Re: Drexel's Reputation.
We're constantly getting put down. Not just on SDN but in real life too. Doesn't matter if its Med school, Grad school, or Undergrad. Its the unfortunate side effect of being right by UPenn, Jefferson, and Temple. Specifically about the medical school the main criticisms were listed before, but I'll add these factors:
1. Jefferson students "drink the kool-aid" when it comes to their medical school (their own words not mine). Jefferson does a wonderful job of hyping up their students about the school from the moment you go to an open house til you graduate. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does make these students tend to look down their nose at Drexel students. (Personally seen this happen to my roommate by multiple Jefferson students).
2. Roommate is an MS1 right now and gave me the statistic of (by the time this class graduates) 1 in 8 physicians will have been a Drexel graduate. Not sure how true this statistic is, but if thats the commonly accepted pseudo-fact, makes it sound like just anyone can get a Drexel medical school degree, which isn't true, but doesn't help with their rep.
3. Drexel is very forgiving/accepting when it comes to their admissions process which is viewed by some as building a weaker student body. Super-friendly to non-trads who reinvent themselves, provide post-bacc's and SMP's with interview cut-off's (direct linkage for URM's) which is great for students who may just need a little bit of time to prove themselves, but also adds to the "you're not as strong an applicant as I was" mentality.
4. God forbid you meet a UPenn med student. Seriously some of them are downright nasty. Anyone can feel free to refute me, this is just my opinion having met a few, but n=1 and all that.
5. Temple and Jefferson have more visibility in the community when it comes to research, design programs, outreach, service etc. Drexel has the same programs in place and practically the same amount of impact, but I cannot figure out why they aren't as recognized. I'm lost on this one.
I will say that point 3 is becoming moot as lately the trend in any medical school is shifting so that "non-trad" students are becoming more the "traditional" students, but with the mentality the way it is right now, it unfortunately doesn't help Drexel's rep.