Lindsay
You have to make an effort to get professors to know your name.
My favorite class was through the graduate school of government - Fels. It was called "Women Leaders and Emerging Democracies" and was taught by former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies (her son is dating Chelsea Clinton). The class was very hands-on and we heard a lot of wonderful guest speakers.
Students study a reasonable amount.
In class participation is an important part of classes
Some Penn students have intellectual conversations out of class. Others just gossip. And others just talk about summer internships and investment banks (cough cough, Wharton)
Students are very competitive. Especially pre-meds and Wharton kids.
Most unique class - Community Based Environmental Health. We learned about health risks and the developed a plan to fix an environmental health problem in West Philly.
My major is Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). It's an interdisciplinary major based off of the Oxford major by the same name. And Harvard has the same program but they call it Social Studies. It was Bill Clinton's major. I LOVE PPE. It teaches you liberal arts combined with practical real-life skills
You have to make an effort to see professors outside class.
The academic requirements are good, except there are too many science requirements (especially for non-science majors).
Wharton is geared toward getting a job. The other schools are geared towards learning.
Cameron
Academics is highly volatile. It depends on the department, the course, the professor, the students in the class, and you.
The good part is that there is the option of doing a dual degree, which involves two bachelors (not just two majors), and I know in some universities this is not possible or very hard to do (like Stanford). There are many schools and a wide variety of majors, as well as the option of doing an individualized major, and changing majors is quite easy.
In the College, or SAS, there are a lot of general requirements, which is good if you are only getting one major because you can explore and expand; but they get very annoying when you are trying to complete the requirements for a minor, and another major in another school. The administration is terrible too. The psychology major is a joke, but I guess that's true everywhere. In general, being in SAS is not that strenuous in terms of work, even if you take 150{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} workload (6 credits).
The College has been for me a terrible experience, and moreso because I can contrast it directly with Engineering. The administrators in the College don't motivate you, quite the opposite: they get pissed if you try to do more than you should. The first time I took 6 credits (the limit is 5) my advisor was very angry and condescening. In Engineering, it is more common to take more credits. In Engineering, for any type of request, you just fill out a petition and turn it in. In the college, it is a whole process to fill out any sort of petition; you have to go talk to an advisor first, who will supposedly 'advise' you, when you just actually waste 1 hour.
Engineering, or SEAS, has more specific requirements because it is obviously a more specialized major. This is good since you end up actually learning something useful. You also have to take a lot of social sciences and humanities, giving you freedom to explore other areas, and not just science.
The environment in Engineering is a LOT more welcoming than in the College. SEAS organizes semesterly events, the advisors in general are better, you get to know people better, and there is a sense of community.
Students are very competitive. Grading is usually on a curve, meaning the average is a B/B+, so you only have to do better than everyone else to get an A, which can be easy or hard (depends on the course). I've taken very hard courses and done well, very easy courses and done poorly.
I feel that in general professors don't care about you. They don't know your name, and don't care to know. There are some rare ones that know who you are, nod their head when they pass you in the hall, but beyond that do not really venture further.
Nellie
Only in my smaller seminar classes do my professors know my name and my interests. These have actually been some of my favorite classes (English classes), because I can discuss my academic interests on a more personal basis with my professors, which all in all makes me more excited to learn. My worst classes have been math and science classes where we have problem-set type homeworks every week for recitation. Students study a lot! People are very competitive academically, but that doesn't mean they don't have intellectual passions outside of class that don't count for a grade. Once you get to upper level seminar classes in your major people get very excited to learn for the sake of learning. The english major, for example, definitely has a lot of passionate majors. I think it's partly the professors that foster this enthusiasm. I used to be a psych major, but switched because the psych professors were only there for their research. I felt like the English dept professors really cared about their students, and wanted to help them in any way they can. I have had many conversation with English profs about things outside their class, over coffee or walking through campus. As in english major I'm definitely learning for its own sake rather than for a job, but I know a lot of Wharten students and even econ and polisci students who are gearing up for a job.
Jody
Least favorite class - MTH 114, multivariate calc. The professor was a visiting professor from Philadelphia Community College who was fired the next semester for doing such a terrible job.
Favorite class - Hard to say. I've had lots that were good. FNCE 101, Monetary Economics and the Global Economy, might be the most impressive one. Extraordinarily well taught by Nicholas Souleles, stimulating, and practical.
How often do students study? - One semester I took 6 courses. This meant I had many days when I woke up, started working, took breaks for food/shower/etc., and kept working until I fell asleep. Not all semesters are that intense and not all students take 6 classes. I'm taking 4.5 now and it's much easier, but I still study 6 days a week.
Are students competitive? - Yes, overall. Some people are tools and take competition to an extreme and are always trying to ask smart-sounding questions in class. Most students do not enjoy this toolishness.
What's the most unique class I've taken? - MGMT 209, Political Environment of the Multinational Firm, is a valuable class at the intersection of business and politics.
About my major/department - http://www.upenn.edu/huntsman/curriculum/index.html Our program's website is a mess, but here's the info. Huntsman is a joint-degree program run by the College and Wharton. You get something of a liberal arts education but you also get the job-market power of Wharton, which is a nice combination.
Do I spend time with professors outside class? - Yes. Note that Penn has more than one institutional framework that facilitates students joining faculty for free lunches.
How do I feel about Penn's academic requirements? - They're generally not bad.
Is the education at Penn geared toward getting a job, or toward learning for its own sake? - It depends on the student, but Penn does have a stronger vocational tilt than the other Ivies.