<p>I haven’t decided on penn yet (especially because i just found out today :)). But i was just curious if there is anyone else on this board planning on IR at penn, and why you chose penn. thanks!</p>
<p>NO one? .....</p>
<p>i might do IR. I chose penn because of the proximity to the city, the aesthetics (it's beautiful), the school spirit, the ability to dual degree between schools, and the quality of education. I also thought the total number of students was not too big and not too small and that it was a very open, pragmatic, no-hand-holding environment.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of doing IR, too... but not entirely decided yet. How does Penn's IR stand up to say... Hopkins'?</p>
<p>I'm a junior dual-major in IR and East Asian Studies, and let me tell you Penn's IR dept stands up just fine compared to Hopkins, at least for undergrads. Keep in mind that JHU's IR powerhouse professors work in the SAIS facility in DC (aka not on-campus). Francis ***uyama probably won't be teaching you much, if at all.</p>
<p>Plus at Penn, even as a college student you are free to enroll in Wharton, SEAS, or even nursing (they have this cool criminology class on how to solve the scene of the crime) classes that you may find interesting and/or useful for the future. I've taken a class on negotiations (GREAT class) and I'll be doing marketing in the fall. There are even some Wharton classes that can count towards the IR major! You just can't get this inderdisciplinary awesomeness anywhere else.</p>
<p>Philadelphia and University City are in the middle of a renaissance (National Geographic called Philly "America's next great city"). Baltimore...well...it's got a nice little harbor place?</p>
<p>And Penn kids are definitely happier. Trust me, you'll love Penn!! :-)</p>
<p>If anyone has any questions about Penn or needs advice, feel free to email me johnak (at) sas.upenn.edu</p>
<p>Hey johnny! Do you know anything about the chinese program at Penn? I checked the website but all i found was a dead link... Are there alot of other IR majors at penn, or do you find that people many focus on whartonites, etc?</p>
<p>Howdy carpe.</p>
<p>I don't know whether you meant Chinese language or Chinese studies as a comprehensive whole, so I'll just explain both..</p>
<p>The Chinese dept's website is effed up because the East Asian Languages & Civilizations (EALC) dept under which they operate was only created as of this academic year. Before that it was AMES (Asian & Middle Eastern Studies), which was then split into two separate departments.</p>
<p>The Chinese program is excellent. They have a two-track system of "regular" Chinese and "intensive" Chinese, in addition to specialized language classes such as "Business Chinese," "classical Chinese," and even a class on "reading chinese newspapers" (apparently it's tricky). You can also study Hakka or Cantonese if that's your thing.</p>
<p>Beyond the languages, Penn has excellent faculty in Chinese cultural/ancient stuff and modern political/economic/military stuff, with a wide variety of courses (I've registered for a new fall course "mass media in contemporary china" which will deal with the hot hot topic of censorship in china, I'm excited!). There are two classes in Penn Law about Chinese law (one about domestic, one about international) in which undergrads can enroll. How many other undergrads can take Law school courses? :-D</p>
<p>I think IR is a fairly popular major here at Penn, as is PoliSci with an IR concentration. Together they form a rather large contingent. IR is very well-connected with other departments as it requires knowledge in economics, history, polisci, and regional studies. As Wharton pushes "global"-this and -that and has become acutely aware that knowledge of global business requires knowledge of the state system under which they run, they are growing closer and closer to the IR department.</p>
<p>The Asian student groups are active on campus, and even have a handful of white kids involved in them. </p>
<p>Additionally, Penn's alumni presence in China is enormous, due to Penn's large population of Chinese students (FOB and ABC) and the herds of Whartonites hungry for money.</p>
<p>Yeah, Penn is flippin' sweet.</p>