<p>I am curious what kind of place is Philadelphia, I hear that it might be not safe in some areas. Do any people know what kind of atmosphere there is at UPenn, and the atmosphere off campus. I am an international student in Canada, and am considering the thought of applying here in my senior year of high school. Also, what is this school's strengths and weaknesses, I am interested in being a doctor, so I will most likely major in something biology related.</p>
<p>hah</p>
<p>every city has its unsafe areas</p>
<p>and traffic problems</p>
<p>here we go again...</p>
<p>but philly is safe, really, philly is a safe city, I mean if I didn't hear anything about how the killing rate in philly is higher than the admission rate at kansas state university I wouldn't even think of it as an unsafe city at all, like my friend live off-campus and they walk for 30 minutes back from campus at 4 AM in the morning and they're still breathing, and happy to be in Philly, having the experiences of their lives being at the #1 business school in the galaxy, GOD people are becoming so stupid nowadays and dumb, and maybe i'm one of those people</p>
<p>philly people r mean, just watch the eagles games. plus theyre always in a ****ty attitude.</p>
<p>Yay a Cowboys fan talking about Eagles fans. How fitting. We have the greatest and most dedicated fans in all of sports. </p>
<p>Philly is fine. Philly is safe unless you're dumb. RFMIT doesnt deserve to be at a school like Penn. We can trade: You take my spot at BU so you can ogle at the MIT kids and I'll take your spot at Penn so I can be back home and back with my Philly sports teams. Deal.</p>
<p>philly continues a long tradition of losing. eagles r 2-4 this year. cowboys will deliver a smack down to crybaby donovan & co. in 2 weeks</p>
<p>The Penn campus is heavily patrolled - I mean it looks like there's a security guard standing on every corner, a system of monitoring cameras, etc. While not perfect, I'd say the security is very good. Of course there's a reason why they need all this security. There are parts of the city that are not so safe but not ones that a Penn student would normally be in - a lot of the crime reports you read about are drug dealers shooting each other and things like that. Overall I'd say your chances of being alive at the end of 4 years are actually better than a rural school because when you are in a city you spend very little time driving, which is a more risky activity than walking the streets of Phila.</p>
<p>Overall atmosphere I think is very good - there are lots of different restaurants of every ethnic type, lots of social activities, etc. You should come and visit to see for yourself. In part it depends on your personality - some people like rural solitude or small town life, others prefer the excitement of a big city, others might find Phila. not exciting enough compared to say NYC. Personally I think Phila. is "just right" - it's a big city with everything that cities have to offer but not as crowded and hectic as NY. </p>
<p>Penn has a world renowned med school and is generally very strong in anything life science related.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>The hospital is very good too and right on campus. You know, just in case...</p>
<p>It's not as safe as people would like to make it seem. It's not unsafe however. Walk west past 42nd, just 2 blocks off campus. . .</p>
<p>"The hospital is very good too and right on campus. You know, just in case..." you happen to be murdered right on campus.</p>
<p>"walk west past 42nd..."</p>
<p>...and you still have two more blocks of Penn-owned housing to go, then you have that weird area between like 46th and 48th where it suddenly turns into a nice area with all the redevelopment projects (apartments and whatnot). it's after that that things start to get pretty sketchy. It also depends on how far north/south of campus you are.</p>
<p>yeah, the "bad parts" start after 48th, heading due west from campus (on spruce, locust, walnut)</p>
<p>penn's great, as is philly.</p>
<p>There was a recent shooting on 38th & chestnut. </p>
<p>I hate to rain on the Penn Parade, but not that many students want to walk past 42nd at night. A few years ago it used to be 40th, now it's 42nd which is great - things are improving for sure. But let's not make west philly out to be this haven for students because it isn't. It's not an unsafe area, but students would rather avoid this area when they can, which is smart. That's all.</p>
<p>there's also generally no reason to walk past 42nd at night unless you live there. no one's making west philly out to be 'this haven for students,' merely an area that has the problems of any major urban area, and has a security presence far greater than most others, as opposed to some incredibly dangerous place where students are ducking bullets on a nightly basis</p>
<p>From this Thursday's and Friday's Daily Pennsylvanian. Not a good week.</p>
<p>News</a> Brief: Police officer dies, shooter still at-large - News</p>
<p>The first of those news postings has nothing to do with Penn. Philadelphia is a HUGE city and that event occurred on the other side of the city (which has basically locked up LaSalle university). </p>
<p>as for Domus: I'm not sure I agree with what Domus is going for here. It's an extremely expensive luxury apartment complex, in West Philadephia (in a student neighborhood between Penn and Drexel). For that kind of money, you could live in much nicer neighborhoods in the city (rittenhouse, society hill, germantown, chestnut hill...). I think it's an exposed target right now, and it's going to attract a lot of attention as the new rich zone in an otherwise poor neighborhood.</p>
<p>As to earlier posts re: 42nd street: that neighborhood is generally safe at night - almost be definition, the areas where students live are safe. You can go almost to 50th if you stay south of Market and north of Baltimore, and it's a fine/safe neighborhood. It gets dangerous if you go north up to Parkside or south beyond Baltimore, but there are no students in that area. I actually don't know of any students living west of 43rd, and that's WELL within the zone of safe area. (For reference, Koch's, a well-known and loved sandwich shop/deli, is on 43rd and locust. That area is very safe.) (Though if you don't know what Koch's is, you shouldn't be talking about Penn)</p>
<p>RejectedFromMITroll,</p>
<p>I thought you were a decent guy but come on. This could totally happen at either Stanford or MIT or Harvard or Columbia or Yale - a shooting on the other side of San Francisco, Boston, or Trenton? A random bank robbery attempt at a bank barely a month old? Come on. This is only newsworthy because a police officer was killed (and that will always get on the news) and because it was a brand-new Wachovia branch in an area in which they haven't really expanded.</p>
<p>About the only place I think this wouldn't happen is Snore-ell.</p>