<p>Hey guys. I’m just finishing up my freshman year at Penn and I figured that myself and any other lingering upperclassmen on these boards could give you any advice or let you know a little more about Penn, so if you have questions post them here!</p>
<p>Hi! I noticed in another post you mentioned that you were in the Women in Science/Study of Infectious Diseases Hall. I am still deciding whether or not to apply for the Women in Science program. What is the atmosphere like in that hall, at least through your experience? Did you get to meet or hear any really interesting people speak?</p>
<p>the atmosphere in the hall has been really great. our hall was very social this year. obviously because of the program there are mostly girls on the hall but guys as well for the study of infectious diseases program. its also good for getting more of a mix of freshmen and sophomores compared to other halls in the quad. this year the women in science program was built around a mentorship program where each girl was assigned to a female grad student in the sciences or in the medical school. i really enjoyed spending time with my mentor this year and we even met outside hall events for lunch. we had 2 female professors at penn come and present their research which was really interesting too.with a different RA next year the program might be run slightly differently. i'd definitely recommend applying if you are interested. the programs are slightly competitive because a lot of people apply to increase their chances of getting housing in the quad but if you express an honest interest in the program in your essay you should be good - certainly your application does not have to be anything spectacular.</p>
<p>Question: Does whether you ask for a single or double affect your chances of gettin into a residential program? Or do they just look at the essays and then decide how many singles/doubles they need?</p>
<p>Im particularly interested in the entrepreneurs program - how many doubles/singles does it have?</p>
<p>thankx</p>
<p>As far as I know asking for a particular kind of room isnt going to hurt your chances on getting into a program. It may just mean that you might not get your first choice of room (i.e. if you really want a single but their arent enough singles to go around you might get a double, or triple if the hall as them). There are people in my Residential Program who asked for singles as their first choice and got doubles and vice versa. If the website information is correct the Entrepreneur program is on the 5th floor of Rodney/Coxe/EF Smith. This is actually really neat because these are suite style rooms which means that the rooms open to a hallway with a common room on one end. Online they have floor plans but dont specify whether the rooms are singles/doubles/triples. The rooms of Coxe and EF Smith each only have 1 closet which would suggest that they are singles. That would make 15 singles but please dont hold me to that. In Rodney it looks like there are 4 doubles and 2 triples based upon the size of the rooms. I hope that helps.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the detailed answer!</p>
<p>I know that this is quite a repetitive and ambiguous question but: Is getting A's in the science classes hard? </p>
<p>I am assuming that you deal with some sort of science, since you live in the infectious diseases program. I'm not whining about the potential discrepancy between mediocre high school work and college work, but I want to get a grip as to how well I will have to balance my time. How many hours do you study every day?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help and your answer to my other questions! ;)</p>
<p>Hmm well I really think that it depends on what science and what teacher. Its certainly not impossible. I've only taken chem so far but I can tell you what I've heard from others. Chemistry classes tend to set their average at a B- and I took a special section for students interested in chem majors and my guess is that 35-40% of the class got an A or A-. I havent heard any major complaints about Bio. I think it might be more work than chem and the departmental average is a C but I'd still think its likely that 35-40% get As. Physics is probably the hardest science to take at Penn and there is a variety of difficulty levels for intro classes which you should look into based upon your intended major. Nevertheless, almost everyone I know has struggled with physics at some point and the percentage getting As is probably lower than in chem and bio. I do have to say that you'd probably have to utterly just not care to get below a C- in any class. As for the studying that can definitely differ. I probably have to do 1-2 hours of some kind of homework everynight. I think most students work out a schedule based upon homework flow. For instance my Monday nights were pretty relaxed whereas on Wednesdays I had a lot of work because my math and writing homework was always due on Thursdays. Unless you have a major assignment due or an exam you probably will only do some light to moderate amount of studying on the weekends, especially if you are productive during the week.</p>
<p>Question: (btw, thankx for answerin the previous one) In your housing application if u have a residential program and a certain house as you first choice and u dont get into the residential program, then do u still have that college house as a normal first choice in the first round of the housing lottery?</p>
<ol>
<li>If you have any idea, could u plz give me some hints on what would be good to include in an app. essay for the Entrepreneurs' residential program? (Like, previously ppl suggested tellin them bout entrepreneurial experience I had, n e tin else?) Just so I dont forget to inform them about something about me that might be important.</li>
