Almost a century ago, engineering students at what was then the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry near Center City Philadelphia began alternating periods of classroom instruction with hands-on work experience. Today, more than 75 majors offer such co-operative education programs.
By the time they graduate, some 90 percent of Drexel University undergrads will have had at least one, full-time, six-month co-op job at one of 1,600-plus employers, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Merck, the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“They throw you right in when you get here,” says international business major Sandra Petri, class of 2016. Petri, from Mount Royal, New Jersey, has completed co-ops at Comcast and the nonprofit World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia. The average six-month salary is a little more than $16,000, though some positions are not paid. And roughly half of each graduating class is offered a job with a co-op employer, notes Peter Franks, vice provost for career education.
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The career development center helps facilitate the co-op process, but students must be proactive in securing their positions. Most complete their degrees in five years with up to three co-ops, though some choose a four-year, single-placement program. Classes are arranged in 10-week quarters, which students say tend to be fast-paced and require careful time management.
“Drexel has this kind of motif of initiative,” says senior Christopher Gray, a business administration and entrepreneurship major from Birmingham, Alabama, who has had a co-op at Fannie Mae and a self-guided one with other students that involved designing a mobile app for finding college scholarships.
The co-op program attracted Ethan Collik, a recent accounting and legal studies grad from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, “but there were so many other things keeping me here,” he says. Undergrads can choose from among 300 organizations, including the Campus Activities Board, The Triangle campus newspaper, and the Drexel football team, an improv comedy group.
The university doesn’t have an athletic football team, though the Dragons do compete in 18 Division I sports. About 10 percent of students join fraternities and sororities.
Drexel’s 126 acres in the University City neighborhood have an “urban college town” feel, notes recent mechanical engineering grad Graham Donaldson of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The campus can feel crowded, students say, though most welcome the chance to explore the nearby music, art, sports, culture and other attractions.
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Popular hangouts on campus include the Creese Student Center with lounges, a theater and Drexel’s underground main dining center; the recreation center; and Buckley field and green, home to frequent pickup sports games.
Classes average about 18 undergraduates, and the student-faculty ratio is 9-to-1. First-year students live in one of several mostly high-rise dorms clustered around the north end of campus, and they may apply to live in learning communities based on field of study. Some upperclassmen reside on campus, but most find places around Philadelphia.
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