<p>Then go save the to-be-slaughtered before it's toooo laaaaate</p>
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I can't believe this. People are being slaughtered around the world, and this is what you dedicate your time to.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And what, you're typing from a laptop that's receiving an internet connection by satellite in Darfur?</p>
<p>
[quote]
3. So, the way you address an institution says a lot about your degree of connection, your sophistication, and your manners. And, yes, maybe even your intelligence, if you really don't care how you come off when you talk to others.
[/quote]
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<p>This is very distorted logic, considering 10 percent of my class were admitted to HYP, and around 25 percent were offered admission to an Ivy League institution. I myself will be attending a college that offers superior "connections." I also consider myself a fairly urbane person and a decent human being. </p>
<p>And, people who don't care how they are perceived by others are quite admirable, I would say, because they aren't pretentious and they don't harbor an inferiority complex: they have no need to put on a false facade of intelligence that easily crumbles when threatened. =)</p>
<p>I agree that there are lots of people who don't care about how they are perceived by others that I find admirable, although not necessarily as diplomats or job applicants. However, you may have to be within a mile or so of Widener Library, or in certain neighborhoods in Manhattan, to appreciate the I-don't-care-if-I-look-like-an-arrogant-tool variety.</p>
<p>Like everyone else, I am amazed and amused at the life this thread has taken on, given that everything valuable in it was contained in the first few posts. In NormalWorld, here's how this conversation goes down:</p>
<p>A: [Asks question about UPenn]</p>
<p>B: Dude, no one here calls it "UPenn". You ought to just say "Penn".</p>
<p>A: Gee, thanks. I hope I didn't embarass myself or insult you, I just didn't know.</p>
<p>B: Don't worry about it; it's not a big deal. You came here to get advice from people who know something, and I gave you a little piece of advice.</p>
<p>But, hey, if saying "UPenn" makes you feel all brave and iconoclastic and defying convention, etc., and if you don't care about seeming like you don't know anything about the University of Pennsylvania because you plan to seek "superior connections" elsewhere, then by all means say "UPenn" if you want. No one's going to try to make you stop, not even the Penn trademark police. And the starving people in Darfur you're saving won't care either way.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are APPLYING to the University of Pennsylvania, you might be grateful to hear the anecdotes of admissions office personnel saying that they DO care.</p>
<p>In my school's yearbook, they listed our Valedictorian as going to "UP".</p>
<p>The school calls itself Penn - on the application, on sweatshirts in the bookstore, on Penn literature, etc. I think it's pretty clear that Penn is preferred (by the school itself, as well as it's students, faculty, etc.) to UPenn. And UP is just annoying - no one calls it that. I have heard U of P, too.</p>
<p>Penn? isn't that a state school in some remote town in the middle of Pennsylvania? ;)</p>