As a freshman, I struggled a lot trying to find a great place to study during the first weeks of the Fall Quarter. I tried to do work in my room, but my floor was always loud and I suffered of FOMO so I ended up going out to spent time with them and forgot about my schoolwork. After realizing that was gonna hurt my grades, I decided to never study in my room again.
I tried the library for a couple weeks and, even though I’m a total bookworm who loves libraries and I tried every single floor in Hagerty’s, I got tired of it. I needed to spice it up and be somewhere where I wouldn’t have surrounded by gray walls.
Decided to accomplish my mission to find the perfect study spot, I did my research and found a couple of places around campus. In the process, I found that I love to study in cafés surrounded by the smell of coffee beans and good playlists in the background, so you will find a couple of those here. Also, I added a couple in Center City within a distance of 30 minutes or less from campus, which are ideal for those days when you wanna get out of the bubble of University City but still have a lot of work to do.
Without further ado… Here’s a list of my 11 favorite study spots!
Ross Commons
Image courtesy of Drexel Wiki
It surprised me to know that the building where I usually go to brunch with my friends in Sabrina’s Café or fool around in the game area, could also be a great study spot! Turns out the 3rd floor of Ross Commons has a computer lab with PCs and iMacs as well as a conference room that you can use to do your work. PLUS: if you’re a night owl like me and are more productive at night, I got great news for you because it’s open every day until 11 p.m! (even on weekends)
Ross Commons is located at 227 N 34th St.
Gerri C. LeBow Hall
Image courtesy of Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship of Drexel University
In this building, you will find a great study lounge and sofas spread all around to do work or just chill with friends and, if you explore a little more, you could also find in other study lounges with whiteboards in the upper floors. The best part? You could use them without being a LeBow student, and enjoy it with the pleasure of a Starbucks drink since there is a coffee shop right inside the building. But, on the other hand, if you’re a LeBow student you can also book a Collaboration Room in the building and have a private room to study with friends.
Gerri C. LeBow Hall is located at 3220 Market St.
Korman Center
Image courtesy of Gluckman Tang
Just by the Korman Quadrangle (“Quad” for short) is the renovated Korman Center which just turned a year old this December. This place, besides having the extremely useful Math Resource Center, counts with two floors perfect for your study sessions. The first one has several couches and tables to study, while the second one features six open group study tables and three enclosed group study rooms with monitors and fritted-glass walls that can be used as whiteboards.
The Korman Center is located at 3315 Market St.
The Summit
Images courtesy of American Campus Communities
If you don’t wanna leave campus, this is also a great spot to get work done. The only downside is that you need to live in The Summit or have a friend who lives there to sign you in in order to use it. Nonetheless, this effort is worth it because the study room in The Summit is really spacious and beautifully designed. It counts with a couple tables and collaboration rooms that you can use and they don’t need to be reserved beforehand! However, if you don’t have anyone to sign you in, you can still go to The Summit’s Starbucks which has a lot of tables to work while having a delicious drink.
The Summit is located at 3400 Lancaster Ave.
Joe Coffee
Image courtesy of University City District
I was shocked the first time I went inside Joe’s because I always pass through it and thought it was a really small shop with that only had the coffee bar and the tables by the window, but it actually has additional tables to work. The two downsides of this place are that you have to be strategic with the time you’re going to go there because you could find all the tables busy and that the lighting sometimes is not great to do readings because it’s a bit dim, so I would suggest going there only if you’re gonna work with your laptop.
Joe Coffee is located at 3200 Chestnut St.
Saxbys
Image courtesy of Drexel Co-Op
This counts as a two for one because we have two Saxbys on campus: the one in Papadakis Integrated Science Building (a.k.a. PISB) and the one on 34th St. and Lancaster. Everyone who knows me knows that the one in Lancaster is my all-time favorite spot to study when I wanna stay in University City. That one has more tables, a lot of outlets to charge your laptop, and AMAZING playlists (especially their 80’s greatest pop hits playlist!). However, the one in PISB is great when you have a gap between classes around the buildings of the Quad and wanna kill time being productive and do schoolwork.
United By Blue
Image courtesy of United By Blue
This one has a unique concept of being half a coffee shop – half an outdoor apparel store, but somehow it works perfectly. United By Blue is located on UPenn’s campus but not so far from Drexel, so it is also a great option for those days when you don’t want to get outside University City.
United By Blue is located at 3421 Walnut St.
Shakespeare and Co.
Image courtesy by Philly Voice
Starting our Center City’s options we have this gorgeous bookstore which just opened in Philadelphia last October from the chain of New York City’s bookstores of the same name. As I told you before, I am a total bookworm and going to this place is my biggest guilty pleasure. They have a café inside the store and a number of tables to study, but my suggestion would be to go on the weekdays because it gets packed during the weekends.
Shakespeare and Co. is located at 1632 Walnut St.
Elixr Coffee Roasters
Image courtesy of Caffeine86Image courtesy of Fitt Philladelphia
This beautiful and bohemian coffee shop has three locations in Philly. The one closest to campus is their café in Center City a little past Rittenhouse Square. They count with different tables to work and multiple sofas to read, work in your laptop, or just chat with friends. PLUS, their coffee is AMAZING, and if you don’t believe me, maybe the fact that they just won second place at the US Barista Championship may be enough evidence. I would highly recommend their seasonal Kombucha Squash Latte.
Elixr Coffee Roasters is located at 207 S Sydenham St.
Capital One Café
Images courtesy of Philly Chitchat
This one is another with an unconventional concept. The name may sound familiar to you because of Capital One Bank… well, yes, you guessed it: this one is half a bank, half a coffee shop. But not any kind of coffee shop, it’s very unlikely that you find someone meeting here just to chat. I can confidently say that almost 90% of the people that come to this café, come to work. It has two floors with tables and sofas, and it even counts with collaboration rooms for your study group.
Capital One Café is located at 135 S 17th St Suite A.
Square One Coffee Roasters
Images courtesy of Caffeine86
Last, but not least, there’s Square One Coffee Roasters –or SQ1. They have two locations in Center City. One is located at 1811 JFK Blvd, but is their smallest one and does not open on weekend, that’s why my favorite is the one located in 249 S. 13th St. The latter is not only bigger, but also adorably decorated. It 100% worths the 30-minute walk from campus because you’ll find a couple murals in your way that are highly Instagram worthy as well as the café itself –and I don’t know about you, but cute study-pictures always motivate me to work even more. They also have great coffee and tea, as well as delicious toasts. The sweet potato hummus and the curried lentil on top of sourdough bread are some of our favorites in Her Campus Drexel.
Now that I have shared some of my precious jewels with you, I hope you go get work done at one of this places and ace all your classes this Winter Quarter! Happy studying!