More questions for enrolled ED and waiting freshmen!!!n

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
21

<p>NOT AT ALL. Well, you must be open minded and be prepared to work a lot (with the hiking itself, making camp, cleaning dishes, making food, making fire, and carrying your backpack which will be filled to the brim with food/equipment).
Most of the fun is with the interactions with people. The nature and hike is more like an added bonus (and it’s fantastic, let me tell you).</p>

<p>You will stink (no showers, no deodorant, relieving yourself in the woods for atleast two days), but so does everyone else, and you’ll be proud of it when you return to campus on the first day of NSO.</p>

22

<p>Oh wow! Pennquest sounds like so much fun!! And I’m kind of on the quieter side at first (I’m one of those people who is incredibly outgoing once I get to know you but I don’t warm up immediately) so it would be awesome to go into the school year already knowing some people! </p>

<p>Do you have to be super athletic to do the hike though? How intensive it? I’m pretty active but I’m not really a huge athlete… </p>

<p>Do you know what percentage of entering freshman do one of these pre-orientation programs?</p>

23

<p>I’m just like you Hopeful, regarding your first point. </p>

<p>No, you don’t. We had the longest trail this year which I think was a total of 13 miles, including hiking downhill and uphill, over 2 days (half a day, a full day, then half a day). No, you do not need to be super athletic. Many people aren’t. But either way, you’ll probably be pushing yourself to the limit, and don’t you dare complain.</p>

<p>I don’t know percentages. There was 120 people in PennQuest, which was my first choice. I got waitlisted to PennCorp and rejected from Pennacle.</p>

24

<p>It sounds like fun! And don’t worry, I won’t be complaining, ha. I’m not a big complainer and I certainly don’t want to come off as one especially when I’m meeting a bunch of people for the first time.</p>

<p>I’m just a little nervous that I’m not “outdoorsy” enough or outgoing and athletic enough… but I’ve got some time to figure that out. :)</p>

25

<p>Hello, I’m currently a freshman in high school. What were your grades and EC accomplishments in your freshman year? I’m SUPER concerned because I got a 3.66 unweighted GPA my first quarter, and a 3.95 unweighted GPA my second, so my first semester GPA was a 3.81. Do I still have a chance? Does Penn look at GPAs by quarter or semester? </p>

<p>Note: I’m also VP of my class, I help special needs children as a counselor for 3 weeks each summer, my brother has down syndrome, I got accepted into high school with honors, I take honors geometry and English, received an excellence award in computer literacy, next year I’ll be taking AP World History (the only AP class offered to sophomores at my school).</p>

26

<p>And I’m sorry for completely changing the subject…I didn’t realize. haha</p>

27

<p>Getting back to my initial partying/greek life question… can you talk a little about rush and how competitive rush is? Does pretty everyone who rushes get in somewhere? And is it a fun process or is more stressful? </p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

28

<p>Fraternity rush is different from sorority rush.</p>

<p>People who rush sororities WILL get a bid unless there is something blatantly wrong with them… everyone gets down to the last round of at least one sorority unless they drop out.</p>

<p>Fraternities are less structured, and it is possible that if fraternities don’t see you as a good fit, you will not get a bid. That said, it’s unlikely as long as your mind is open.</p>

29

<p>Does anyone know how/when we can set up our Penn emails? I thought we couldn’t do so for a while, but I saw that already like 500 or so people have joined the Penn class of 2014 network on facebook, and you need your school email to do that so wouldn’t that mean a bunch of people already have their emails?</p>

<p>Am I missing something here? ha</p>

30

<p>^ I don’t know when you can set up your Penn emails, but it’s definite that no incoming freshman has one yet. </p>

<p>You don’t have to add a network under profile settings, you can just add UPenn '14 as your college under the education box on your profile. That’s how those people did it.</p>

31

<p>Once you get your Pennkey, then you’ll be set. That probably won’t be for a while though.</p>

32

<p>Since I have been quite busy…i have been answering question and i would like to answer the ones that havent already been answered. </p>

<p>Ummm…</p>

<p>"I’m wondering if you experienced any hazing when you went through rush. I’ve heard that a few sororities (perhaps Alpha Chi Omega, Tri-Delt and some others) haze girls in some crazy ways. I’m really excited about hopefully joining a sorority but I’m not into the stereotypical hazing/caddy girls. Did you experience anything like this? Or do you think this is mostly just a series of rumors?</p>

<p>Also, could you talk a little about the party scene? Are frat parties and such often exclusive? Or can pretty much anyone get in? How often to people generally go out and are the parties usually pretty laid back, (beer pong, just hanging out) or are there more dance parties and stuff? A mix?"</p>

