<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS to the Class of 2016! You all must be thrilled. If any of you have any questions about anything at all, I'd love to try and answer them.</p>
<p>I'm currently a freshman biology major. =)</p>
<p>How is the Goldberg Media and Communications program? Is Fisher a good dorm place? I’m trying to decide whether to apply to Fisher’s Goldberg or Gregory’s Film residentials for my second choice.</p>
<p>Can you give some tips on Housing? What to avoid? Which dorms are the best?</p>
<p>There’s another thread for this, so I thought I’d copy my question over and get as wide a range of answers as I can:</p>
<p>Hi! I was accepted to Wharton for '16. I really want to go as I think is a great (crucially, very well rounded) school. My father however keeps telling me Wharton kids are super competitive - to the point where they won’t share notes, or even talk much or form close friendships. I think that’s a fairly gross generalisation and don’t anticipate it would be anything as extreme as that, but any light you could shed on the situation would be most appreciated.</p>
<p>Apart from that, any tips for all the incoming freshmen? Is there a specific housing plan to apply for, etc.? In particular, would you have any advice for an international student?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for doing this.</p>
<p>Hi! I’m currently a freshman in the Vagelos MLS program.<br>
@labanlieu: unfortunately, I am not familiar with the residential programs you are interested in. However, Fisher/the quad is a very prime spot to live. Although it is not the most sanitary and peaceful place, it is an absolutely beautiful building, there’s plenty of opportunities to meet new people/socialize, it’s where a good portion of spring fling takes place, prime gathering spot for freshmen, etc
@nebbalish: I currently live in Gregory. I would not recommend this dorm for freshmen. Although it certainly has it’s perks (private bathrooms, spacious individual bedrooms, etc), it is very far away from classes and not a very social dorm. The quad is the central housing choice of freshmen. Although I believe it’s a bit overrated, the quad is certainly a great place to meet new people and it’s absolutely beautiful in the springtime. I would probably avoid Hill, unless if you don’t mind having tiny dorm rooms where there is literally two feet of space between you and your roommates’ beds. Then again, Hill does have the best dining hall on campus and is located within proximity of many buildings so it’s not a bad choice if you don’t want to walk far for classes and meals. Kings Court/English is a decent place to live. It has a dining hall as well and the rooms are generally pretty spacious. My recommendation would be to apply to the high-rises, in particular the FreshEx program in Harrison. The high-rises are pretty much the nicest dorms on campus and FreshEx completely spoils you (literally free food at least once every week). It is also a great place to meet new people, but it is not overly boisterous like the quad or hill. I know the high-rises are difficult to get into as freshmen but I would definitely apply. Another HUGE perk of living in the high rises is that Penn goes by a point system when assigning non-freshmen housing. There is no guaranteed on-campus housing for non-freshmen so if you have points from the high rises (for living there as freshmen), then you’re pretty much guaranteed a room the next year + you can bring one of your non-high rise friends in.<br>
Sorry, that was really lengthy but I hope it helped:)</p>
<p>wasteland’s thinking is smart so I’ll ask my question here too… If you knew anyone that was waitlisted and later got in, any tips on what a waitlister should do to improve chances of getting in? send updated teacher reccs? send an art supplement(i regret not doing this)</p>
<p>@wasteland</p>
<h2>I am not a Whartonite so I can’t give a very good answer to that. However, I have friend whom are Whartonites and as far as I’m concerned, they are very generous when it comes to sharing notes and studying together. Then again, I’m sure there are also the super-competitive Whartonites as well. In terms of housing, refer to my post above and for food, go with the BFF dining plan. You’ll get sick of dining hall food REALLY fast and it’s good to have a lot of dining dollars because they’re much more convenient + they buy you better quality food.</h2>
<p>So, uhhh…cheapest place online to buy Penn apparel?</p>
<p>@laodicean: You could probably find some online stores like ivysport.com that sell decently priced Penn apparel. Do you plan on attending Penn preview? If you do, then usually you get 20% off coupons to the Penn bookstore and they also have some clothing sales during that time so you might be able to get something for a decent price:)</p>
<p>Gah, I got a little too antsy and bought a sweatshirt from the online bookstore anyway. Cost me 47 bucks :/</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll still pick up something when I go to Penn preview…
You can never get enough Penn.</p>
<p>haha it’s inevitable that you’ll want to buy the entire store when you’re at preview-at least that was my experience last year!</p>
<p>I think my parents will go bankrupt…not for having to pay my college costs, but because I want any and everything Penn.</p>
