Ask a Current Penn Freshman!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hmm-</p>

<p>I’ve been through a few threads on this site and have to say I’m pretty disappointed in the semi-12 year oldish comments from a select few on this site…</p>

<p>Brushing that side, I’m a current Penn Freshman from Dallas, TX at Wharton, and used this site for a little bit of discussion last year.</p>

<p>I thought I would come back this year and see how things are going for the application process.</p>

<p>If you have ANY questions about Penn, on ANY topic, feel free to ask them here, and I’ll be happy to answer from my limited perspective.</p>

<p>If for some reason it slips my mind that I’ve posted here (and I ignore the thread response notifications e-mailed to me)…</p>

<p>… just drop me a line at <a href=“mailto:bjtaylor@wharton.upenn.edu”>bjtaylor@wharton.upenn.edu</a>.</p>

2

<p>wuts the eating situation on campus? like how do meal plans work and ish. i eat lilke a bear so is there something like unlimited meal plan for x amount of $$, or is there a set # of meals.</p>

3

<p>Yes, my question involves food also.... it's something I never really got a perspective on.</p>

<p>Is the food good, average, or terrible?
Is it all you can eat?
How different are the foods offered from day to day?
Is there pizza and/or french fries every day? If so, whats the quality of that?
Is soda the only drink offered? If not, what else?
What would you say is an adequate meal plan?
Are there any specific cafeterias that are better/ worse than the others?</p>

<p>I know thats a lot, lol. But you never hear about food on campuses, and I think it's semi important if I'm gona be eating there for 4 years....</p>

4

<p>you can also ask a penn junior if you want :)
as far as food goes -
jedi - i'm not sure exactly how the meal plan works now because it's changed in the last two years but AFAIK you get a set number of meals per semester and also a set number of dining dollars, which you can spend in various places around campus.</p>

<p>chocoman - i would say the food is terrible, but really it's probably more average. you probably won't starve. menus probably rotate on a fortnightly basis? you do get a reasonable amount of variety, with certain things being available everyday (pizza, pasta, ice cream etc).
as far as i know they still offer pizza and fries every day. they're ok, a bit greasy but consistently edible, so there's always something to fall back on!
IIRC you can get soda, juice, milk, water, tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
i had the smallest meal plan my freshman year (9 meals a week i think) and I probably never used all my meals for the week! I would eat dinner every night mon-fri because of a residential program but other than that my use of the dining halls was sparse. where you live will probably affect how many you use - if you end up in hill you'll probably eat there a lot because you don't have to go outside to get to a dining hall. becasue my dining hall (1920 commons) only had a take-out breakfast, i didn't bother to get breakfast very much. you should be able to figure out what would work best for you based on how important things like a sit-down breakfast or lunch vs eating on the go are for you.
err, yeah. different dining halls - a lot of people think that hill has the best food - i'm not really convinced of that and personally had a sneaky preference for KCEH dining hall. again, people say that commons (the biggest dining hall) has the worst food but it's all basically the same stuff.
best meal of the week is undoubtedly weekend brunch at commons.</p>

<p>hmm...they do keep changing the meal plan so maybe it's getting better?</p>

<p>the good news is that if you're living on campus the meal plan requirement for upper classmen is not strictly enforced, so if you're sick off the food you can stop eating it - there are dozens and dozens of food trucks and restaurants around campus, not to mention supermarkets and farmer's markets so you can very easily eat out or cook for yourself.</p>

<p>you can check out the penn dining website for menus, hours and so on, although obviously it's all tarted up and sounds great - i'm sure you guys can see through the bs.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/dining/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/dining/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>right, well, i'll stop posting ridiculously long responses and do some regression problems/studying for midterms/writing papers. honest.</p>

<p>ETA - when i wrote sick off the food I made a beautiful parapraxis. of course i meant sick OF the food. although both options are possible.</p>