</ol>
<p>THANKX!!!</p>
<p>And another thing: How good is the Law and Society Res. program in Fisher and what do THEY wanna hear in the app essay :)</p>
<p>And another thing: I heard Kings Court sucks for social life. Which sucks more, Kings or the High rises for social life? So I know the order in which to make my housing app.</p>
<p>Sorry for havin soooo many questions, but other ppl dont seem to be using this opportunity of askin u stuff much...</p>
<p>i havent really heard anything about that program. but, i still think that expressing an honest interest in the program and how you think it would enhance your penn experience is probably good. i didnt spend more that 15-20 minutes on the short essay i wrote for my residential program. usually it is the RA of the hall and the faculty fellow to the program that makes the decisions. and more than anything they are trying to weed out the people who are just applying to the program just to live in the quad and then will not participate.</p>
<p>as for housing. my friend and i were talking to a pre-frosh yesterday and tried our best to help her set up her choices. I think we both decided that the Highrises are a better choice than Kings Court. Both have a high number of upperclassmen, but I think that the highrises tend to put the freshmen together as much as possible.. usually 3 floors will be concentrated with freshmen. Also, the highrises are better for freshmen, in my opinion, because they are actually on the schools campus, whereas Kings Court is technically a block away from where campus starts. Kings Court does have its own dining hall but the highrises are close enough to the Commons dining hall that I dont think that should be a real issue.</p>
<p>Thanks! another thing, is there a point in having a number 3 choice Quad, or should I put a Single in Hill for number 3? or is it not hard at all to get a single in hill as number 4?</p>
<p>I mean, cuz I heard that by the second round virtually all of quad is occupied so maybe its a good stratedy to go for hill number 3</p>
<p>If you really want quad put a 3rd quad choice. I have heard a rumor that if you put a Hill option as 2 or 3 you will pretty much be assigned there. I dont know if this is true but its definitely not hard at all to get housing in Hill. Since the upperclassmen have already done all their housing and very very few upperclassmen live there its probably the easiest place to get housing on campus.</p>
<p>So if I put quad as my first three choices, how would you rank the rest: Hill, high rises, Stouffer, Kings Court, Gregory?</p>
<p>I need help!!! I need to decide between U.Penn Vagelos Scholar and Benn Franklin Scholar (im named both) and Rice Baylor guaranteed medicine program...
Any suggestions... any pre-med vagelos scholars or BFS at U.Penn who can help!!!</p>
<p>brittanicajack, thanks! I think it's really nice of you to offer your help to us floundering students out here! ;)</p>
<p>haha oh the housing dilemmas. on the housing options discussion board people make a lot of great comments and i think everyone is biased from their personal experiences. (ie im biased towards the quad, and thats why im going back). But if it were me after quad i'd pick Harnwell from the Highrises, then the battle between Kings Court and Hill is SO close. I mean Hill has lots of freshman and a better dining hall but Kings Court has bigger better rooms. Hill also does not have air conditioning and can get really hot (just something to think about). Then Stouffer then Gregory. </p>
<p>okay i have to go back to the board to find out what else im supposed to be answering. lol.</p>
<p>i really dont know much about the ben franklin scholars program. but i have a lot of friends (freshman and a few upperclassmen) who are in vagelos. so here is what i know. Vagelos seems awesome and I wish I would have considered more heavily about applying to it, especially as a potential biochem major. but if you are a pre-med getting the bachelors/masters in 4 years may not necessarily be worth the stress youll put yourself through. If you really excel in the sciences the greater exposure to science courses could be very useful if you are planning on being involved in medical research and/or persuing an MD/PhD most of the people i know in vagelos are debating between med school and a career in the sciences. I feel like the BFS students get more privileges such as specialized seminars that are only open to them, which is neat because you get the opportunity for small classes that you might not get elsewhere and if you arent really sure if the Vagelos thing is for you then that may be better. Quite a few people drop out of vagelos as time goes on because they realize that science isnt the path they want to persue, or the coursework is strenuous, and one Senior I know dropped out of the program because he felt that it focused too much on bringing a few elite students to the top and kind of leaving everyone else behind. I didnt mean to make vagelos out badly because I also know freshmen who really enjoy it and they also get to take special science seminars, which im jealous i cant be in lol. as for baylor. hmm. i got offered some great scholarships at schools in the same caliber but i think that so few students get the opportunity to be a part of the ivy league that it holds its own value. i also understand it can heavily weigh in on what your family situation is. nevertheless the education at penn is great. penn's acceptance rate to med schools is around mid 80% which is considerably higher than most schools in the country and if you participate in either of the programs you got into and im sure your academics will be great based upon the fact that you were able to get into them that i dont think having a guarenteed place at a medical school is going to be a problem for you.</p>