[ME, PhD] Drexel

[Jeff K.]

I've heard back from Drexel and have been offered a full ride for their MEM PhD program with an incredible advisor and a lot of grant money from the Navy and NSF. The research is a near perfect fit, but I am worried that coming from a top 3 liberal arts college with a high GPA, I may be shooting myself in the foot to commit to Drexel. My research would be very prestiguous, and my advisor would be well respected, and I am sure that I would love my work, but I am unsure as to whether or not I should try to get into a better school. As I see it, the fit is incredible except for the brand name given my talents. However, my advisor would be from a top tier school and I'd be working on a research team with people from Harvard/MIT.

My stats are as follows:

Top 3 Liberal Arts College

3.4 Engineering Major GPA

3.8 English Major GPA

3 TA jobs

2 Summer Research Jobs

4.0 from 2 courses at UPenn (taken during classes at Swarthmore)

I want to hear from anyone who can speak to the following at Drexel - these are the criteria that matter to me:

1. The quality of job placement post grad given my advisor and likelihood of top grades, research, etc. How would this compare if I went to Penn?

2. Possibility of jobs in academia post grad?

3. The value of the Drexel degree I'm talking about?

4. The quality of the coursework at Drexel.

5. The entrepreneurship community and presence of students looking to get into startups. I have several business plans and would like to meet very highly qualified and intelligent people willing to get into new business ventures.

6. The ability to have a personal life. I'd like to be able to work a 7-5 day if possible and have time to spend with girlfriend and friends at night.

Given that I want to be in the Philadelphia/NJ area, are there schools that you think would better fit my stats/criteria?

Thanks so much, and sorry for the length of post.

-Jeff