<p>Aloha- I’m Willow, and as the end of summer approacheth, I’ll be your handy dandy answer girl.</p>
<p>However, I’m not doing any of your research for you, so if you want to know the difference between a BSE and a BAS, and which school might help you earn one, you might try <a href=“http://www.upenn.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.upenn.edu</a> … Lazy bums. :)</p>
<p>Hi, Willow, thanks for being willing to take questions. Here's mine: did you have any friends who did crew and if you know anyone who did, what was their experience like rowing at Penn? Thanks, coldcomfort</p>
<p>I have one friend who did Crew, but he only did it for a year, and it was before I met him. I'll ask him why he quit next time I see him, but I think it mostly had to do with being in band.</p>
<p>(btw- pennathletics.com has more info on what sports at penn are all about from an administration and achievement standpoint)</p>
<p>Is Penn filled w/ overachieving perfectionists...or are there any students who were not the top of the top during their high school years???</p>
<p>I'm curious b/c Penn is my dream school, but I don't have such high test scores and GPA...my only hope is ECs and diversity...hopefully being apart from the typical Asian stereotype...</p>
<p>I'm really trying to decide whether to go for the premium or the standard model of the t43 laptop.</p>
<p>I'd prefer to save the money, unless I actually need the faster motherboard, better graphics, etc. I'm in engineering, so I don't know if they recommed the higher model or not. Also, I noticed that you cant burn CDs or DVDs on the standard model. Do you think that may pose an issue in college for transfering files and all?</p>
<p>What do you think? Would you recommend just going for the better model? If it really doesnt matter then I might just get the standard one.</p>
<p>silmon you can get by with the standard which is still an amazing computer , better than most</p>
<p>How does Penn look at an extra recommendation letter in addition to the 3 required?</p>
<p>sammo33- I'm a bit of a slacker. I'd say I'm a bit more of one than your avg Penn student, but by no means am I the worst. </p>
<p>It's definitely possible to get into Penn without being Valedictorian material- they seem look more for unique qualities and a true desire to go to Penn as your top choice.</p>
<p>NJChino - As long as it adds new information, they'll be okay with it. It may even help you.</p>
<p>Do you feel that students at the college feel inferior to the Wharton kids based on how the University treats them or this is very false? I mean, are the job opportunities, internships, and services for the college kids just as amazing as they are for Wharton kids or are they 2nd-rate?</p>
<p>Also...</p>
<p>Do kids attend Upenn football home games usually or is it an empty stadium?</p>
<p>njchino371- I disagree. The problem is, that besides admissions officers (who have, in my experience, always said not to add anything extra unless it's really unique), we don't know. Students really can't answer questions about the applications. We know what worked for us, but lord knows why.</p>
<p>Imagine you had multiple thousands of applications to read in order to make decisions in a ridiculously short period of time... you'd be looking frantically for a cliffs notes. That's what I've always been told. </p>
<p>So my advice is that unless it's like... the Queen of England, who you've babysat for for 10 years and she has a really good insight into some new facet of your life you didn't cover already, leave it out.</p>
<p>Skierdude- </p>
<p>1) Ha! Most college kids are of the (joking?) opinion that Wharton is evil. The school certainly doesn't treat the students any differently, re jobs/internships/etc- I get at LEAST 1-2 emails a day of different internships... but there is a definite friendly rivalry between the students.</p>
<p>2) I attend Football games. Of course, I'm in the band. Franklin Field holds 55,000 people, but there are only 9,500 undergrad at Penn, so you won't be seeing sellouts. I would say a very big portion of that attends football games. A lot of them attend solely for the Toast, but since home games are free to students, it's a nice free Saturday activity for a lot of people.</p>
<p>the extra rec. letter would be from my chinese school principal, so I'm not sure whether to include it or not. This would be one of my hooks for Huntsman since I did so many things there; I was vp of the student council, then president. I was chief editor of the school newspaper. I volunteered and coordinated a lot of fundraising and school events. And I got a special award from the principal this year after I was appointed her assistant and advisor. I think she would really be able to emphaize my leadership and management abilities, so I kind of do want to include this letter. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Muppetcoat- What instrument?</p>
<p>Me? Trombone. I'm VP of the PennBand- so if you're interested, let me know.</p>
