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<p>I thought it was Brown or Dartmouth, but Penn also makes sense, given both its location and the fact that there are a considerable number of legacy kids there who might not be as serious about their studies. From my high school, it seems that the people who choose to go to Penn (3-4 a year) are usually legacy admits, and they also tend to be heavy party-ers.</p>
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<p>No, it’s not, thank you very much.</p>
<p>Penn is known as the social Ivy.</p>
<p>The people in philly did seem much nicer than the people in new york.</p>
<p>and i don’t think harlem is that bad of a place. i’m sure it has its areas but so does every other city on the planet. i spent half the time i spent visiting columbia in harlem and im just fine.</p>
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Only about 15% of Penn’s undergraduate student body consists of legacies:</p>
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<p>[Penn</a> Admissions: Incoming Class Profile](<a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/profile/]Penn”>http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/profile/)</p>
<p>I’d be quite surprised if the percentages of legacies at Penn’s peer schools, including Columbia, were much lower than that (if they’re even lower at all).</p>
<p>Thanks, noooob. Your user ID is an appropriate one.</p>
<p>Look, nobody in their right mind would doubt that NYC is a bigger, more dynamic, more important, simply better city than Philadelphia. However, there are two conclusions people jump to from this, both of which are wrong.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>NYC is better than Philadelphia, therefore Philadelphia is bad
False. Philadelphia is the 2nd largest city hosting an Ivy League school, and the 2nd/3rd most interesting. It’s also one of the few cities in America where real estate prices haven’t cratered, and its economy is has a base of industries (biotech, medicine, law, education, Federal government) that, unlike NYC financial business, have not evaporated and taken their tax revenue with them.</p></li>
<li><p>NYC is better than Philadelphia, and therefore NYC/Columbia is a better place to go to undergrad than Philadelphia/Penn.
Spectacularly false. The very superiority of NYC is what kills the campus community at Columbia compared to Penn. A thousand and one student committees, task forces, (and all the kings horses and all the kings men) could not make Columbia students stay put on their 32 acre campus rather than diffuse into the shadows of New York.</p></li>
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<p>Philadelphia offers the Penn community no shortage of restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, etc…but not to the point where students readily abandon campus for it.</p>
<p>It’s a Goldilocks scenario. NYC is too big, Providence/Princeton/Hanover/Ithaca/New Haven are too small…Philly is ‘juuuust right’ for undergrad.</p>
<p>You have your whole life to “do the New York thing.” But only 4 years for college. It is a special and wondrous and unique experience that should be experienced and celebrated in its own right.</p>
<p>Save Columbia for grad school.</p>
<p>I completely agree with ilovebagels.</p>
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that’s exactly what i decided to do myself :)</p>
<p>
On campus statistics for 2005, 2006, 2007</p>
<p>Drexel
Robberies/Burglaries: 38, 29, 26</p>
<p>Penn
Robberies/Burglaries: 52, 43, 58</p>
<p>Temple
Robberies/Burglaries: 65, 124, 102</p>
<p>Source: US Department of Education OPE database</p>
<p>I agree that the Core is a huge distinction between Columbia and Penn–the OP should definitely check out the requirements of the core to see if it is appealing.</p>
<p>As to the campuses, I am very familiar with both. Columbia is much smaller and although the inside area is pretty, I have to say that I prefer Penn–many of the individual buildings are quite beautiful, it is much larger than Columbia and the main Locust Walk area is great. </p>
<p>New York City is definitely more fun than Philly, but I don’t really know how to factor that in. My personal preference is for a school where most of the social life takes place on campus. I think that at Columbia, many of the students peel off because NYC is so intriguing. Although there are people at Penn who find their social life off campus, I generally feel that there is a pretty strong on-campus/campus-related social life. In addition, there is a much more active Greek scene at Penn, and most of the Greek houses are on or adjacent to campus, which keeps the social life on campus.</p>
<p>I find Columbia’s neighborhood, Morningside Heights, more appealing than Penn’s University
City neighborhood. While a 5-10 minute walk from either campus will take to areas that are not that great, both campuses are in perfectly safe areas, assuming you use common sense.</p>
<p>I know that this begins to sound like a broken record, but if there’s any chance you can visit, you should do so. It’s easy to get from one campus to the other and you might well have a strong reaction to one or both.</p>
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<p>That’s nice…</p>
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<p>I am always right. If you disagree with me, you are wrong.</p>
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<p>bump10char</p>
<p>Both are great universities. UPenn may be more suited for health care fields than Columbia, Columbia more suited for social science fields than UPenn. Columbia ( party ivy league) has a larger party scene, UPenn has a party scene but more so base off the greek life.</p>
<p>columbia is not the party ivy lol. that title belongs to penn.</p>
<p>Or Dartmouth…but definitely NOT Columbia. There is partying going on, but that’s not the I-V-Y, it’s the N-Y-C</p>