Ask current Penn students anything!

<p>Most students in the College come in undecided so changing your mind about what you want to major in/your career plans is normal. Many of the students who come in planning to follow the pre-med track will not end up applying to medical school, and the admissions committee expects this.
Not having research experience will have no effect on your application. Very few high schoolers have research experience and most of the ones who do got it through connections. I am now a science major with a very successful research experience in college (have gotten awards and have a first author paper coming out) and I did not start doing research until the summer after my freshman year.</p>

<p>@wendover</p>

<p>Most dining halls have small gluten free stations. The options are limited, but it is something.</p>

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<p>Lol that’s meaningless. Phi Delt has dry pledging here, but their chapter certainly isn’t dry, even if Nationals “forces” all PDT chapters to be “dry.”</p>

<p>About Greek life in general, Penn has a lot of fraternities, and it’ll be very easy to find one with brothers that you really like, if that’s your sort of thing. If you’re a teetotaler, you might feel uncomfortable; however, if you don’t drink often but aren’t averse to it, nobody will force you to drink. All of the fraternities here are pretty understanding during pledging about having exams; if there’s a pledge event that involves drinking, you can always say no, for whatever reason you want.</p>

<p>I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my fraternity experience so far, and I highly recommend that everyone gets to know some guys / girls in Greek life.</p>

<p>@JulianCal - thanks for the info. Does anyone know what typical offerings are at the dining halls. At my HS there was alot of rotation of meals etc. so I could describe choices - anyone able to do that at Penn perhaps for gluten free or KCE menus? Thanks. Itd be nice to know this in advance so that I’m prepared when i arrive - i gotta eat!! Also any kitchens available to those who are catered?</p>

<p>Gluten free stations usually have things like waffles and toast. It’s really not enough for meals outside of breakfast. </p>

<p>KC is known as a fairly healthy dining hall. It’s a lot smaller than hill and commons, and also a lot less crowded. I lived in Hill last year and, towards the end of the year, I ended up eating a lot at KCECH. It was a nicer atmosphere.</p>

<p>As far as the food there goes, kings court has a lot of pasta mesh type foods for their main dishes. Some sort of pasta with a bunch of stuff mixed in, like chicken and peas. They do mix it up, and I’ve had really good dishes there such as grilled portobellos and a beef stew that was delicious. There’s a full salad bar, a soup station with two different soups changed daily. There’s also a hummus type station, fresh fruit, a dessert station with an ice cream bar, and (pretty good) pizza. </p>

<p>The highlight of the dining hall is the expo station. At kings court, this is almost always a custom made pasta. You choose what you want in it, and it’s made fresh in front of you by a chef running that station. This is by far the most popular and tastiest option of the KCECH dining hall. </p>

<p>Hope this was helpful. </p>

<p>On another note, I agree with the above poster about drinking in fraternities. There will often be situations where the entire pledge class has to drink a certain amount, and it doesn’t matter which specific pledges do it. If you have a test the next day, nobody will force you to drink, your pledge brothers just might have to drink a bit more.</p>

<p>My D will be in the quad at Riepe. Do you know if the shelving racks that go above the bed work in those rooms? Also, how are the mattresses? Do you recommend getting a mattress pad?</p>

<p>Not sure about the shelving question, but regarding the mattress definitely bring a pad. The mattress is uncomfortable so many bring an inch or two thick foam pad. The size is Twin XL by the way.</p>

<p>I am wondering about the Health & Societies major. I’ve done some research, but I’m unable to find any information about any specific high school requirements. Are there additional essays I would need to submit if I want to pursue this major?
Thanks to anyone who replies.</p>

<p>

No specific high school requirements, and no additional essay on the Penn application supplement. It’s just one of the many majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, and there’s a very simple process to formally declare it as your major by the end of your sophomore year (which includes completion of a short form, a one-paragraph explanation of your interest in the major, and taking HSOC 10):</p>

<p>[How</a> to Become an HSOC Major | Department of History and Sociology of Science](<a href=“http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc/how-become-hsoc-major]How”>http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc/how-become-hsoc-major)</p>

<p>If you haven’t done so already, you should explore that web site and its links to learn more about the major, including these two pages:</p>

<p><a href=“http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc[/url]”>http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc/FAQ[/url]”>http://hss.sas.upenn.edu/hsoc/FAQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Not quite sure if I should ask this here, so sorry if I shouldn’t have.</p>

<p>What AP classes would benefit for someone looking to get a dual degree in business & engineering? I’m assuming calculus, microeconomics, macroeconomics, physics, & chemistry, but are there any other ones worth taking?</p>