Drexel University LeBow College of Business Exchange Report (Spring Quarter) Jazper, Yuen Ting Hin Finance & Information System
Table of Content 1. Activity Log 2. General Exchange Information 3. Checklist
Activity Log Late March I arrived Philadelphia on 28th March from Toronto, as I went to visit my friend in Toronto for a week before. It was very cold in Philadelphia during March and April. As the semester started on 1st April and the earliest check-in of dormitory was on 31st April, I had to book a hotel near the university campus for 3 nights before I moved in. I tried to explore University City for the three days and I would suggest to early explore and navigate your dormitory. I found some nearby restaurants, food trucks and supermarkets near the campus, so that I would know where to get food later.
April The semester started on 1st April and all the exchange students for this Quarter would have a meeting on the first school day. I was given a briefing of the requirements and information about the campus and made some new friends at the meeting. During the semester, I usually went out for evenings with the exchange friends. In April, I went for a few NBA games at the Wells Fargo Stadium. It was a very great experience watching an NBA game, because the fans and the atmosphere were all so fantastic. I would recommend it even you don t do basketball, just enjoy the atmosphere and shows there. May In May, I visited Washington with my exchange friends during a weekend. We took a bus for 3 hours from University City to Washington city. As we did not want to expand too much on accommodation, we stayed in a motel for the nights. I also watch an NBA playoff game of the Washington Wizards, because I am a big fan of basketball. Other than the game, we mostly walked around and visited the museums in Washington. We also went to the Georgetown and it
was a very nice community there. We walked to the Georgetown University campus and it was very different from UST. They got a very big campus and buildings were surrounded by trees. Except from the trip, I also joined the activities organized by the school cap, such as a day tour to New York and a tour to Wildwoods beach in New Jersey.
June I did most of my activities in May, because the workload was not heavy after midterms and I could have more free time. However, we started to prepare for final exams in June, so we did not spend too much time on other activities, except a regular meeting on weekends for gatherings or going to pubs. Please be reminded that you have to be 21 or above to enter a pub or order any alcoholic drinks from shops or restaurant in Philadelphia. We watched a baseball match of the Philadelphia Flyers and went to the shopping outlet too. As I had an exam back in Hong Kong in late June, I moved out from the dormitory and came back to Hong Kong on the last day of the quarter on 18th June.
General Exchange Information Visa Procedure After Drexel confirming your exchange application, you should receive a confirmation email from Drexel University first telling you what to do next and a package mailed from Drexel including a DS-2019 form for you to apply for the J-1 Visa to get into the United States. Use the information on the DS-2019 and the confirmation email to make the appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong. Please make sure you apply for the visa as soon as possible. You have to pay for the J-1 Visa fee and the SEVIS fee before visiting the Consulate. Orientation Activities The orientation activities are mandatory. If you get there in fall quarter, you can also join the orientation activities which are for the freshmen and get to know about different schoolmates. There would also an introduction talk for all exchange students about some basic information of Philadelphia and Drexel. Make the time count to meet other exchange students. Immunization and Health Insurance In the acceptance package, you would have the immunization form which is needed to filled it out before your departure to US. You would need the signature from your doctor for verification purposes. You are suggested to consult your family doctor with some time beforehand so that you would have the buffer to take care of any incident. Please be noted that you are asked to take the Tuberculosis Test AFTER your arrival to the US, Drexel provides some of the immunizations in the orientation week. All students are required to purchase the health insurance provided by Drexel. The validation of the insurance takes time to process and hence it may affect your appointment with Drexel Health Centre for the test. Hence, you may need to pay in advance for the appointment and wait for the reimbursement from the insurance. Accommodation I live on campus in the Caneris Hall. You would receive email from the Drexel Housing Office about the application of the on-campus housing. Before you can access to the application web, you are required to pay for a deposit. The Drexel Housing is not guaranteeing exchange students any on-campus housing at all and hence, it is highly recommended to complete the online application
as soon as possible if you are interested in living on-campus. I lived in an apartment of 2 rooms for four people. We shared the living room, kitchen and the bathrooms. You will be provided a bed, a set of beds and chairs and one wardrobe. Course Registration You would receive a list of contact before your arrival to US, including one being your academic advisor. He or she would be responsible for your course registration in Drexel. You would need to look for the courses available yourself and tell your academic advisor which subjects you want to take. Please be reminded that you would have a major in Drexel which may not be the same one with you in HKUST, you would be bound by the major in Drexel. At least half of the credit you take should be from the major in Drexel. And for adding or dropping the courses, you would need the help from your academic advisors as well. For me, I have registered 4 courses during the spring quarter. FIN302 Intermediate Corporate Finance FIN325 Financial Institutions and Markets MIS342 System Analysis and Design MIS343 Database Design and Implementation Sports and Recreational facilities The Recreation Centre at Drexel is one of the best Gym in Philly. The facilities are free to students. The Centre offers different courses for students with different needs like Yoga or spinning class. All you need to do is to get there at designated time with appropriate clots. The swimming pool and climbing wall is also in the same building in the recreation centre. Food As Drexel is located in the University City, a variety of restaurants are operating in the district. Meal plans are also available in the dinner halls in Drexel. Another options for dining is to buy food from food trucks. A lot of food trucks operate at a street next to the main building, they provide different kind of food ranging from local American food to Asian food. If you want to cook, you can easily find the food from the two closest grocery stores, Trader Joe s and Fresh Grocer. They are 30 minutes walk from the main campus. Transportation
