<p>How do you have fun when not working hard on studies? Especially if you are not a big partier?</p>
<p>you can go downtown.</p>
<p>I have tons of fun with all my extracurriculars and hanging out with friends. There are tons of things...shows, events happening on campus all the time.</p>
<p>I'm more of a medium partier.</p>
<p>theres plenty of things to do in Philly, man. South Street has enough things to do for a week straight.</p>
<p>It's true to say that there's more to do in NYC (were you to go to Columbia) than there is in Philly. (conversely, you can say there is more to do in Philadelphia than there is in the cities near Princeton, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell...), the fact that most Penn students spend the vast majority of their time on campus makes the place feel quite tightly-knit for its 10,000 student size. I say you have your whole damn life to do the city thing, but you only have 4 years of the college thing. Penn strikes a fantastic balance.</p>
<p>I heard Penn is very dangerous (the location).</p>
<p>The fact that Penn is thought to be in a bad location really hurts it. I think it costs them 3,000 or more apps a year.</p>
<p>I'm from Philly, and I know where the badlands are. And Penn is not the badlands. There have been a few murders over the past 20 years near Penn, but remember the city has 2 million people and theres murders in every neighborhood. Also, Penn's police force is huge. one of the biggest. sometimes theyll even pick you up and drive you somewhere if youre really that nervous. i know someone who got rides from drexel to penn (which is only 4 or 5 blocks) all the time.</p>
<p>if youre an idiot though and walk around counting your money at 3 am and get mugged or something... thats youre fault for being an idiot. Be smart and youll be fine.</p>
<p>If youre from a dreary suburb, it might be a big change for you. But thats because NOTHING happens in the suburbs, ever.</p>
<p>eeek</p>
<p>yeah i really want to go to wharton except im from one of those monster upper class suburbs where we get scared going into minneapolis...LOL MINNEAPOLIS!</p>
<p>hmm</p>
<p>Penn isn't dangerous. It's not as safe as, say totally gentrified suburbs, but Penn pours TONS of money into their own private police force (that carries guns and has legal authorization to kill).</p>
<p>Penn freshmen are always scared to go past 40th street. I live on 42nd. I've never been mugged, never been raped, never been killed, never been interrupted in my walk by a drug deal...</p>
<p>As my dad keeps telling me: Don't be stupid. It's a great goal to live by.</p>
<p>What muppetcoat said is so true (both in that frosh are scared and they shouldn't be).</p>
<p>Fortunately, the siren song of alcohol is enough to lure them out and break their phobia</p>
<p>Wow you guys all go to Penn? That's awesome. Do you guys think perhaps you could help me out with my essays? I'm doing the autobiographical page 217 was my second one, and I was wondering if you recommend doing something that already happened to you or making up a fictional occurence (I've seen it done both ways). Also, any ideas to what I should write about, or what you wrote about?</p>
<p>Most of the crime at Penn is "student on student". There isn't a crime problem from the surrounding community and the neighborhood isn't dangerous. </p>
<p>Some people arrive in a large city with varied shades of people and think "OMG...this is dangerous". Four years at Penn would be a good thing for people like that.</p>
<p>AnuVX, there are two ways people interpret the 217 essay. Either 217 of your autobiography up to this point in life, or the 217th page of what you imagine would be your entire life biography (i.e. Penn wants to see where you imagine yourself at/near the peak of your career).</p>
<p>I chose the 217th page of my life. More room to make up a cool story. And hey, it worked I suppose :-D</p>
<p>i really dont see penn as a dangerous place at all. i havent considered it in the least. i guess i just dont mind the city. i didnt think new haven was that bad either, the hobos were very friendly. haha</p>
<p>johnnyk: yeah i chose it as my whole life. but then i did a day at penn..so not really the peak of my career. think that's a bad idea?</p>
<p>A day at Penn? is that a new essay?</p>
<p>Okay, west philly being a bad place is NOT TRUE! I myself thought I was coming to a horrible neighbourdhood and I was surprised when I found out that it is quiet and safe. If you stick within the campus boundaries and go to downtonwn instead of further up to west philly, you will never have trouble. Don't walk alone at night, you have free escorts and so there is no need to risk being hurt. I have not found trouble so far.
About Philly being boring, I hate this place. I can't find anything to do, most there is to do downtown is go to clubs but since I am underage I can't go and aside from that, you can go to eat but we are confined to the dinning plan,so I don't feel like wasting more money. I come from Toronto, which is a huge city, so Philly being so small kinda makes me think much more differently than other people. I feel like I have time to have fun but I can't find things to do, aside from haging out with friends. I mean, I love doing that, but you may want to do more. There is NO malls around here and there is ONLY one grocery shop close by. I mean, this place seems like Ithaca to me :(. I love the school and the Penn spirit is awesome but the city, that's another story. </p>
<p>Just in case, I am a chemical engineer...</p>
<p>are you saying Philly is a small city? I think we have more people than Toronto. Defintely more when you consider metro area.</p>
<p>South street has tons of places to eat, theres at least 5 great places to go see concerts all within 2 miles of Penn. No malls? The gallery is a good mall right downtown. Theres cool places on chestnut street, walnut, and the aforementioned south streets which are all near penn.</p>
<p>I think you're looking in the wrong places or something.</p>
<p>How about Liberty Place? If that's the kind of "indoor mall" experience you're looking for. We're more of a metropolitan shopping experience, with many, many trendy stores lining the strees downtown. Have you shopped on Walnut Street? Chestnut Street? Have you been to Lord and Taylor on Market Street? WOuld you stand in the middle of Manhattan and ask why there's no mall? Same with downtown Philly - no mall, but plenty of fabulous shopping. </p>
<p>Try going over to 30th Street Station and taking the R7 or R8 Septa Regional rail lines to "Chestnut Hill". There you'll find a quaint shopping experience in a fabulous part of the city...cobblestone streets, restaurants, etc. The train ride would take about 20 minutes. I would also imagine there's a not so hard way for you to get to King of Prussia Mall.....now THAT's shopping at it's finest (in a mall). </p>
<p>When the weather is nice, go downtown to Rittenhouse Square park and hang out. there are always concerts, shows, events, etc. Or, travel down to Penn's Landing and see what's going on at the waterfront.....usually shows, events, festivals....</p>
<p>What about the museums? How many have you visited? Have you toured city hall and taken the elevator to the top of William Penn's hat (on city hall)? Have you torured the rest of the historic sites downtown? Poe's house always does Halloween up right! Also, Eastern State Penitentiary on Fairmount Ave (next to Art Museum) is the #9 haunted attraction in the country......something like $25 to enter...but guaranted to scare you to pieces. </p>
<p>I could go on and on......taking you to Manayunk, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, Society Hill, Main Line, etc. </p>
<p>I can't believe you're bored!! I think you just haven't tapped into people who know where to go. Have you met kids at Penn from Philly?</p>