<p>Cheers Gold Owl! Great to know my “fears” are mostly unfounded.</p>
<p>I want to get my Penn hoodie ASAP as well, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the preview day (I am from the UK). When you get accepted do they send you a hoodie?</p>
<p>Hi, my daughter was accepted to Vagelos MLS program. Can you tell us a little more about your experience, work load, etc… Thank you.</p>
<p>@19htn60:
The vagelos program is a great experience for those who are interested in the sciences. The workload is certainly very intense and the requirements, especially for freshman year are very rigid. For example, we are required to take math, calculus-based physics, honors chem (or orgo if you feel you’re ready), an 8 am vagelos seminar two days a wk, and one class of your choice (most likely a sector requirement). However, I would say that the schedule is for the most part manageable. The only complaint I had was the 8 am vagelos seminar. Although it is called "structural biology and genomics), we rarely learn any biology. In the class, you are essentially assigned a great deal of reading for the nyt science times and science magazine each week and on thursdays, you take a quiz. The quizzes ask (in all honestly) the most random questions and you must be able to recall even the most trivial facts in the reading. However, the curve for the class is very good and it is only half a credit, so I would not let this deter your daughter from joining if she is genuinely interested in the sciences. If you daughter is not completely sure if she wants to pursue chem/biochem, she could still enroll in the program. Enrolling in the program is by no means binding because vagelos mls is known for having an extremely high drop-out rate partly due to the rigor and partly due to the fact that people develop other interests. The only other thing I would caution you about is that fact that the advisor, Dr.Lu, is not very fond of pre-meds. Although I would say that about half my class is pre-med, Dr.Lu tries to push us more towards the PhD track and often shirks pre-med requirements such as 100-level biology with lab (he makes you start with 200 level). However, overall, I have found vagelos to be a very rewarding experience. You meet many intelligent and unique individuals and the program certainly does challenge you and provide you with a strong background in the sciences. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me!</p>
<p>Wasteland, I’d like to add a little more about competitiveness at Penn. Though I was not in Wharton, I competed against Wharton students when going through the job recruitment process, so I’ve got a good sense about it.</p>
<p>Much in Wharton is centered on collaboration. While there are bell curves, these curves help more than they hurt, and they also reflect the real world (at my company, 60% of my quarterly bonus is directly connected to my performance v. my coworkers’ performance). People are competitive, but in a healthy sense… There is a reason that Huntsman has something like a hundred group study rooms and a TON of common areas and that these rooms/areas are nearly always occupied - people work together on almost everything.</p>
<p>I saw job recruitment as the capstone of a Wharton undergraduate career, since the point of undergraduate business education is, after all, to prepare students to get a job. Something like 80% of Wharton students entered the workforce upon graduation, and in a tough job market, on campus recruiting is EXTREMELY competitive. With that said, I spent a lot of time with my peers, practicing interviews, honing resumes, developing cover letters and generally preparing for the application process. These were, often, the same peers who were applying to the SAME jobs that I was. When someone, against whom you are directly competing, helps you without regard to any rivalry, you know you are in a good environment.</p>
<p>Chelseaboy, congrats on getting in! When I got in last year, I didn’t get a hoodie, but you can definitely order one online from the bookstore! I’ve also gotten a few shirts from Ivysport, which you guys can check out.</p>
<p>As for housing, I HIGHLY recommend the freshman experience program in Harrison (one of the high-rises.) The quad is nice because of the architecture and such, but if you’re not too fond of sharing a bathroom and such, definitely look into fresh-ex. I’m in the program, so feel free to message me if you have any more questions! :D</p>
<p>What are the dance opportunities like at Penn, especially ballet? I’m not looking for the pre-professional side to Penn. Is the liberal arts education equally as great - especially if i’m not sure what i want to study?</p>
<p>@koolkat12: I know that there are many dance groups on campus although I am not too sure about ballet. Penn offers a Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program as well as BFS seminars in general, which are devoted to the liberal arts. I would apply for the program if you are genuinely interested. In addition, there are many freshmen seminars that cover a wide range of subjects; my friend took on last semester on linguistics and my roommate took one on the history of medicine and they both had a great experience with these. THerefore, although Penn is known for being a very pre-professional institution, it certainly offers many opportunities for those interested in the liberal arts.</p>