Gillian Mccomeskey
gimccomeskey@ursinus.edu
Studying here on campus is a great way to improve your academic skills, but being able to go off-campus and into the city of Philadelphia provides rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a new perspective not only academics but on the world around them. Ursinus offers this experience by matching Ursinus classes taught in Philadelphia with internships, independent study, and diverse courses at Drexel University.
Each “Philly-X” experience will be unique to each student, providing a complement to their Collegeville-based education. Students will be able to get to know new cultures by eating new foods, seeing new things, learning from different perspectives, and meeting new students who come from different backgrounds.
During this program students stay “at the Axis Apartments at 36th and Chestnut – that’s in University City, right between Drexel and UPenn,” says Kelly Sorensen. “The meal plan is basically eating out for every meal! Shake Shack, California Pizza, Starbucks, and Wawa are on the list, but the student’s last fall also really enjoyed restaurants like New Delhi Indian and Sang Kee Noodle House,” Sorensen added.
He continued with, “The meal plan card also works at two grocery stores, so you can stash some fresh food in the mini-fridge that is in every room.”
The program takes place every fall semester and the application process can be found online and takes only 15-20 minutes. The deadline for the application is February 28th.
Though there are no specific requirements that students need to meet to participate, maintaining a decent GPA will be a factor that will be considered. Also, students will receive an all-you-can-ride SEPTA pass, which will provide you access to get around the city. This will also cover the train and the 93 bus back to Ursinus’ campus.
Students’ financial aid “travels,” so the program will cost the same as a semester in Collegeville.
Sorensen discussed how this experience can be so beneficial to students. “Some students benefit most from an internship in Philadelphia – an internship that would be hard to drive to from Collegeville multiple days a week. And Philadelphia has tons of interesting internships,” he said.
Some students benefit from taking a course at Drexel or USciences in an area like animation, pharmacology, international business, computer game development, child psychopathology, or international trade.
Some students benefit from taking Ursinus-in-Philly courses taught by Ursinus teachers like Professor Lori Daggar, who uses the entire city Philadelphia as a classroom, or Prof. Matt Kozusko, who has a three-day road trip planned for students in his course.
“Ursinus-in-Philly courses satisfy several core curriculum requirements” Sorensen said. All questions regarding the PhillyX should be emailed to ksorensen@ursinus.edu