<p>Hi I have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) Similar to the question about SAS vs Wharton kids, how do SEAS people fit in? that is, do college ppl think engineers are nerds? lol just curious.</p>
<p>2) How important is it to have a microwave and/or refrigerator in the dorm room.</p>
<p>Hi. I am a percussionist and was wondering what musical opportunities I would have. Seeing as you are the VP of the band, you should probably know a lot. I am not really interested in being in the marching band, per say. Are there auditions or anything to play? Are there ensembles? I am not the best drummer, but I am ok. I dont think I would qualify if I were to audition for anything, though. What could I do at Penn?</p>
<p>1) SEAS kids are always mocked as nerds - you have to realize though, that the inter-school rivalries are not THAT serious at Penn. In wharton freshman sketches, the SEAS kids are portrayed as TI-calculator carrying nerds, CAS students portrayed as doomed to being starbucks baristas, and nurses as.... men who are incompetent. :)</p>
<p>2.) a microwave and fridge are HANDY, although not necessary. Most halls/floors have a communal fridge... but you might get on a floor with many hungry males, which could be bad news for your food :D</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm considering applying to Penn; when I toured the school a few weeks ago I found that I absolutely adored the place for a variety of reasons. However, I noticed that in addition to emphasis placed to Penn's academic qualifications and facilities by our tour guide (good thing), the tour guide seemed significantly more interested in taking us out to look at Franklin Field and discuss the sports facilities than had the tour guides at the other schools that I had toured (e.g. Princeton, UVA). My tour guide seemed almost overspirited about the sports in comparison to discussion of the academic qualifications and facilities of Penn and kind of reminded me of the ditzy chick-dazzled-by-jock culture that is rampant at my high school (well, at every high school). I hate to insult my tour guide, I hate to sound paranoid and I hate to sound like some socially-inept nerdy kid but I was a bit turned off to the school by her discourse; do Penn girls (or really, Penn students for that matter) commonly endorse the athletically-oriented, jock-centered atmosphere that embodies public high schools nationwide? Am I going to apply to Penn, get accepted (hopefully), arrive and find myself surrounded by a gaggle of "lyke, omigawd!" girls who blow the football players and blow off any semblance of intellectual culture (sorry I had to use that pun)?</p>
<p>I really hate to sound paranoid about this sort of thing, because to be honest, an issue like this shouldn't concern me in choosing a college -and yet, the ideologies of the female portion of the student body may be more important than many (or perhaps even most) other factors in my college selection process. More than anything in the world, I seek change from the culture I experience at my high school and in my town. I attend a rural, backwoods high school in a cheap, shoddy, slow little town in which so much emphasis is placed upon high school sports that, while the state champion and runner-up from our forensics team in their individual categories were given a very small black-and-white photo in a corner of one page of the local paper, the next page of that very same newspaper was loaded with nothing but full-color photos of our local 8th-grade track team at a single event and a caption at the top of the page that simply read, "EIGHTH GRADE RUNNERS."</p>
<p>As you might imagine, I'm anxious for change. I'm tired of being surrounded by an athlete-centric culture, tired of local girls who know nothing of academics (one of the highest-ranked members of our rising junior class calls the Critical Reading section "Critical Writing") and seem to live solely to catch the eye of the star athletes. Is Penn right for me? Is Penn still social, still cool - but not subjected to the horror that is jock culture?</p>
<p>Gee, I made this post kinda long...thanks in advance for your response.</p>
<p>Like other Ivy, Penn has no school spirit, unless we happen to win football or basketball championship. (and not even much then) I'd say at most half the undergrad population went to the Ivy football championship, and many left before it was even over (we were getting stomped by harvard). chances are good you had an athlete or something as your guide...</p>
<p>The kids are smart here, have no doubt about it... However, there is a big greek scene, which may contain some of your undesirables, but I would encourage you to give it a chance. Please note that greek =/= Atheletes per se, and our athletes are no fools either :)</p>
<p>i know this varies from person to person, but about how many hours of free time does the average student have each week for extracurriculars? (or day)</p>