<p>How much of a city school is Penn? Is most socializing and life on campus, or is a lot in the city? How often would you say you go out into the city?</p>
<p>I'd say there's a good mix of both. Centre City (downtown) is just a short subway ride away so it's easy to get down there and grab dinner or whatever. At the same time there's always a ton of events occuring right on campus.</p>
<p>My friends and I usually go off campus about once a week.</p>
<p>Thanks, anyone else?</p>
<p>Campus life is very strong, which makes Penn unique amongst top-tier big city schools.</p>
<p>Heck, half the time I went downtown, it was to go to a campus group that had rented out a club/bar or something.</p>
<p>I think as I progressed from freshman, the % of my time spent off-campus went up, but even then it was still but a small fraction...occasional pub crawls, dim-sums in chinatown, random stuff like that</p>
<p>I would say that the city is definitely an important component of penn. A few of my classes take frequent trips into the city, which really enhances your learning experience. Being able to go downtown is a great privilege that you have as a Penn student, so many students do take advantage of this. I wouldn't say that people spend a TON of time down there, but it is nice to go to Center City for an evening or a day of shopping every once in a while. There is plenty to do on campus if you don't want to leave, but the city is always there for you too if you need a change of pace.</p>
<p>I would say that the city is a definite bonus. It doesn't take away from campus life, but it's such a nice option to just go out to center city when you need a break from school.</p>
<p>
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it's such a nice option to just go out to center city when you need a break from school.
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Or when you need something besides dining hall food ;)</p>
<p>You don't have to go very far into the city to get great non-dining-hall food at Penn. The lunch trucks on the street during the day are outstanding and inexpensive, and Penn has more great restaurants virtually on campus than anyone has a right to expect. I had dinner at Distrito last week -- wow, what an addition! I can't think of a restaurant that good so near (< two blocks) to huge undergraduate dorms anywhere, including NYU. Maybe there's one in Cambridge.</p>
<p>I end up going downtown for fun stuff about every other week. I'll also find myself going there for clubs and other stuff. It's really a nice addition to the college experience. The thing is Philly isn't as intense as NYC so it's not like the city takes over campus life, but at the same time, you can escape the day to day of a college student by going downtown every once in a while and remind yourself that there is more to the world than University City.</p>
<p>^Amen. Best of both worlds, baby. It's such an ideal situation that seems to make so much sense that I don't even realize most colleges don't have it (until I visit friends at Columbia and encounter a dead campus, or visit friends at Princeton and say "okay, nice little campus, now what?"</p>
<p>you can take advantage of the city as much as you want, but you can also have a good campus life if you want that as well.
food and the arts are something you might want to leave campus for. places like white dog and pod are extreeeemely good but wayyy overpriced. you can just take the SEPTA down to chinatown and get good food there.</p>