Another Penn freshman taking questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
21

<p>Could someone please elaborate or direct me to a link about the Harrison Fresh. Ex. Program please.Tried finding it on the Penn website,but didn’t get much info.</p>

22

<p>Here’s info from Harrison’s website:</p>

<p>[Harrison</a> College House](<a href=“http://harrison.house.upenn.edu/freshmen.aspx]Harrison”>http://harrison.house.upenn.edu/freshmen.aspx)</p>

23

<p>I discussed Fresh Ex a bunch last year, particularly in this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/919644-quad-right.html#post10345580[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/919644-quad-right.html#post10345580&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Highlights:

</p>

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<p>Thank you very much,FQ.That was quick!</p>

25

<p>How far is UPenn from the Philadelphia airport? I just want to have a rough idea for a visit.</p>

26

<p>~20 minute taxi drive ($25 + tip)
~ 15 minute train ride ($7)</p>

27

<p>Okay, say I’m that type of person who loves to get wasted on the weekends, yet actually enjoys learning and holds academics in high priority. Would I find a lot of people like myself at Penn? Is Penn conducive to that sort of lifestyle?</p>

28

<p>Yes, tons of people. Our motto is work hard, play hard.</p>

29

<p>is there any prevalent bias towards the Wharton students from the faculty??
As in I heard a jealous classmate tell me that ’ Getting into anything into Penn for anything except Business is worthless. They make you feel like a second grade citizen’
Now I know that its not true at all!! But still, is there any pro Wharton feel in the campus.
All students are equal right??
Also, how hard is it to do a dual degree?? Ive seen the site and it says that any dual degree (from Whartons and SEAS, I got into SEAS) is ‘extremely competitive’. How competitive is it exactly?? Is the GPA the only requirement ??</p>

<p>Also, how hard are the Academics ?? Is it like impossible to maintain a 3.8+ GPA, especially since I am going to SEAS ??</p>

<p>Sorry for the plethora of questions. I am just excited for college.</p>

30

<p>I don’t feel like there’s any bias towards Wharton kids academically. Wharton facilities and resources are very nice, but other than that I don’t think they are treated any differently from students in other schools. Now that I’m actually at Penn, I notice that the university actually really likes to highlight students in the college for research and other intellectual/academic work outside of the classroom. As for the students, I don’t think Wharton kids view college students or engineers as inferior. In fact, I’ve met a lot of Wharton students who are really impressed with science majors, even more than they may be of other Wharton kids.
Although people say that SEAS is the least competitive school to get into, I would say many of the smartest kids at Penn are in SEAS. It’s very self selective, they have to take at least 5 credits a semester.
As for academics, the workload at Penn is totally reasonable if you manage your time well. I hear the curve in engineering is pretty tough, but if you study properly and do your work well, you should come out with good grades. A 3.8+ GPA is pretty high, especially in SEAS. It is definitely possible, but it will require a lot of hard work and the ability to manage your time effectively. This is perhaps the most important thing in college.</p>

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<p>wow thanks a lot Poeme :)</p>

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<p>@Poeme, what have you heard about the curves in the College for the Biology major? the average GPA? how hard is it to maintain a 3.7+ or 3.8+? and if you are shooting for that kind of GPA that I just mentioned, can you still “work hard, play hard” (party on the weekends)? how is the work load?</p>

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<p>buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuump</p>

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<p>Seriously?</p>

35

<p>^hahahahaha</p>

<p>but yeah…seriously? I’m sorry IAmABeast…but no one here at CC is a fortune-teller…we don’t know your background, your work ethic, your propensity to do well in these types classes, who will be teaching these classes/who will be taking these classes with you…etc. etc. </p>

<p>You should be focused on doing your best.</p>

<p>Anyways, what I can tell you is that a lot of science classes curve to B-/C+. That said, you’re going to have to be better than average if you want a 3.7-3.8 (oh premeds…). But anyways, whether you’ll be able to “work hard, party hard” and contend with the workload depends on you. Who knows? Maybe you’re some kind of genius. Then you won’t have to do as much work to get the grade. Or you’ll have to work much harder. </p>

<p>Needless to say, these classes are competitive and everyone is aiming to do well. If you want to achieve, you’re going to have to put in the effort. You might not get to party every weekend (sorry I know it’s hard to hear). You’ll have to put forward the work in order to reap the rewards.</p>

36

<p>Hi everyone-
sorry for taking months to reply… my winter break ended and I completely forgot to check this forum…</p>

<p>I know especially among asians (from what I’ve heard), dual degreeing with Wharton is pretty common… but it’s pretty hard and you’ll be working a lot, since you need to be fulfilling requirements for both Wharton and the College (or whichever school you’ll be in). But if that’s what you want, you should go for it! Just don’t think it’ll be a ride in the park. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone specifically; I know some friends who transferred to Wharton, though.</p>

<p>samesies: Hill has small rooms and no A/C so when the weather gets hot it’s a bit difficult… you need to buy fans, definitely. Or hang out with people in the high rises or the quad… I’m pretty sure other college houses like Kings Court (?) and Dubois doesn’t have AC either, but Hill I think just complains more loudly about it. People worry most about Hill because it’s isolated (compared to the Quad) and it’s far from the frats, but really, it’s not. I know people in the quad who aren’t very close with their neighbors, but in Hill it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll get to know your hallmates pretty well, as long as you don’t stay in your room all the time. It’s just your call. Also, my hall always goes out together on the weekends to frats or what have you, and it doesn’t really make a difference on whether it’s far or near, since you’re still with your friends. </p>

<p>itsinreach: If you mean musical theatre types as in people, yes, I would say there are a lot, but it’s not a huge percentage of Penn… although there are a lot of musical theatre groups (like Penn Singers, Penn Players in the fall, etc.) people who are interested usually skip around and get involved with whichever groups or plays they’re interested in… the group isn’t that big, so you get to know some people pretty well. I can probably recognize most of the people involved in musical theatre, but the number is still big enough that I don’t personally know/haven’t actually met most of them. Does that answer your question?</p>

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<p>And thanks so much to FQ, Poeme and spectrum for answering the questions… I don’t know what’s gotten into me -_-</p>

38

<p>What parts/aspects of Penn do you not like?</p>

39

<p>^ Totally does, heart.greywolf. Thanks for the reply! (I had forgotten about this thread too.)</p>

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<p>so why is penn nursing considered to be the ‘hufflepuff’ of penn? i don’t even fully understand the reference because in elementary school, i considered myself too cool to read harry potter haha</p>