Student Profile
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- Class: Freshman
- Major: Middle Eastern Studies
- Gender: M
- High School:
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
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.
Academic Life
Professors will give you the time of day if you make them, but you'll have to make yourself known to them. Students compete and hearing them complain about "failing" because they have a B- in a class where you have an F is becomes old very quickly. The Writing Seminars are a prodigious waste of time, and energy.
Student Body
I came to Penn excited about the life that I would have as a gay student here. I had heard much about the gay scene and looked forward to being a part of it. I arrived and we slapped in the face by the fact that I'm black. The fact of the matter is that if you are not white, the great gay scene will not be open to you. Unless you're so attractive that others are willing to overlook your minority status, your time at Penn as a gay person of color will be characterized by frustration, loneliness and feelings of misprision toward white gay men inspired by your own indignity.
The Best Things
Knowing that I'll graduate.
The Worst Things
The social scene.