<p>Ok… ummm</p>

<p>With sororities, they haze. And it doesn’t really go by the whole sorority, it goes by who is your “big” and who is you “little”. You big might be sadistic and make you do all this crazy **** and be their ***** for a a week or more or she might be nice and shower you with presents. If you are not into hazing at all I would suggest SDT or Phi Sig, because I think there hazing policies are more enforced. I know some Alpha Phi, Theta and DEFINTELY some Tabards who had to do ridiculous stuff that I would never do. Regardless, the rumor is true, though the stereotypes of the sororities that you seen on various threads are DEFINITELY not true. I know for a fact that almost all the frats haze their pledges. Period.</p>

<p>Frats parties can be exclusive (mainly mixer, date parties, and invite only parties). But if you heard about a party down the grapevine, more likely that not, it is inclusive. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get in. Alot frats emphasize the need for girls, so you have to have a good ratio and don’t travel with too many guys or you wouldn’t get in. Frats will not let you in if the party is full. A good way to get in is know some of the brothers or the pledges, call a friend who is already inside, or get there early. If not then the guy at a the door just wants to be an ******* and you can just wait for him to switch posts. During NSO, its pretty easy because everyone is trowing a party. Alot of people (girls mostly) try to sweet talk the guys guarding the door, but its not classy and comes off a desperate and I rather find another party than be reject repeatedly. </p>

<p>“And how hard would you say it is to find friends? I’m friendly and have quite a few friends in high school but I’m not a total extrovert and I’m so paranoid/worried that I’ll get a “bad” roommate that I don’t click with and I’ll struggle to meet people.”</p>

<p>Its not hard to find friends unless you are ridiculously awkward or severely antisocial. It is a little harder if you don’t really like your hall (which I didn’t much), despise your roommates, or don’t join any clubs or sports. But eventually you’ll find a comfortable friend base that will grow as college goes on, so don’t worry.</p>

33

<p>ummm…concerning the emails…i know that if you are in the college you get an email that allows for you to set up your email, but i didn’t get it until after regular decision admission</p>

34

<p>“Hello, I’m currently a freshman in high school. What were your grades and EC accomplishments in your freshman year? I’m SUPER concerned because I got a 3.66 unweighted GPA my first quarter, and a 3.95 unweighted GPA my second, so my first semester GPA was a 3.81. Do I still have a chance? Does Penn look at GPAs by quarter or semester?”</p>

<p>ummm…do well in school, come back senior year and then we’ll asses your situation. :)</p>

35

<p>“Getting back to my initial partying/greek life question… can you talk a little about rush and how competitive rush is? Does pretty everyone who rushes get in somewhere? And is it a fun process or is more stressful?”</p>

<p>Every gets a bid during rush, unless you drop out or suicide (when you put only one house as preference). Please don’t SUICIDE, no matter what happens, becuase I know so many girls who regret it and can’t do much about the situation after.</p>

<p>People say the process is fun…haha—lies. If you like dressing up but then waiting outside in the cold and rain for hours, being branded with a number, girl flirting shamelessly, and being ranked. Sure its fun. Whats fun is being in a sisterhood, so I guess the week of sacrifice is worth it. Its about a 4-6 hour time commitment everyday for recruitment so be prepared.</p>

36

<p>Ill try to be more prompt…and thanks fightingquaker (even though i feel like ur taking over my thread)…lol :)</p>

<p>keep the questions coming!</p>

37

<p>Thanks for doing this! Reading through this thread has been really helpful/interesting. :)</p>

<p>Can you tell me a little about what goes on during the Penn Preview Days? I want to go but heading down to Penn is a bit of a hike and I spent about a week in the Philly area looking at Penn and hanging out in the city a few months ago visiting family. Are the preview days helpful? Do people make friends at them?What sort of activities or other things go on? Is it a family thing where you want your parents to be there to get acquainted with what’s going on, or is it something that I could go to with a friend and have fun at? I was thinking of maybe going down during spring fling and bringing a friend with me but if penn preview days are really structured and family oriented I’ll try getting my parents to come with me. :)</p>

38

<p>just so you know, you can’t get into spring fling without a current student to buy you a pass</p>

<p>and tours of quad won’t happen during fling (because that’s where the craziness is)</p>

39

<p>Oh okay. Thanks for the tip! I knew tours won’t be offered of the quad on the 16th but I didn’t know about the buying passes thing… I still think it would be cool to be on campus around then to get somewhat of a feeling, even if I’m not allowed into the “craziness” ha</p>

40

<p>^ Didn’t know you had to get a pass. Time to get my friend to get a pass for me. Thanks for the info tenebrousfire.</p>

<p>I’m in Wharton and I’ve already heard a lot about people recommending to place out of Math104 with the AP Calc BC credit. But what about placing out of Stat101? Is it good to place out of it, or will I be missing out on a lot of in depth material that I’d be expected to know when entering Stat102?</p>

<p>Also, when you get credit at Penn using your AP scores, does it simply just count as credit or does it count as a letter grade toward your GPA too? Muchas thanks in advance.</p>