When I tell people I'm a student at Drexel University, they automatically assume I'm an engineering major. Not so! Contrary to popular belief, Drexel isn't just a health professions or engineering school. The Design and Merchandising program is nationally ranked (even though most people have no idea it exists.)
Here are some telltale signs that you might be one of the Drexel D&M tribe.
1. The typical response you get when you tell someone your major is a blank stare.
Say it with me now: Design. And. Merchandising. We study the business side of fashion. I swear it's not that hard to understand.
2. You constantly have to clarify that no, you don't actually design or make clothes -- you just do everything else.
If I get asked if I can sew something for someone one more time, I will scream. Do I look like a seamstress to you? I didn't think so.
3. You can recognize Jan’s voice from a mile away.
No one tells you this, but Presentation Techniques is really a 10-week character-building exercise. Additionally, you know the FedEx down the block? I'm 90 percent sure we're their main source of revenue.)
4. You’ve spent hours of your life on Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, VR, and SketchUp, and have four or five USB flash drives that can prove it.
The amount of space on my hard drive that's taken up by .psd, .ai, and .indd files is riidiculous. Don't even get me started on all the files my computer can't even open because the software is only available in the lab.
5. For the most part, the only tests you have during finals week are for your elective classes.
And sometimes you don't even have those! As long as you make it through Week 10 critiques, you're golden. Two weeks of spring break, anyone?
6. You have stress dreams about designing window displays.
No joke, I spent nearly 16 hours straight with a group in one of the labs working on props for a daycare window. Let's not talk about it, though -- I think I'm having flashbacks.
7. You don’t spend much on textbooks, but you constantly have to buy random supplies for projects.
Coconut oil? Check. Concrete? Check. Watering can? Check. Literally, anything else I will never use again? Double check.
8. You rarely go above the first floor of the URBN Center.
If it weren't for me taking the elevator to the second floor every now and again, I wouldn't be able to tell you many many floors the building had at all.
9. Classes of more than 25 people terrify you.
Not only do you get anxious because of the crowd, but also because you're no longer surrounded by every other D&M student in your year. Hello, abandonment issues.
10. You’ve bonded with your peers and made ironclad friendships while pulling all-nighters for CIMM or visual merchandising.
At three in the morning, everything becomes really funny or really profound. Either way, you end up much closer with your peers than your were before.
11. You recognize that your major is one-of-a-kind, and as much as it can suck sometimes, you’re glad you are where you are.
Design and Merchandising is #squadgoals. It's OK to be jealous of us.
