<p>Be aware of your surroundings. I go to school in a more minor city–Winston-Salem–but I would not be stupid enough to be wandering around at night.</p>
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<p>IBClass</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the point of your statement was. In the past few years, there have been highly publicized murders on the Harvard campus, at a building at Yale, nearby campus at Wesleyan, at Auburn University, at UNC-Chapel Hill and no doubt many other places (including the tragic events at Virginia Tech). No place is immune from such events, but I think it is somewhat disingenuous of you to suggest that the Penn campus is more likely than others to have people coming on campus to shoot students.</p>
<p>I do agree with others however that Penn is an urban open campus, that there may be people on campus from the surrounding area and that the surrounding area is not one of the best. Robbery is a particular issue as you can see from the campus crime statistics. Potential students as well as their parents should definitely visit Penn to see how they react to the area.</p>
<p>I’m puzzled by this “safety of Penn” question. Is any campus truly “safe”?</p>
<p>I would still apply to Penn if I really liked it- this shouldn’t be a reason not to apply. But honestly, its better to have a friend/friends with you if you’re going to be out late at the library or something similar. Also, common sense will also help keep you safe- don’t stare at random strangers or make gestures; avoid walking around at 2am. After all, its a city; this stuff happens in any city.</p>
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I would appreciate it if you would kindly refrain from putting words in my mouth. </p>
<p>Nowhere in my post did I suggest that Penn was any more dangerous than other urban schools. In fact, I specifically noted that the other two urban Ivies (Harvard and Columbia) have higher crime rates. That said, Penn is hardly the College of the Atlantic in terms of campus crime.</p>
<p>Pointing fingers at other universities does nobody any good. Claiming “crime happens everywhere” does not translate to “crime does not happen at Penn.”</p>
<p>To me the safety issue is a drawback for some top schools. No school is perfect.</p>
<p>Crime does happen at Penn. To me, the problem is that college kids are out late at night. Very late. There are some places that this is a little more OK than others. I consider Rice the perfect college, and my daughter knew better than to wander around campus alone at 3am. There were “incidents” even at Rice. It is also a city college, with great surroundings on 3 sides and one side a little dicey. When I was at IU many years ago there were late-night assaults on campus. Penn just offers up an additional element of sketchy characters. It was like that years ago and it is a lot better now but still something to note.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t walk alone late at night in any large city, even Houston. Ann Arbor is a great town for safety and is one of it’s benefits. During the day, you can literally walk anywhere within the city limits and feel perfectly safe. There are really no bad neighborhoods in the entire city.</p>