<p>So I had just left my Principal's office, where I let him know that I got into Penn and handed him a thank-you note for writing me recs, when he follows me out and announces to the office that: "[magnito] was accepted to Penn State!!"</p>
<p>I stood there with a blank stare on my face as staff congratulated me.</p>
<p>I bet that most current/accepted students at Penn have run into one of these situations. How do you react? A polite "no, UPenn, not Penn State?"</p>
<p>I keep my “Not Penn State” at home (far away from Penn) to sometimes drive the point home. If not, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I say “No, just Penn.” Other times I just let it go. If I feel like being a jerk, a simple “No, Penn State is in the Big 10, Penn is in the Ivy League” will do, but that’s not encouraged.</p>
<p>When I am talking to people who I think will confuse Penn with Penn state (a lot of people in the midwest) I say “I am going to the University of Pennsylvania/UPenn” instead of just saying “I’m going to Penn”.</p>
<p>Yah I spend a lot of time in an area where UPenn isn’t known well at all (think Big Ten country), so I just pretty much always call the school UPenn now - if I said Penn everyone would think Penn State.</p>
<p>I think the “no it’s an ivy league school” response is kind of in bad taste. No need to do that, really. In the past when I have to clarify, I just say, cheerfully, “no University of Pennsylvania in Philly, not Penn State - they’re two different schools.” Again, no need to be officious about the situation. </p>
<p>I think it differs tremendously by region for this school. On the east coast, you’re fine calling it Penn and most people (outside those in western PA maybe) know what you’re talking about. Elsewhere, like in the midwest or southwest, going with UPenn or University of Penn is a much better way to go. UPenn isn’t really a known commodity in some areas of the US.</p>
<p>I told a woman who got a JD from Yale that I was going to “University of Pennsylvania” and she responded that it’s “a great state school.” This happened in Maryland.</p>
<p>Necro - where did the women do her undergrad? If it was outside the east coast, maybe she was just ingrained into thinking about Penn State. </p>
<p>Again, at the ivies especially at the grad school level, you’re just not connected with undergrad sports, so she probably just didn’t think about (or know about) the fact that UPenn plays Yale like 20 times a year in all sorts of different sports. </p>
<p>Like if this woman did her undergrad at Michigan or Ohio State, it’s not really that surprising - where Penn State is a very known commodity. If she went to, say, Swarthmore, then it is surprising.</p>
<p>I kind of like the confusion. To academics and future employers, Penn is an Ivy League school. To the general population, Penn is unknown. It makes you come across as less pretentious , while also enabling you to reap the benefits of the Ivy league name when it’s important.</p>
<p>I had always ascribed to the “those who matter, know” philosophy until this little incident.</p>
<p>and then my Principal’s secretary proceeds to ask me why in the world Penn would be my first choice if I’d applied to schools like MIT and Duke. ha, ha …</p>
<p>People think my daughter attends an Ivy League school; she attends Pitt. The Penn confuses people.</p>
<p>I get asked why we paid all that out of state tuition when we have University of Tennessee with great athletics!</p>
<p>I’m imagining football games at Franklin Field with the crown roaring “WE AREN’T – PENN STATE!”</p>
<p>^ But one thing I bet you CAN’T imagine is a Penn football game at Franklin Field AGAINST Penn State. :eek:</p>
<p>From what I have heard, even saying “I go to the University of Pennsylvania” can lead to the response “Ah, Penn State. Great football team.”</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I usually say I go to “The University of Pennsylvania” or “UPenn” to most people, and “Penn” to locals (ie. in Philly).</p>
<p>While this whole thing can be a nuisance, I think we should be more tolerant than to immediately label the offender as an ignorant/idiot. However, your principal should know better :rolleyes:</p>
<p>^he said his principal’s secretary</p>
<p>Being from Big Ten country, saying Penn will get me a scowl…but most people know what I’m talking about when I say “UPenn”</p>
<p>When I was deferred, people ask how in the hell i was deferred to Penn State ( because they know I’m applying to ivies and such). Some people just don’t know what is going on…</p>
<p>so much easier to say “I attend the Wharton School.” However, that only gets an appropriate reaction from people in the business field. To most, Wharton means nothing >.<</p>
<p>^^ exactly. very very true.</p>
<p>PABank: I was referring to the original (first) post of this thread</p>
<p>necrophiliac: That’s true. Wharton puts a huge emphasis on marketing its name. A poll on Spike said that 1009 of 1360 surveyed came to Wharton because of its brand name. </p>
<p>If you compare “University of Pennsylvania” with the other Ivies, it is the only one that begins with “University” followed by its main name. While the University of Chicago also follows this pattern, it does not have the problem of having a hugely popular football school with a similar name. Also notice that Chicago is a city whereas Pennsylvania is a state. There are so many state/public schools that follow the format of “University of [State]”, it’s easy to see why people confuse Penn with Penn State.</p>
<p>Actually, Penn was originally named “College of Philadelphia” by Ben Franklin before it was renamed to the University of the State of Pennsylvania. At least they condensed that to University of Pennsylvania. So since its founding, there was an inherent flaw in the marketability of its name. I’m sure this could have been overcome if Penn State had a different name, or if Penn State was not any good at football.</p>
<p>^ Whartoneer, I attended both Chicago and Penn, and I think that, basically, these are the two best schools most people have never heard of. Both are great schools, but there’s very little public awareness about them on a wideranging scale. A small swath of the east coast is familiar with Penn, and Chicago is very well known in certain enclaves, but generally, these schools don’t provide much in the way of broad name recognition. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth getting too caught up in this. Unless something drastic happens (Chicago gets great at football, Penn changes its name) confusion and lack of recognition is always going to occur. It’s not really a big deal.</p>
<p>yeah I saw that poll. Pretty funny if you ask me.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to that thread about changing the name of the school? I think University of Pennsylvania should be changed to Benjamin University or something. When you consider University of Alabama, University of Virginia and University of Maryland, etc, can’t really blame people for associating University of Pennsylvania with state school</p>