<p>heh. i have a lot of inside info about penn, as i do live 20 minutes from the campus, and know a sufficient amount of ppl from my school that go there. in fact, i spent 2 unofficial days at penn (aka, without tour guides) during my spring break, wondering around with a friend. there is definitely a big social life at penn, but it's all fraternity and sorority oriented - yes, there are about 10 parties on any given friday night, but they're all essentially the same - cram into a frat house and drink until you pass out. definitely not for me.</p>
<p>and it does look like im turning down penn to go to Rochester. i think im loosing the last bits of my sanity. but hey, i can make my rochester education very close to the rigor of Penn... my current proposed schedule for next year is quest orgo (fi they offer it), second semester 170-lvl math (even though everyone's telling me to avoid it), and honors physics. im also considering taking 5 classes. </p>
<p>one by one the penguins steal my sanity</p>
<p>Chemaddict, my DS took the 170 Calculus track and absolutely loved it, good choice (it's very challenging for someone who loves math, learning more of the why and not just the how). (BTW, my DD is graduating from Penn in three weeks and she loves it and would love to stay there a few more years if she could - oh, and she's not in a sorority).</p>
<p>behappy- im going to colgate</p>
<p>Chemaddict, you will not be allowed to take more than 19 credits as a first semester freshman so taking 5 classes is not a possibility. Anyways having CHM131, PHY141, and possibily MTH171 will be absolutely insane. I advise you to take it easy first semester. You have a whole 4 years ahead of you and you don't want your first semester to be filled with constant studying. Take it easy because you will be experiencing a new environment and that on top of 19 credits is not the best idea...</p>
<p>lol. ur probably right. oh well. IB program has taught me time management. let's hope that helps. plus, if I go to penn, which i won't, i'll be accepting their offer for the Roy Vagelos program, or whatever it's called, which is so rigorous that the ppl who run it openly say that you won't have time for any extra-curricular activities. so, either way, im looking for a tough freshman year. </p>
<p>and now that we're on the subject on credits and all, what the policy like.. when can i start taking 19 credits?</p>
<p>Congrats on your decision chemaddict! Wow you're really planning on piling it on huh? I never got the chance to participate in the IB program - I get the feeling i missed out on alot of stuff that woulda prepared me for college the way it did for you.</p>
<p>I know tons of people've probably pestered you to to death about this already but Im just curious - what it is about UR that you love.
I myself did a killer amount of college reserach as well - maybe not enough to espouse one but more than enough xD I know for sure why I would choose UR over Cornell though (gawd i hate that place).</p>
<p>btw - if you're already familiar with APChem, then shouldnt you be bypassing Freshmen Chem?</p>
<p>After your first semester... A cool thing that UR does is that first semester freshman can make a class pass/fail until the first week of December...</p>
<p>Awakien, what is it you didn't like about cornell?</p>
<p>Cornell University, with an undergraduate size of 13,000+ students - is definitely not the place for me. I hate that feeling of being just a statistic, a number, a small fish in the sea. </p>
<p>Competition at Cornell is high because everyone wants to succeed and it gets to the point that people are at each other's throats sometimes to say....get into a popular course, to get on their professor's good side, etc etc. </p>
<p>Cornell is an ivy league, thats great and all - but because of its prestige, it has to maintain its reputation for being a tough school. The workload and the level of difficulty in each of their courses is TOUGHH. </p>
<p>Professors there may have this mentality that "not everyone can succeed," because how can everyone be the best? with 13,000 students - they cant pay special attention to everyone - and so they tend to favor certain students over others.</p>
<p>Overall, its just the impersonal feeling I get about Cornell. Ive never heard so many stories of messed up/lost applications from any other school except Cornell. </p>
<p>And this may be more personal, but Ive had many college interviews and none went as bad as my cornell interviewer. THe guy was just so distanced, i hated it. He was really impersonal and he kept poking at my WEAKNESSES. can you believe it? he kept prodding me for my grades - something NONE of the other interviewers would ever do. </p>
<p>I dunno, maybe its just me =P and please please do not jump at me for generalizing, it is true for the most part and yes there are always exceptions, but at bigger-tougher-schools - the above is usually true.</p>
<p>heh. interesting. why did i chose rochester? interesting questions really</p>
<p>it has a lot to do with why Awakien doesn't like Cornell, in fact, i could copy paste this into this post, minus the interview, and it would be true. i just don't like the atmosphere at penn. i don't like ivies in general, because a school has to try pretty hard to get the reputation of a stuck up place, even if not all the students are stuck up. i don't like the competition, i dont like the huge classes, i don't like the requirements, i don't like any of the dorms, i don't really like the majority of the people, i don't feel comfortable even when im just visiting a friend in her dorm.</p>
<p>in rochester, on the other hand, im comfortable. the atmosphere is a lot warmer, even if the weather isn't. there isn't the same sense of preppiness and other such things. and, whats best of all, there are no distribution requirements. the fact that i only have to take a writing class is absolutely wonderful. im not really a fan of the social sciences, arts, or the humanities. i do like some stuff, but i wouldn't want to get a broad education. i'll take the clusters, i'll probably even take some other classes outside math and science, but the educational freedom allows me to take only what i want</p>
<p>oh, and as for AP chem, i have to say, i've done a lot more than just AP chem. iv'e had the same teacher for 3 years now, and in those three years, we've learned so much, the AP chem exam is insultingly easy.</p>