<p>What percent of students live on the campus? Is there a noticeable lack of people living on campus?</p>
<p>I'm sure you can figure it out if you look on the website, but my impression is that about half the undergraduates live on campus. Meaning, all of the freshmen, 2/3 of the sophomores, and not many of anyone else, except for people living in on-campus fraternities.</p>
<p>Is there a noticeable lack of people living on campus? I'll take that as an honest question, but it's hilarious. The Penn campus is buzzing most of the time. There are people everywhere. The number of people living on campus at Penn is about the same as the number living on campus at Yale, and at Penn they are concentrated into a much smaller area. And people who live off campus are still on campus at all hours of the day and night.</p>
<p>Penn isn't a commuter school where people go home to their families at night, or on weekends. (Actually, some do, but very few.) The students who live off campus tend to live in a radius of 1-7 blocks away from the campus, in areas dominated by student housing, so they might just as well be part of the campus. There are "off campus" apartment buildings full of students literally across the street from the campus. Most students like living off campus, because either (a) it's cheaper, for more space, and fewer restrictions, or (b) it's not cheaper but it's waaay more space, and much nicer, and fewer restrictions. It is much easier to have parties off campus than on. No one shares your bedroom unless you want them to. For the students living off campus, their lives still revolve around the campus, and they spend lots of time there.</p>
<p>In general, though, Penn isn't like Dartmouth or Williams, where if there isn't something going on on campus, there's nothing going on. Penn is smack in the middle of a big city, that's fairly student-friendly, and there are lots of other students around. (Drexel is contiguous with Penn to the north, for starters.) Students tend to do stuff off campus more than they would at a college in the middle or nowhere, or even one in the middle of a sleepy suburb.</p>
<p>Penn has enough housing for 2/3 of its undergraduates (~6500 or so), although that should increase slightly as the new College House gets built on Hill Field.</p>
<p>Almost anyone who isn't living on campus is living right next to it or 3 blocks away. JHS is right when he says they may as well call it part of the campus.</p>
<p>It's just nice living life without RAs ruining all your fun.</p>