As Drexel has a medical campus in centre city, it provides free shuttle between the university city and the campus in centre city. You can fully take advantage of that to travel between main campus and the centre city. To get to the other places in Philly, you can take SEPTA subway. You can get a green card at the machine for your first purchase and it was like an octopus card in Hong Kong. To travel other cities, it is convenient that Megabus, Bolt are having their stops next to the campus and you can even take the train to Boston or New York as you wish. International Services and Activities About international services and activities, I did not participate in such kind of activities, as I could not allocate so much time to join that much things. However, during the semester, I saw a lot of clubs and social service organizations around the campus and they organized many activities, such as charity donations. If you are interested in such kind of activities, you can probably look up the links given at the orientation meeting for exchange students on the first day of school. They provide a lot of activities for students, including some social or international services. Teaching and Assessment Methods Drexel is a school which focuses more on experiential learning than on books. For the finance courses that I took, they included a lot of discussions about the current economy and specific business cases. We had a lot of interactions with the professors through the discussions, which helped me to better understand the theories behind and put them into practice. Also, for the MIS course that I took, we always had in-class activities like games and small projects. We also participated in a real-life project for an actual customer on building a website. For assessments, you will be assessed on homework, attendance, participation and examinations. Finance and Banking For finance and banking, I did not create any bank or debit account. Instead, I relied on the cash and credit card I brought there. If you are interested in opening a debit account, I suggest you contact the advisor assigned to you by Drexel and learn more about it. Better financial planning and budgeting are more important, that you should always review and mark your spending.
Social Clubs and Networking Opportunities I did not join any clubs in Drexel, but as I mentioned before I did participate in a few activities organized by the school cab. They organized different kinds of activities, such as silent disco, band shows and city tours. I joined two daytours, one to New York Radio City Hall and the other one to the Wildwoods beach in New Jersey. All undergraduate students are allowed to join the school cab activities, so you can probably make some local friends there. Also, Drexel will assign a student ambassador (dragon buddy) to every two to three exchange students. You can learn more about the school and the city through your dragon buddy there. Health and Safety For health aspect, you have to purchase a compulsory health insurance offered by Drexel for the quarter you are studying. After you get your insurance, you can enjoy the medical care offered by the school. They have clinics around the campus for students. However, I am not so sure about the price (it may be free), as I did not need any medical help or care throughout the semester. If you have any enquiries about medical care, the best way is to ask the Drexel advisor assigned to you. For safety, the school will send emails, usually titled as Drexel Alert, for all the robberies and crimes to your Drexel email address. Therefore, you should always check your email in order to stay away from the dangerous areas. However, it was very safe within the school campus, even at midnight, but I would suggest not to walk around alone when it gets dark. Climate I arrived in Philadelphia in late-march and the weather was still cold and windy there at that time. If you are going for the spring quarter, you should also bring some winter clothes to Drexel. The weather turned warmer in late-april. Though according to the weather report, the temperature was quite high in late-april to June, it was not as hot and humid as in Hong Kong. Even near summer time, it feels cool there instead of hot. Communication For most enquiries about school stuff, I communicated with my advisor through emails or meetings at her office. Also, I did communicate with my dragon buddy for some simple enquiries about the school campus and the city too. Talking about mobile network, 3G data is actually useless in Philadelphia. You will need a 4G sim card for a smooth internet connection. I bought a sim
card for 3 months in Hong Kong and it provided me a limited 4G connection and a local mobile number. It was around $500 HKD. If you are staying within the school campus, they have a school wifi everywhere, so don t worry about connection in the campus. Cautionary Measures I don t have many suggestions for cautionary measures. Just always check emails for Drexel Alert and not to walk alone in the street at midnight. Whenever you encounter any problems, the best solution would be contacting your advisor and dragon buddy for enquiries and help. Also, if you are so unlucky that you get into troubles or danger in the campus, make a call to the Drexel police for help. If you are not in the school campus, it would be wise to dial 911 for any dangerous situations.
Checklist 1. Money 2. Adaptor 3. Pillow case 4. Computer 5. Passport 6. DS-2019 and other visa documents 7. Immunization form 8. Hair Dryer 9. Clothes (also some winter clothes)