<p>So i was recently talking to some people about colleges and the large amount of Jewish students and Penn came up. They said that there are many more Jewish people at Penn than any other top school and that if you are not Jewish you can feel like a outsider or left out a lot. I have nothing against Jewish people and I even have some close friends that are Jewish, but I am afraid as a Catholic I may not fit in very well at Penn. Is what they told me true or exaggerated?</p>
<p>According to this, about 25% of Penn’s undergraduates are Jewish–comparable to Columbia, Cornell, and Harvard:</p>
<p>[60</a> Universities with the Largest Jewish Population in North America](<a href=“http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2009/jul/23july09_topschools.htm]60”>http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2009/jul/23july09_topschools.htm)</p>
<p>There are also many Catholic undergrads at Penn, and you should have absolutely no problem fitting in quite well at Penn, which in general features an extremely diverse student body. For more information on Catholic student activities and life at Penn, you might want to check out this site and organization:</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Newman Center at The University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.newman.upenn.edu/ext/default.asp]Penn”>http://www.newman.upenn.edu/ext/default.asp)</p>
<p>No, you will not feel left out if you are not Jewish. There is a very large Jewish population (around 25-30%) but there are plenty of people who aren’t Jewish. And also, percentage-wise it’s actually not that much more than other top schools. Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia all have Jewish populations that are over 20% of the student body. It seems some people think of Jewish students as a self-segregating group, but personally, I am Jewish and I don’t really agree with that, I think Jewish kids may hang out together but I don’t think most have a problem in including friends who are not Jewish too. Although I personally grew up in an area with very small Jewish population so throughout elementary and middle school and high school to a lesser extent, most of my friends were not Jewish.</p>
<p>The majority(between 60 and 70 percent) of caucasian/white students at Penn are Jewish. Furthermore, the Newman Center is a joke that sits in an alley and looks decrepit. The Jewish building(Penn Hillel) is a massive multi-million dollar structure right off of Locust Walk. You may very well feel left out if you are not Jewish. If Princeton is the WASP-dominated Ivy, then Penn is surely the Jewish-dominated Ivy.</p>
<p>No one feed the ■■■■■.</p>
<p>I’m a Catholic, and although I did actually feel like a bit of an outsider freshman year, during sophomore year I decided to become active in the Newman Center. That solved that problem! The kids who do Newman are very fun; we tend to be pretty typical college students who also enjoy both the religious and the cultural aspects of Catholicism.</p>
<p>There are plenty of retreats available to people through the Newman Center, as well as outreach programs and random fun stuff like bingo nights, movie nights, a Dollar Dinner (every Thursday at 6PM, the Newman Center offers a pasta dinner with a salad and a dessert for a dollar; it used to be free, but people didn’t go because they thought it was too good to be true!). Also, it is worth noting that somewhere in the vicinity of 15% of undergraduates are Catholic (at least, born Catholic), so though the Catholics aren’t as visible as other groups, we are still a large part of campus! :)</p>
<p>My son is a senior, Lutheran and rooms with 3 guys - 1 Jewish, 2 Catholics. He goes with the Catholics to Dollar Pasta night on Thursdays at the Newman Center and they all go to Hillel or his roommates uncle’s house for Jewish holidays. The best of all worlds and they are eating well. You will only not fit in at Penn if you choose not to, ie. stay in your room and don’t interact with other people.</p>
<p>One can easily sense that it is a Jewish dominated school with primarily Jewish faculty and administration. Yes, they are still a minority here(under 50% of total students) but only in the strictest sense of the word. They’re still the most influential group of people on campus. With that said, non-Jewish students are not ostracized by any means but there is a certain coldness.</p>
<p>UPENN= the Jewniversity of Pennsyl-asia</p>
<p>jk 
But I know that Upenn has a large Jewish minority…which would be nice for jewish kids since they’d have a good hillel, network and kosher food :)</p>
<p>does anybody know about the Muslim population at Penn?</p>
<p>I did grad school at Penn. Undergrad student body is pretty “JAPpy” in terms of experience and outlook, moreso than at other ivies that I’ve seen. Very high percentage of kids are from affluent suburbs of NYC, Philly, Boston and DC with large Jewish populations. That said, Penn’s student body is very friendly and open, and I can’t imagine anyone really feeling out of sorts about their background. There’s some of everything there. When I visited more recently, it was clear that the Asian presence has grown dramatically and may soon rival the Jewish one. </p>
<p>By the way, the historically large Jewish presence at Penn arose from the fact that Penn as institution was much more progressive than HYP in accepting Jewish students (and women) in an age when these enrollments were limited by policy. Before WWII a really talented Jewish students might have had problems getting into Yale or Princeton, but would have been more readily welcomed at Penn.</p>
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<p>Any time you say this, you wind up sounding like…er…somebody you really don’t want to sound like.</p>
<p>I was just trying to show that i’m not anti-semitic in any way and I don’t really see how that comment makes me seem like a certain person.
Anyway, thanks for all the help everyone!</p>
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<p>Can’t even compare to the Jewish population</p>
<p>^ 
but at I’m pretty sure Penn has an MSA though but I have no idea how big it is…</p>
<p>Do you think it would give u an edge when applying at penn to be Muslim + African/black…? Since I’m sure there’s a need for more :)</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-P509 using CC App</p>
<p>^I guess you could use urm as a hook</p>
<p>Being black yes if you meant domestic applicant, not sure about muslim being helpful. I mean there are muslims here, I know several from taking middle eastern classes, but don’t expect something like hillel.</p>
<p>The Jewish population at Penn is about 25% - i.e. Jews are hugely over-represented (Jews make up 2% of the US and 0.2% of the world) but still are in no way a majority.</p>