<p>I got a likely letter to Penn, which has made me take a closer look at the school. I’ve also been accepted to Stanford (EA) and Duke (RD). How does Penn compare to these schools and is there a particular reason I should choose Penn over Stanford or Duke?</p>
<p>Basically, I want to know how Penn stacks up…from the Penn point of view. I’ve been inundated by Stanford and Duke students, but I haven’t talked to Penn students that much.</p>
<p>duke and penn are in extremely different areas</p>
<p>Have you been accepted to Wharton? Otherwise, Stanford>Duke==Penn</p>
<p>also depends on what course of study you want to take. and your own personal preference as to east coast vs. west, urban vs. suburban, etc etc</p>
<p>collegehopeful, when and how did you find out about your acceptance to Duke (I know I'm digressing away from the subject of this thread, but I'm curious since decisions generally are not yet up)?</p>
<p>their scholarship finalists receive first a likely letter then a formal acceptance (we received them at the beginning of this month)</p>
<p>collegehopeful, when and how did you find out about your acceptance to Duke (I know I'm digressing away from the subject of this thread, but I'm curious since decisions generally are not yet up)?</p>
<p>oops, sorry disregard the above</p>
<p>well id only reccommend duke if you like the south. only one girl from my school chose to go to duke last year, and now she's transferring cuz she just cant deal with the insipid southern girls she meets. apparently they spend all their time worshipping the athletes and following them around. </p>
<p>as for stanford, im not sure where your from, but i personally wouldnt want to all the way to california, im a very east coast person, but thats a personal preference. also, i think Penn is better because i like its small, cozy campus, whereas stanford is more spread out. Penn also has all the advantages of the city of philadelphia too, which i would prefer over a just a collegetown. and i like the fact that philly has seasons, as opposed to california just being warm all the time. </p>
<p>in terms of what you want to go into, the following departments at Penn are ranked in the top 10 nationwide: anthropology, art history, economics, English, linguistics, music, psychology, religious studies, and Romance languages. at Wharton, Penn ranks first nationally in: finance, real estate, entrepreneurship, finance, insurance/risk management. and Wharton ranks in the top 5 in: accounting, marketing, non-profit management, quantitative studies, business ethics, global management.
i dont really know what stanford or duke are that great in, but it depends on what exactly you want to major in. </p>
<p>with social life, i think Penn would be the best, because it is the "Social Ivy." in general, it just seems like people have a good old-fashioned good time at Penn every weekend. when i went on my overnight visit all the people i met were tons of fun and i had a great time. the students have a lot of school spirit and definitely rally around the sports teams. but they dont go so overboard that theyre like duke about it, i dont think that it like controls their lives though. </p>
<p>so yeah, i would definitely prefer Penn over either duke or stanford. i just plain lovveeee Penn!</p>
<p>the only thing that duke and stanford have over penn are better athletic clothes - someone needs to make more/better penn stuff</p>
<p>As someone who likes Penn, I would say that you should come to Penn if you like east coast. Stanford probably is a tier above Penn academically. Duke probably equal. But then at the undergraduate level, there is more to than academics, especially if there aren't that much of difference as is the case here.</p>
<p>i think if all your looking for is a name, go for stanford. if you'd rather have an ivy where you'll get great education and have a damn fun four years, come to Penn.</p>
<p>Stanford has huge grade inflation. If you're pre-med or pre-law, I would highly recommend Stanford for its ridiculously easy grading.</p>
<p>Stanford has the conversation stopping name and is better at science/engineering. It also has much better sports teams. But in the end, I would choose the school based upon MONEY! If the other schools cost significantly less than Stanford, I'd choose the cheaper school especially if Penn or Duke gave me merit money. Otherwise, Stanford all the way.</p>
<p>Penn doesnt give merit money. Ivies arent allowed to do that. All their aid is need-based. as for sports, the only reason Stanford is better is that they are allowed to give athletic scholarships and ivies, again, are not allowed to do that. But Penn's sports teams are still awesome. Both Penn and Stanford made it to the NCAA basketball tournament, and both lost in the first round. Penn was the Ivy League Football champ and the Ivy League Basketball champ this year, and they usually are every year. </p>
<p>collegehopeful: what do you want to major in? what kind of things are mosr important to you in a college?</p>
<p>Academically, there all pretty much equal. It comes down to your preference in location, atmosphere and whatnot.</p>
<p>When starting my college selection, I immediately knew I wanted to be in a big city, or something a stones throw from one. I've lived in a big city my whole life, you see. Mainly, I wanted to be a big city because I like going to concerts, and cities get the concerts obviously. Penns location is one of the main reasons I chose it.</p>
<p>I think Stanford is clearly above both Penn and Duke. I applied to both of the latter schools and didn't bother with Stanford, they wouldn't even take me to their summer program (applied late, maybe thats why).</p>
<p>As for between Duke and Penn, I think it's personal preference. Do you want the South and sports and dual campuses or the Northeast and Wharton and Penn's other benefits.</p>
<p>The problem is, I'm not sure what I'm interested in. My top three choices are:
1- Law, 2- Medecine and 3- Journalism, but that may change.
I am from the East Coast, and Penn's location is ideal. That being said, what's most important to me is the interest of the professors in teaching, the overall atmosphere of the student body and research opportunities. I am leaning towards Stanford right now, but there's a small chance I could get merit money from Duke.</p>
<p>As I was deciding where to apply this year, I was torn between Penn and Stanford also, but I ultimately decided to do ED to Penn. Stanford still took my 70 bucks though, so I'm mad about that. Still, I love Stanford and would love to go to grad school there.</p>
<p>Penn and Stanford extremely different. Penn has the traditional Ivy League campus setting, while Stanford is like a mission. Both are distinctive. I've heard that Palo Alto gets pretty boring though, since you can't just pop into San Fran like you can with Philly if you go to Penn. I would argue that Penn and Stanford are basically on par when it comes to academics and brand name. Look at the rankings. Stanford's real name is Leland Stanford Jr. College, btw (I find that pretty amusing).</p>
<p>Penn is known for it's preprofessionalism, while at Stanford they pretend to be laid back (pretend--key word). I've heard the social scene is better at Penn. The kids are cool at both schools, but I felt they were more genuine at Penn. Penn also felt more international and real--Stanford was kind of like a country club. Stanford has the better weather, but I can't study when it's sunny and gorgeous all the time, so I felt the cold winter climate in Philly was actually a plus. I'm also a west coaster, so I'd like to experience some of the east coast.</p>
<p>Dude, you really can't mess up when you're choosing between great schools like Penn and Stanford, but you should definitely take a close look at Penn and weigh all of your options carefully. Plus, the San Andreas fault runs right through the Stanford area, and if you go to Stanford there's a very good chance you could end up falling into a major crevasse in an earthquake. Or you could end up in the Pacific, since that whole area of Cali is about to fall off the continent. These tectonic considerations are important...</p>
<p>Stanford has the much better name, let's not try to deceive ourselves.</p>