Drexel University Top Questions

Like most colleges, greek life is definitely predominant. So many people rush and/or are in a sorority/fraternity, even I plan on rushing and I might be the last person I thought that would be apart of the greek life scene. Other than that, the gym seems to be everyone's favorite activity, even if they don't like it. I feel like I'm constantly seeing people going to and from the gym, or at least talking about it. No one wanted the Freshman 15.

There are far too many student organizations for me to point out the most popular one. At Drexel it really isn't a hierarchy of activities (like jocks on top, then band nerds, etc). It's more a question of your interests. For example, I am a news-writer and advice columnist for the newspaper (The Triangle), a member of the Forensic Science Club, co-founder of the Forensics and Debate Team (to be official next year), and co-founder of the French Club (to be official next year, as well). Like I said before, whatever you are interested in, it's here, and if it's not, you can make it happen because there's bound to be someone else who is. The only thing Drexel lacks that can be a major setback for some people is a football team. Instead our "football team" is an awesome (highly selective) comical improv group.

Graduate Program is unified

Business student organizations, Parties, Fraternity/ Sorority, Philadelphia living, Food, Social events, Student organization and clubs events

I am currently involved with Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority, Steinbright Career Development Center Student Advisory Board, and the Drexel ALS Awareness Association. I would say on campus, a good amount of students are involved with either greek life or sports teams. I do have friends outside of greek life, but majority of my friends are in a sorority or fraternity. I think it makes your college experience a lot better. Not just for socializing, but for academics, athletics, networking, and community service as well. Out of all the groups I am in, I am most active in my sorority. I am community service chair for it, so I set up all of those events. For athletic events, I would say basketball is the most attended sport. Also, it depends how well the team is doing. I have attended a few guest speakers, but they aren't attended that frequently by the student body. I do not know much about the theatre scene, but I did attend one show for an english class last year. On a Tuesday at 2am, I would probably be doing school work, watching a movie, or sleeping. People generally do not party on weekdays here, except Thursdays, but some people go to the local bars on the weekday nights. Last weekend I attended a Fraternity party on Saturday, and went to see a movie on Friday, The movie theatre is about a 15 minute walk, so it is pretty close. Off campus I can attend events our Philadelphia, or go to nearby museums. Also, I go shopping nearby.

CAB (Campus Activities Board) is probably the most well known because they put on Spring Jam and other events on campus. I am a part of Late Night Series which is a student run open mic that meets every Thursday night and that is where I met all of my good friends here. Frats and Sororities are not play a huge role on our campus and at least for me I kind of forget that they are there but for others they always are there for parties. There is also a lot of stuff to do off campus like go to concerts, theatre, bowling and bars for those over 21.

Drexel does have a very involved and active Greek Life. I am not a part of it but just about all of my friends are, so if that is something you are interested in doing when you head to college you will have that opportunity here. There is CAB (Campus Activities Board) which helps to coordinate concerts/events for Drexel. We have a great office of diversity and multicultural studies. There are also a lot of other student organizations, to be honest I never really had the time to join any because I was too busy with working and school, but I know there are a ton! Also, if there is something that you want to see at Drexel that they don't have you can always try to get it brought on campus. I do a lot of work with Invisible Children, and I have held a ton of events and fundraisers on campus, without there even being a designated club. I lived in Towers my freshman year and met a lot of my friends that way. Everyone pretty much left their door open, and we became good friends with the guys on the floor below us. However, most people move "off campus" (into apartments and away from Drexel's WAY too expensive housing) after freshman year, so you will make most of your friends after that from clubs or classes. Because we are right in West Philadelphia and SO close to the city, there are endless opportunities for things to do. I would say Wed-Sat there is always a bar or party to go to, if that is your thing. If you aren't into that scene, there are tons of restaurants and concert venues throughout the city. Most students work so hard during the week on their studies, so the weekend is the time to relax. Every year the weekend before and of St. Patrick's Day there is Erin Express. It is a bar crawl for the holiday that starts at about 8 or 9am (yes, in the morning), and you are supposed to move throughout the bars in University City and then head to Old City. Most people don't make it out of UCity, but it is always a really fun time to cover yourself in green from head to toe and have a good drunken time with friends.

The recently finished Drexel Recreation Center offers students the opportunity to engage in weight-lifting, running, rock-climbing, swimming, basketball, squash, racquetball, aerobics classes, cycling, and probably a lot more activities. So, physical activities are certainly popular at Drexel currently. Drexel University has some pretty successful athletic teams, including Men’s and Women’s basketball, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and wrestling. Additionally, there are many club teams to watch or participate in. Finally, intramural sports are very popular at Drexel and they do an overall fantastic job at organizing the leagues. Walking on campus, you will always find people who are involved in various student organizations offering free food or prizes to students as they pass by. It may be possible to live off of the amount of free food offered to students during the various activities!

I swim for Drexel's varsity team, so athletics are where my friend-base is, although there are a million things to do off-campus. CAB (Campus Activities Board) puts on tons of events throughout the year, discounted flyers games, eagles games, phillies games, orchestra tickets, etc. which is a huge plus.

Commuting is the single most dangerous thing for your social life at Drexel. There are all sorts of people here and you will probably hate a lot of them, but if you look you can probably find some you like. The problem is that commuting gives you a lot less opportunity to find those people. Our CS program is basically all male. Out of ~100 people, my year had 4 girls, 2 of which left. That seems like par for the course, though. Luckily there are girls who aren't afraid of nerds. If I'm up at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm laying on the floor of my room cramming for a Physics test that the professors did not prepare us for at all, wondering if I'll pass it (even though I'm an A student otherwise). I'll have a math test Wednesday, but I'll know what I have to study and won't worry. I'll have to get up at 5:30 to make it there on time, but SEPTA will make me late anyway. (On the way home the train will break down entirely). Earlier that night I will have been working at Techserv, a student org that puts Linux on donated computers and sends them to non-profits. The group has a lot of nice, but socially repressed nerds, but also some people with social lives.