5

<p>Hey Guys,</p>

<p>I am willing to answer questions too. If you have any questions regarding engineering or Penn feel free to ask! Good luck to all the ED applicants! Hope to see some of you next year.</p>

6

<p>Aww, penn students. We adore you already.</p>

<p>What's the deal with housing? Is it a complete lottery? I know people wanna live in the quad - and apparently there are different "programs" you can sign up for.. whats that?</p>

<p>Also, what's the deal with cars? People bring them or not?</p>

7

<p>chocoman i'm guessing that you're fat</p>

8

<p>ehhh... and with the whole car deal, can you ride like bicycles/motorcycles err. talking 150cc so no biggies. around campus? hahah</p>

9

<p>What's the best place on campus to have a single? I heard that Hill has the largest singles in terms of area but it seems to be a bit isolated from the rest of the campus...</p>

10

<p>I'm not fat actually. I write this as I just got home from cross country practice. I'm just a very picky eater.</p>

11

<p>wow...penn students..my heroes! those who have done what i most likely will not be able to..</p>

<p>haha... my only question would be...any advice for interviews and that sort of thing? anything we can do to help our chances (apps already in though)</p>

<p>thanks ^.^</p>

12

<p>Jedi, Choco:</p>

<p>The meal plans on campus are required for freshmen, and vary in range of a lot of Dining Dollars (which can be used at Chick-fil-a, Subway, Triangle Diner, etc) with less meals (All-You-Can-Eat Dining Hall meals) or vice-versa. The website linked above can give more details.</p>

<p>As far as the food is concerned, I usually stick to Chick-fil-a and Triangle Diner. Triangle Diner is a wonderful place that is open late night and you can use dining dollars, so its really quite convenient. Dining hall food isn't all that bad, its really all you might expect from a dining hall, and for all you can eat I won't complain.</p>

<p>anon311:</p>

<p>You are given ten spots to fill out with your preferences. The housing process basically fills as many first choices as it can, then second choices, and so on until everyone has a room. There will be more people applying to the Quad than will get in. Quite frankly, the Quad isn't necessarily the place to be, check out Hill or any of the other dorms for what you actually want to live in.</p>

<p>There are residential programs. For example, Ware has an Entrepreneurs' Program where you have to right an essay and they choose who gets in based on similar interests. All of these people live usually in the same section/on the same floor.</p>

<p>Most students don't have cars, unless they drive home often. I personally am going to bring my truck up at fall break, just because I like to get out and about around Pennsylvania, but it is definately not necessary. Cabs and public transit run everywhere in the city, so they are definately not a necessity.</p>

<p>Word to the Wise: If admitted, do not purchase SEPTA's transit pass in lieu of a parking permit. It is a rip-off. If you don't have a car, merely purchase neither.</p>

<p>Booboocat:</p>

<p>On the streets... sure. On Locust, no. None of your classes will not require a moped (come on, buddy, 150cc? Get some muscle). Bikes can be convenient if you want, but aren't necessary.</p>

<p>rubbernecking:</p>

<p>I'm going to defer to someone else on this one... Hill is alright... you should really visit if you can. Penn hosts students overnight. Call up Admissions and you can stay the night with Penn students. I host students occasionally.</p>

<p>AnuVX:</p>

<p>Your application is in. Chill out. Get off CollegeConfidential. Go out and enjoy life and breathe the fresh fall air. Nothing you can do will change the course of action, so there is no need to worry about it.</p>

13

<p>Hey how many legacies do you guys know? And would you say that there are a lot of girls that could be considered JAPs? As in they wear hard tail yoga pants and juicy pants with writing on their butts all the time...Is there a lotta that?</p>

14

<p>I resent the use of the word JAP unless you are jewish.</p>

15

<p>i hated the dining halls. i used a lot of my meals freshman year on drinks and just bought food outside. i'm kind of a picky/snobby when it comes to food though. not sure about now, but when iw as a freshman pretty much everyone agreed hill's dining hall was the best. also all the workers in penn's dining places are all rude as hell except for au bon pain.</p>

