<p>I was wondering how the party life at Penn is? I know Penn is called the social ivy, and I guess that is for a reason. What kind of parties are usual? I'm an international, and I'm not sure if the night life is comparable to the night life over here. Is it usual to go to a dance club , or is it more common to have a party in a dorm/house/frat? And how are the parties in dorms/houses/frats (dancing or socializing/playing beer pong etc.)?</p>
<p>Besides this, I was wondering if partying is necessary to have a social life at Penn? I like to party once in a while (once a week, maybe twice), but I'm not such a party animal that I want to go out every night. </p>
<p>Partying at Penn during freshman year mainly consists of frat parties and possibly downtowns (but you would need a fake id to drink which I never had) and many club events like BYOs. There are very few house parties until later on.</p>
<p>Frat parties consist of dancing and doing things like beer pong. You will most likely have had enough of them by sophomore year. Be aware that if you do not have a fake id, things get pretty boring from mid-sophomore year until you are 21. Schoolwork becomes more intense in that period too.</p>
<p>The amount you party depends on you. Freshman year I went out ~once a week, and then started going out less and less (probably less than once a month) until second semester senior year. This was because I was very serious about my studies and in a very challenging major where most students don’t party much. If you are in a science major and want to be among the best, it will be very hard to have a vibrant social life and be a healthy person. There is a ton of work that you just can’t put off since it is due every 1-2 weeks. Plus the people are very intense as well.</p>
<p>If you are in an easier major you could potentially go out 2-3 times a week. People claim Wharton is incredibly tough, but I highly doubt this as they are the ones going out the most junior year.</p>
<p>I myself was somewhat disappointed by the social scene at Penn. Upon entering freshman year I thought I could become the type of person who enjoyed the social life/Greek scene here. The fact is however that the only way you can be happy is if you are true to yourself, and frankly most of the social scene here is just not me. I don’t blame Penn though because this would be the same most places. </p>
<p>I think at Penn there is a pretty wide social spectrum, some people go out all the time, some not at all, and most in between. I thought I would be in the middle of that spectrum but discovered I am a bit skewed the other way. It’s not that I am not a social person, I have met really great friends here. It’s just that I am kind of (well not kind of) a workaholic. I would also enjoy having a social life similar to the grad students in my department, something which is very hard to achieve in undergrad. I have hung out with grad students quite a bit, but it’s not good to totally isolate yourself from undergrads so I tried to find a balance.</p>
<p>I would also like to add that the whole work hard play hard motto that Penn goes by does not translate to what you may think reality. It turns into a very polarized social scene where people are pulling all nighters during the week and then drinking away their stress on the weekends. It’s incredibly unhealthy. The fact is, you need to evaluate your priorities and then act accordingly to be healthy here.</p>