The social life here is incredibly underrated. Sure, you may be stuck studying more often than you'd like to be (but, you know, this is college), but you can always find fun if you're looking for it. The frats have parties all the time (that being said, that's really just not my scene) and there's plenty of parties in the neighborhoods north and west of campus if you're willing to brave the treachorous streets... I'm kidding, kind of. There's plenty of stuff to do at UPenn and downtown as well; never forget that Drexel is quite literally in downtown Philadelphia and that great music venues, bars, clubs, and restaurants are just a short walk/bike ride/subway away.

Being inside Philadelphia is the only this Drexel really has going for it socially. There are a couple things to do on campus, but not a lot. Inside the city, though, there's a ton of stuff to do.

See above.

Living in the city wise Drexel is fantastic. All the reviews about "ugliest campus" simply arent true, because Philadelphia is a beautiful city. If you have a date with a nice girl--its absolutely no stress to just hop on the trolley (theres a trolley station on campus) and go into center city and find a nice little restaurant. Want to see a game, or a show? Trolley or subway. I have barely driven the entire time I've been at school---which is saving me a bundle on gas and insurance. Another great aspect of Drexel is it's orientation program. While I'm aware that most schools do this, our orientation hooked me up with some people who are best friends to this day. And I got a great chance to see what it felt like to be at college, and eat by far the best food I've ever experienced in the cafeteria. When I got to school I instantly had a great time. To make people feel involved the school has alot of free or price reduced the first week---like a Phillies game or a concert. Also the way they set up the classes first term you end up having most (if not all) your classes with the same group of people in your major. This greatly helps the friend making process and helps you feel at home much easier. However because of this I would personally advise against the learning communities--because then you live your whole life with the same 30 people. The classes are more or less interesting, and there are plenty of choices once you get beyond freshmen year. I somehow managed to get into Honors English first term, however, and I can honestly say it was the best English class I ever took. Instead of endlessly analyzing poetry we read great works and talked about philosophical meanings of stuff. I mean how many times do you get to read Lysistrata and talk about sex in class? Really made me love English as a subject. If you like to party Drexel also has that covered, even though your parents probably wont want to read that. Because of the way the CoOp system is set up almost half the student body is out of class and working at any given time. This means half the student body has alot of money to spend on partying and having fun. The schools security force (Public Safety) does a pretty good job escorting obnoxious college kids back to the dorms whether they are asked or not. If you tell them you dont need any help---they tail you and your group of friends by about 30 feet until they are sure that you are back on campus. The dorms, though, have almost no partying. While this means you have to walk to go to a party, it also means that you wont be interupted if you decide to spend your weekends working on things in your room, reading, or doing anything else that you dont want people partying outside your room for. Another (and possibly my favorite) aspect of Drexel is it's Greek Life. Never, in a thousand years, would I have predicted that I would join a fraternity when I went to college. But then I met the brothers of AXP-who were more well rounded as a group then probably all the friends I had previously had put together. I got a chance to really start being involved on campus and I must say i don't regret it at all. Instead of spending a good deal of my Saturday waiting for it to be party time and sitting in the caf for 3 hours--I do community service, goto our sports games, and barbecue. i've gotten more exposure to more good people through AXP than I ever had by meeting people in classes or at parties. I've gotten to be good friends with people have have been students here and know the inside tricks of Drexel. When my grades slipped to below a 3.0 for one term, one of the older guys told me that I got to make sure to not let fraternity stuff, or anything else, get in the way of my grades. I have a group of friends now that I know would honestly drive me to the hospital if need be, who would pick me up at the airport if I got stranded, or loan me their car if i needed to go home for any emergency. I've gotten an outlet where I can truly become a leader because of merit far before that type of thing is possible in any normal club or a job. By going Crow, I really truly did evolve to be more than a man.

Social Life is very nice. Bar hoping, fraternity hoping, house parties, sports, clubs, everything but a football team.

the campus life is not so great unless you know where to go. most freshman parties are in row homes stuck in the basements. my fraternity however throws the best parties and there are many places to go elsewhere. many bars around university city where one can have a good time. also, olde city is just a cab ride away along with many other possibilities to fullfill you free time

Social life and weekend activities need a little work!

Drexel has such a large number of activities going on that it's impossible to keep track of them all. Between the DAC Pack basketball fans and the Weekend Warriors there's hardly any way to keep track of everything that's going on. You'll definatly never be bored if you really want to get involved.

I am in greek life so I would have to say that is the most popular thing going on campus. I LOVE being in a sorority and feel that there is one for everyone, but people still have negative impressions of them. Unfortunately, Drexel is way too controlling about Greek life and kind of puts a damper on social events. (LAME) A lot of non-greek girls actuallt go to frat parties, which I think is cool. Last weekend I went to a few bar/clubs that are easy to get into if you know people who work there. There were also a few house parties/frat parties. Off campus there are a lot of great places to shop and go out to eat. Which means I have a job a few blocks a way waitressing to pay for these things.

Basketball, Lacrosse, Crew, Fraternities. I'm in Pi Kappa Phi and we are a Fraternity that stresses the importance of leadership. Girls at drexel are like parking spots, they are either taken, or handicapped. If you are awake on tuesday at 2am you are drunk off your ass and probably going to Abners. People tend to party on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and fraternities are normally the only poeple that can hold large parties. On a saturday night without drinking you can catch up on sleep, or go to old city and watch people get drink. You could also chill with some pretty cool bums.