<p>penn is the land of food carts. some of the more popular ones with the more popular orders....</p>

<p>bui's, 38th and spruce: breakfast sandwiches for $2.25
hemo's, 37th and spruce: grilled chicken sandwiches with spinach and tomatoes
greek lady, 38th and locust: random american food (sandwiches, burgers, fries) along with gyros; the one on 37th and spruce is the original one and is good too, but it just has sandwiches
kim's, 37th and walnut next to pottruck: sesame chicken is the most popular, but there's a lot of other chinese food; very fast service
yue kee, 38th bet locust and walnut: some people really like it but it takes forever (~20 minutes)</p>

<p>au bon pain in huntsman is good too. it takes dining dollars. lots of pastries (which are half off from 4-6 i think), best coffee IMO (wawa is too sweet), and my favorite is the honey dijon chicken sandwich.</p>

<p>houston hall is kind of bleh. a lot of girls like gia pronto, some sort of organic salad cafe. chick fil a is alright, but the food is pre-made and you pick it up from some type of heatlamp. subway's okay, but greek lady is cheaper and was closer to my room. triangle diner's okay, haven't been there in a while, but when it first opened it took forever to get your food. some of the stuff was good, but i remember the breakfast food was kind of disappointing. </p>

<p>a lot of people like dunkin donuts' breakfast stuff too. wawa has sandwiches and coffee 24/7 too.</p>

16

<p>Question: How much free time do you usually have aside from classes and studying?</p>

17

<p>I'm currently a junior in high school, and this is my profile:</p>

<ul>
<li>My GPA's around 3.8-3.9 unweighted, and about 4.1-4.2 weighted.</li>
<li>SAT score's are about 1450 (around 2150/2400 on new SAT) and 750-800 for SAT ii's.</li>
<li>EC's: I have about 4 solid EC's with long-term commitment, a few solid awards (NMS Commended, Honor Roll, Debate Excellence Award), internships with banks, ~500 hours of community service, and there's another EC which I believe is my strong point, explained in the next subpoint.</li>
<li>Started an organization which helps needy children in my homeland. The organization's helped ~50-100 needy kids with college scholarships, #4, 10, 11 biggest cities in the country helped, 5 colleges and high schools helped. I started the non-profit organization by myself, and many have recognized it. I'm hoping it gains some recognition/award(s) by distinguished institutions. (It takes up about 20-25 hours/week and occassional trips to the country since there's about 10 part-time employees in the organization)</li>
<li>My personality has been shaped by my father extreme poverty (living in the slums and starving many times), and even my relative's poverty. Each time I see a fellow human suffering without necessities, it hurts more since it's something my family has experienced. That's the main point I'm trying to let colleges know about myself, as I hope I showed through starting the organization.</li>
</ul>

<p>From what I've heard, I'm probably not going to get in, but since you guys have been admitted, can you tell me if I stand a chance? If not, what can I do this year to improve my chances?</p>

<p>Thanks for taking the time of your schedule :)</p>

18

<p>Free time is really dependent upon your major and how you really manage your time. I, personally, have a ton of free time. However, many others seem to like to spend a lot more time towards studying/school than I do (not meant negatively), and have less. For the most part though, even those that study often will have a good amount of free time.</p>

<p>Cash'd...</p>

<p>I don't get in the business of determining people's chances, and I'd like to not deviate this thread from non-"How are my chances?" posts. Quite frankly, anyone who will tell you if you have a chance or don't is just pulling something out of their ass. The only people that know are the admissions officers. Sorry.</p>

19

<p>That's understandable. But, could you post your stats since you got in? (So it gives the rest of us an idea of a Penn student's profile)</p>

20

<p>Do you know anyone in the Huntsman Program? If so, do they like it?</p>