiring decisions based on which of our staff have kids at our school or close to college age. Once a kid joins, we know the likelihood of that staff member leaving on the next four years is extremely slim.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
The previous post reminded me re: sticker price. Look at each place’s endowments and grant/scholarship policies. D’s school has a sticker price around 70k but she receives enough school-funded grants that we pay about 1k less per year than we paid for our son’s state university (17 -18k. Still expensive, but no more than the state U)
This is super important.
Learn about your chosen schools average discount rate and average net tuition. At many schools less than 25% are charged sticker price.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”