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Penn is a master of advertisement. It makes itself seem like some resource rich in a phenomenal city with a burgeoning social scene. Lies. Most of the resources are worthless and fraught with incompetence, Philadelphia is a violent and dirty hole in the ground and the social scene at Penn is, for the most part, about as grand as a box turtle since most people are so dull.
!!! Freshman
Penn is a diverse place in a great location. In a major city that serves as a cultural center, and situated directly in a distressed part of that city. The opportunities for exploration, learning, and helping a community are unparalleled at any university. The resources available to students are phenomenal, however in some of the schools grading can be a bit tough. The administration is competent and responsive - Amy Gutmann, one of academia's pre-eminent political scientists, is a perfect president to further the vision of Benjamin Franklin. The university has taken difficult positions on issues like music piracy, and also promotes free speech like few other institutions (and not just free speech for those who agree with the administration or majority of students!)
Michael Alum
Penn is a great big mess of people all trying to get along. There is something for everyone, and if you can't find it on campus than Philadelphia has it.
Andrew Senior
Mark Sophomore
The best thing about Penn is the opportunity to do just about everything. My activities range from costume designing for musicals to singing light opera to the sport of curling to being a big sister for a student in West Philly. Being in the city provides a great outlet for many of the classes and extra curriculars - there are classes about the art, music, and architecture just to start. But there is enough going on on campus that you needn't go into center Philly if you don't want to. Penn is an Ivy, and a good one at that, so the work load is consistantly heavy. But, as evidenced from how involved everyone is, work rarely gets too overwhelming. And activity groups know that school wrok comes first, exxpecially during Mid-terms and Finals. One of the things I love most about Penn is the sense of community. The dorms have a lot of programming to get the Halls together and involved. Also, each activity gets you involved in a community. It's really easy to make really strong friendships this way.
Alex Freshman
The best thing about Penn is its social scene - we have a great mixture of scenes and there's something for everyone. You can go downtown into downtown Philadelphia and party at a club, go to one of the many campus bars, or head to a frat party. Also there's always something going on, regardless of what day of the week it is. When I tell people I go to Penn, what they say really depends. The average person will immediately say, "Oh, Penn State?" or just assume that it's Penn State and ask me something about our football team. However, most people who "matter" (i.e. people who you want to know about Penn such as employers and what not) are always impressed, especially if you're in Wharton. I spend most of time either at the one or two frats in which I know the most guys or at one of two campus bars, Blarney and Smokes (when I go out). University City (aka West Philadelphia, where Penn is) is a great balance of college town/not college town. We have the city right there, within walking distance when it's nice out (or a 5 dollar cab ride when it's not!) so we can do that. But at the same time, Penn has a distinct campus and everyone living in this area is for the most part affiliated with the University. It's great to have bars to go to where everyone is in college. I think the administration of Penn is fine, but they're a little bureaucratic - but then again, what administration isn't? Change tends to take a long time around here, even if it seems it's something that should obviously be done. The biggest recent controversy is the departure of our Dean of Admissions, Lee Stetson. No one was told why he left - it's this giant secret - but everyone kind of assumes it was for something illegal, like sexual harassment or something. it's making the school look really bad because they're doing this giant cover up. I don't think Penn has that much school pride. As far as sports go, there are certain groups of people who get into it, and I definitely like going to football and basketball games(no one cares about any other sport). We have traditions that we do at each game, and Penn itself has some great traditions (i.e. Spring Fling, Hey Day, Senior Week, etc), but in general people are sort of apathetic about school spirit.
Ali Junior
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