<p>I understand that it is possible to take classes at Penn, if comparable coursework is not offered by any of the tri-co schools. Does anyone know how feasible this really is? How tough is it to get to Penn via public transportation? How difficult is it to work into your schedule?</p>
<p>I think it takes a little work, but it'd definitely doable. Public transportation is very easy and efficient.</p>
<p>I go to Penn, and one of my friends is actually taking a class at Swarthmore right now.</p>
<p>Any Haverford students/alums who actually took classes at Penn? Is the registration process difficult? Approx how much time to commute each way via public transit?</p>
<p>Umm… you haven’t even gotten to HC yet and you’re already thinking about leaving campus? I know the school is small but… jeez. :)</p>
<p>What classes are you considering? Honestly, I think this shouldn’t even be a consideration for you right now as there are more important things you should be weighing. However, since you asked, …</p>
<p>1) From Founders, it’s a 15 min walk to the Septa station. Trains come every 1/2 hour during weekdays. It takes 20 minutes to get to 30th Street Station and 15 minutes to walk to Penn on 34th st… I often made this commute in reverse from HUP to HC as a resident. You can drive but parking @ Penn can be tough… and sketchy.</p>
<p>2) The main benefit with Penn is that it expands opportunities with parties, speakers and conferences. After I graduated, I met a few Penn people who partied @ HC and BMC because of the more liberal etoh policy and large parties like Screw, Rhoads, HC Fest and May Day. HC students also do research @ Penn (mostly summer) and in the last year, there was a sophomore connected to do research with the head of physics and a bio major doing Hep C research @ HUP.</p>
<p>3) After going thru HC course registration (which is very student friendly), anywhere else will seem more difficult but the HC registrar will help you out. </p>
<p>4) The Bi-co is pretty self-contained with academics. Linguistics is at Swat. When I was a student, some of my friends took Penn classes in subjects like Africana studies, archaeology and Film... the reasons were somewhat academic but mostly it was to explore a new surrounding and meet new people. Some of these classes meet 1-2 times a week so it’s “doable”. Personally, I think spending time taking classes @ Penn (unless it’s a very unusual and high yield class or your "wander lust" is getting bad) will be time poorly spent and very few students do it. You 1st need to develop a core competency and knowledge in your field of interest and all the Bi-co departments (even the smallest) will have plenty of classes for that purpose. Secondly, the workload at HC is tremendous and you’ll be lucky to make it to the WaWa let alone Penn on a weekly basis. Thirdly, as I’ve written before, a good education should not be defined based solely on what classes you take as I can guarantee that your employers and most professional schools will be weighing heavily what you did for “life experience” and how you apply your knowledge as well. Rather than taking an esoteric class that you can’t find in the bi-co/tri-co, it would make more sense IMO to spend that time heading some campus group, volunteering, ect. Lastly, for most of the smaller fields of study, it makes more sense to save up all your time and spend a semester away… for film, go to U Berlin, U Tokyo, ect… for archaeology, study @ Oxford or in Greece… Africana studies, U Ghana, or even Spelman, ect. There are also summer internships that HC can fund for you to explore any of your interests.</p>