A summation of Drexel Student Culture in one word: Snobs. My mother went with me on the Drexel exploration and she did warn me of her impression of the students. Apparently Drexel was some kind of an elite school in Philadelphia. when it came up in conversation at Micro Center (where I worked), people would retort, "You go to Drexel?" The response was as though I said Yale or Harvard. I didn't find anything extraordinary about Drexel other than it being an over-priced dump. In my mind the truly elite schools were University of Penn, Villanova, St. Josephs, and Swarthmore College.

Apparently the hype in the university name attracted those who were full of themselves. The student culture was explicitly competitive, non-collaborative, secretive, and covert. Ever heard of med students sabotaging other students work? This was the Drexel student culture: dog eat dog. If there was any way I can decrease your grade and increase mind, I'm going to use the opportunity. This culture also made it difficult to build alliances (study groups or partners) because everyone was suspicious. When someone did attempt to get close, one had to wonder was it really to nurture an alliance or was the purpose more sinister: to crush and eliminate the competition.

This mentality even extended into the region of the TA's an tutors studying at the graduate level. These students did want to help anyone because that meant they were assisting others at their own detriment. By assisting undergrads, if these undergrads were fortunate enough to survive the onslaught and miraculously graduate, in essence, they had assisted in putting one more competitor on the street for work in their field.

An analysis of the picture above: This is the main building of Drexel with a bust of the founder within. Obviously from the strings of lights this picture was taken at Christmas time. Not obvious to you but to me is the lack of traffic in the building. This would be typical traffic at night time attendance. What can only be seen up close within this space is the years of city pollution building up on the entire building even inside. Bottom line regardless of what the picture shows, this building is decaying and in desperate need of re-construction. What can't be seen is the decay of the administration office and the classrooms. I was accustomed to such surroundings when attending Farmingdale as the two schools are of a similar founding age. This type of environment would also be expected in what I would call "The trades": Industrial, Mechanical, Metallurgical, among others. The type of work being done in the labs creates these types of industrial environments. At Drexel, these environments did not exist in this building; therefore the reason for the deterioration was simply neglect and the sucking sound of a vacuum cleaner in a bank vault. Sucking on student's wallets and not investing back in the university facilities.

At this point you probably think I'm spinning a yarn and over exaggerating my view of Drexel student culture. You are entitled to your opinion and it is your money. All I can say is choose and choose wisely. Don't just evaluate the curriculum, the quality of the laboratories, the customer service of the administration, but also analyse the student culture.

I have said enough because just the mere mention of the name Drexel makes me want to spit on the ground.