Intellectual atmosphere at the College

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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Hopefully, ilovebagels will chime in. He's a 2008 graduate of the College who now has some plum job in India, and generally posts here while those of us in the Western Hemisphere are sound asleep. He does a good job extolling the virtues of the College.

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LOL ilovebagels needs to get in here, he's a 08 Penn graduate i believe, I may be wrong...

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<p>Me to the rescue!</p>

<p>Sorry for the delay, I was on a business trip to Ahmedabad, which I think can be dubbed "the Princeton Township/Borough of India" for its sheer boring-ness (at least in comparison to Mumbai and Bangalore).</p>

<p>Penn's College atmosphere is, in my experience, as intellectual as you want it to be.</p>

<p>There are students that just "go through the motions" because they are more concerned with partying, or finding a job, or even with another class to which they choose to devote more of their time. They are unavoidable and are not limited to Wharton or even Penn. You will find these people at any school.</p>

<p>Then there are the students who ARE passionate, ARE intense, and DO care. But, at least at Penn, such a passion for learning is not necessarily mutually exclusive from a passion for going out and having fun.</p>

<p>I think most of the Penn students are closet nerds. They don't want to appear intellectual, but they have their passions. I've spent long road trips and coffee dates philosophizing with my classmates on everything from economics to bioethics--interspersed between ruminations on whom we'd most like to sleep with, of course.</p>

<p>If you make the effort to reach out to professors, they will always reciprocate. My Econ-001 professor would treat any student who asked to lunch (her play on the economics axiom that "there is no such thing as a free lunch"...lolz @ econ humor!). I was on a first-name basis with professors I reached out to, and we still keep in touch. I've even gone out dining and drinking with them, when they have a visiting guest and just one-on-one.</p>

<p>There are of course the courses you are taking for requirements that you won't find to be as passionate (except, of course when you surprisingly find that you do...I remember a cramming session the night before an ARTH-002 exam that extended into the morning before the exam because we found ourselves spending 3 HOURS heatedly arguing over modernism in architecture.</p>

<p>And yes, there is Philo, which is glorious. Like an intellectual form of Calvinball, but with more wine and cheese (which can and of course has been debated on whether it was being done ironically or not).</p>

<p>Penn is what you make of it, and I can think of no other school that gives you more of it to make. Make it yours.</p>

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<p>thanks ilovebagels. very nicely said. </p>

<p>when you are not in LAC or small university, the educational experience largely becomes dependent on your initiative and creativity to make it what you want. i sense there is less hand holding and you have to be proactive find those "interesting" required classes and meet with your professors etc.</p>

<p>Can you please answer these questions too:</p>

<p>1) What are the freshmen specific resources available at Penn?<br>
2) Are seniors involved (formally) with guiding, mentoring freshmen?
3) When are the academic advisors assigned to freshmen?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

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1) What are the freshmen specific resources available at Penn?
2) Are seniors involved (formally) with guiding, mentoring freshmen?
3) When are the academic advisors assigned to freshmen?

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I'm a freshman in the College, so I'm still finding my way around.</p>

<p>I know during NSO, a lot of time is spent acquainting students with the academic resources available on campus. There are "PHINS" (Peers Helping Incoming New Students) literally everywhere on campus during NSO, and they are upperclassmen who are there to offer advice.</p>

<p>Around I think June, we get a package in the mail with the contact info for our peer and pre-major advisers. I don't know whether peer-advisers are always seniors (mine happens to be a senior though)</p>

<p>Just on the note of the intellectual atmosphere, some faculty members will give one-time, short lectures, which are a great chance to learn more about a topic of interest without committing to a class. Just earlier this week, I went to a lecture on neurocriminology for instance, and later I went with a group of about 15 to one of the dining halls for a private dinner and discussion with the lecturer. A friend of mine in engineering went to a similar type of lecture, except the topic was relating to computer science.</p>

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<p>I believe the freshman advisors are the Faculty Masters in your dorm. You are required to meet them before you are allowed to enroll in courses for the spring semester, so there will definitely be some contact.</p>

<p>And overall, you are right. The opportunities are endless, but you have to go take that little bit of initiative to go do them.</p>

<p>CDN_dancer made the choice to go to the neurocriminology lecture and dinner discussion instead of sitting around and playing another 2 hours of Xbox. As long as your child is capable of making the same smart decisions, Penn will be wonderful</p>

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<p>i should probably feel bad about playing rock band 2 so much today =(</p>

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<p>I challenge anyone to any rhythm game, ever.</p>

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<p>any advice on the "why penn" essay? what is it they are looking for ...</p>

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<p>I believe they are looking for it to say Huntsman, Steinberg, or Fisher across the top.</p>

<p>I keed, I keed. I think they are looking for real passion. And after reading 20,000 such papers every year, i imagine they've got quite well-developed BS-detectors.</p>