University of Pennsylvania Top Questions

Anybody who grew up in suburbia, as I did myself, has quite a bubble to pop. West Philadelphia is like nowhere else. One amazing thing about living here is being right on the edge of a community that you might never otherwise see. West Philly, despite the bad rap it gets for crime, has great old colonial rowhouses, some farmer's markets, a park close to campus, and really excellent restaurants. Some personal favorites are Dock Street Brewery (in a converted firehouse) and Dahlak (Ethiopian). And you can't know West Philly without going into their schools. I've tutored kids from kindergarten to 11th grade in local schools, and I know there are a lot of programs for dance, mentoring, sports, computer skills, chess, debate, etc. that also accept Penn volunteers. If you come to Penn, GET INVOLVED with the community--you won't regret it.

we don't really call it "UPenn". Most people just say "Penn" the best thing about Penn is the location of the campus. When you walk down Locust Walk, you feel like you're part of a true college environment. The location is wonderful - you have access to a large city, yet the convenience of one unified campus; you have the opportunity to take classes in historic buildings, yet you can also take hands-on classes in the West Philadelphia community. I would change the weather. I hate slush. Also known as "wintry mix" (that awful wet snow that makes the streets brown and gross) I would also add more green space. Fortunately, though, we have close access to the Skuykill River park and Penn is adding a big park in the years to come. My school is just the right size. Large enough that I'm still meeting new people every day, but small enough that I run into people I know every time I enter a class or step outside. I spend most of my time in the Van Pelt library or in my apartment (Harrison high rise). Not a college town, but a college neighborhood within a big city. People's reaction to "I go to Penn"?: people everywhere - "Oh, Penn State?" people everywhere -"Where's that?" people from the south - "Why'd you go to school all the way in Pennsylvania?" (I'm from Georgia) people from philly- "Woahh...UPenn! (said in a way indicating that I'm probably stuck-up and elitist) I'm kind of scared of the administration. I want to know what they do with our ridiculous endowment. And I think they waste too much money on catering and tents for parties. The biggest controversy was last Halloween when Amy Gutmann hosted a halloween costume party and a kid came dressed as a terrorist and Amy Gutmann posed in a picture with him. But that got blown out of proportion. There is a decent amount of school pride. Or at least a strong desire to brand our school's name so that people know we aren't a public school, but rather an Ivy League institution. But we're pretty apathetic about athletics. I will always remember New Student Orientation (NSO) and Spring Fling. Most common complaints are about the dining hall food. But I think that most of the moaning is from whiny brats who think a normal meal is take-out from Stephen Starr restaurants.

The best thing is its campus: It is the perfect blend between living in a city, without having it be too overwhelming such as NY, and without being stuck in a small town. There is also an actual campus, but it is not a closed campus (like Columbia) or a completely open one (like NYU), which creates a sense of belonging and community at times. All of your classes are within 2 to 10 blocks, and there are a lot of shops around. Not to mention that all the buildings are historical and beautiful. However, it is easy to get stuck in a rut and never go "off campus" and into the city, staying within the confines of some 10 blocks or so. The good part is that the city is only 20 blocks away, east and west, and there is public transportation within the city as well as to the suburbs. Philadelphia is not the most welcoming city, but once you get out and explore you will find neat hidden places that are not commonly frequented by college kids. The second best part goes hand in hand with the campus: you have the option of living "off campus" without actually being off campus. You can live within one or two blocks of the usual dorms and buildings, pay the same or even less than a dorm, and have your own apartment with your own furniture, and make it feel like a home. Obviously university city prices are inflated, but in general apartments in the city are expensive. The worst part about Penn is the administration. It depends a lot in which school you're in (SAS, SEAS, Wharton, etc) but in my experience I have had the worst and the best advisors. The admin staff in general does not care about you, and makes every effort to make you feel as uncomfortable and pissed off as you can. Not to mention that there is not one semester where I file a petition for something, and only one has been accepted. The facilities in general are very good. I use to think the dorms were awful, but then I saw other universities' dorms. We have an awesome gym a few blocks away from anywhere, a huge library, another library, lots of study areas, and *most* of the classrooms (ie Wharton) are well fitted with technology, although the interiors are sometimes very unwelcoming. I feel the UA, or undergraduate assembly, definitely works and listens to the students, implementing a lot of their suggestions within a year or two. There are a lot of groups on campus, although the joke is that there are more accapella groups than any of the others combined.

I love love love Penn! I love seeing friends on Locust Walk. I love the English Department classes and Professors. I like that everyone here has different passions that they follow. Even though Penn is technically large, it definitely doesn't feel it - I run into people I know all the time! The things I would change would be the housing options - I don't like that people move off-campus as sophomores. I love that we have the city so close to campus - I have an internship downtown, and walk downtown when I need a change of pace. The only thing I would complain about the student body is that everyone works very very hard, which creates a lot of pressure. You can guarantee that come finals time you'll see everyone you know in the library. People are also intense in their extracurricular responsibilities. Basically, everyone has a type A personality.

Best thing about Penn - the people. A very interesting and diverse crowd. There's a niche here for everybody. One thing I'd change - David Rittenhouse Labs. It's a miserable building. School size - I like it. It's big enough that there are lots of different types of people but not so big as to be monstrous. How do people react when I tell them I go to Penn? - Yes, many people do think I go to Penn State... Where do I spend most of my time on campus? - At home or in academic buildings. College town - it'd be more correct to say that Penn is a Philadelphia university than to say that Philadelphia is a college town. Opinion of the administration - some things they do well (capital campaigning, security) and some things they don't (speeches, managing conferences). What was the biggest recent controversy on campus? - There was a humor magazine that printed an issue perceived in some quarters as racist. School pride - Not a particularly large amount. There's some. Unusual about Penn - We're pretty vocational for an Ivy League school. Corporate recruiting in Wharton is a very intense experience. The school's most famous strengths overall are in somewhat vocational areas: journalism/communications, business, medicine (including veterinary medicine) and nursing, &c. Also remarkable is the number of donated items named after classes, e.g. the Class of 1920 Commons dining hall. The impression I get is that our alumni haven't historically been rich as individuals necessarily, but that as a community they gave back a lot to the school. One experience I'll always remember - Freshman retreat at Newman. We went on a service trip to an AIDS home in Philly, where I saw one poor invalid whose room was festooned with photographs from his former life. He'd been a highly-trained chef and the photographs showed him in bright white standing in gleaming kitchens at the head of teams of cooks. He'd been on a trip to Africa when a botched blood transfusion infected him. If something like that could happen to him - and he'd been the kind of guy who did his homework, who generally got on in life - it could happen to...anyone. Including me. Most frequent student complaints - Locust Walk is flat. Ergo it does not drain. Also, the high rise dorms are arranged so as to create a vicious wind tunnel.